So the legal aspects of what you're studying today can really be summed up in one word and that's fairness. What motivates employees and what can derail the employment relationship from a legal perspective deals with the notion of fairness. And for the employee the question is am I being treated fairly? Employment laws try to assure fairness in the workplace. While that might not always seem to be the case for employers, the laws that govern the employment relationship really try to assure fairness. And we're going to go through the main laws that govern the employment relationship and see how they address and relate to that concept of fairness. The first are anti-discrimination laws and those are set forth. The federal law are the Title VII laws and then there are state and even local anti-discrimination laws. And in the end the focus of those laws which prohibit discrimination on the basis of age or disability, race, religion, sex and certain other categories is really on this question. The law is asking employers to evaluate applicants and employees on the basis of what they do or can do, not on who they are. And the way this can be assured in the workplace really rests with several critical documents that the employer needs to prepare and that you've talked about today. The first is the job description. The job description tells the employer, it tells the applicant and it tells an employee what the job is and what the employee is being expected to do once they're working for the employer. The next and equally important are the company policies. The policies tell applicants and employees what the company is, its business, its philosophy, its values and its workplace rules. What matters and what is very important is that company policies are applied equally to all employees and enforced equally. No better way to assure that an employee will not seem to be treated fairly or feel as if they're not being treated fairly than if they feel that the rules that apply to them are not being applied to others. So applying company policies equally and fairly to everyone is very important. The next are performance evaluations. While it is often time consuming to prepare an evaluation and can be very uncomfortable having an evaluation discussion with an employee, particularly if things are not going well, a performance evaluation is another critical element of assuring that an employee is being treated fairly and that the employer is evaluating someone, again, on the basis of what they do and not who they are. So a good performance evaluation will ask questions that focus not just on the job duties of the employee but also how the employee is doing in terms of advancing the company's values, its philosophy. So a good performance evaluation form should evaluate an employee both on how well they are doing their job, how well they are performing the duties set forth in their job description and how well they're doing in fulfilling the company's values, philosophy, its objectives. Another important piece of information for an employer to maintain and to prepare appropriately are disciplinary write-ups. These, again, are a form of communication with an employee. They let an employee know when things are not going well and, again, the focus is on how the employee is not performing their duties. It is very important with a write-up that the write-up be prepared at the time of the problem. A write-up that is prepared several months later because a supervisor is frustrated or finally has gotten the time to write it up is not effective and it has the effect, again, of looking unfair. That perhaps from the employee's perspective something happened that day that all of a sudden caused a supervisor to write a disciplinary warning about something that occurred several months ago. No longer does that write-up, even if it's legitimate for something that occurred, appear fair because of the timing. It is also important that write-ups are objective and, again, the focus is on what is the employee being asked to do and how have they failed to do that. It should not include emotional language or personal criticism of someone and it should not address a supervisor's personal opinions or even frustration. So if a supervisor is preparing a write-up, it is a good idea to have HR or someone else who is a little bit removed from the situation review it before it is issued to make sure that it is concise, objective, timely, and focuses on, again, how the employee has failed to perform their duties. All of these documents are critical documents as well. If an employee files a discrimination claim or a wrongful discharge claim in any lawsuit or investigation by the EEOC or a state anti-discrimination agency, these four documents are going to always be asked for and an employer will be required to produce them in terms of evaluating how someone was doing their job and were they terminated or not promoted for a legitimate business reason. So having a job description, company policies that are equally enforced, good performance evaluations that are honest and fair and focus on the job duties and the mission of the organization as well as disciplinary write-ups that, again, are job duty focused and objective, timely, and concise are important documents for any employer to maintain. What is not mentioned here and what is also very important is to let employees, of course, know when they are doing a good job and there are a variety of ways to do that, but in terms of assuring fairness in the workplace and making someone feel good about what they are doing and wanting to do even more, good criticism and compliments are also very helpful and very important. The next group of laws are anti-harassment laws and, again, there are state, federal, and even local laws that prohibit sexual harassment, bullying, and workplace harassment. These laws go to another element of fairness and that is answering the question for an employee, when I go to work to do my job, do I feel safe there and do I feel comfortable there? Do I feel physically safe there? Do I feel that I am okay to be there? And that's the goal of the anti-harassment laws. So employers cannot allow supervisors and other employees to create what is called a hostile work environment and that's an environment that looks the other way or by allowing bullying or inappropriate touching or the circulation of inappropriate images on a computer or a cell phone, inappropriate jokes or teasing or intimidation. And this is where a supervisor must step in and make sure that those things do not happen. It is never okay to say that, well, we know these things happen, but no one minds, no one complained, so it is okay. These are the kinds of things that can assure a problem, a legal problem for an employer and do not create a comfortable and safe environment for an employee. Employers can also not allow employees to be subject to what is called quid pro quo harassment, meaning a request or a demand for sexual favors in return for advancement in the job. All of these things are prohibited by anti-harassment laws and again, the goal of all of these things is to assure a safe and comfortable work environment. The third category of laws are anti-retaliation laws and these address the following concern for an employee. If an employee complains or reports something that they've observed in the workplace that they think is illegal or inappropriate, will that complaint be respected? Will it be investigated? And can the employee be assured that their job is still secure? So state, federal and local laws prohibit employers from retaliating against an employee who reports in good faith inappropriate or illegal conduct or activities in the workplace. In cases of a report by an employee of something going on that is inappropriate, again, communication with the employee is key. There are a lot of things that go on when an employer is being asked to conduct an investigation of something either illegal or inappropriate in the workplace. There might be a desire, for example, on the part of the employee reporting it that it be kept confidential. Things may not always be kept confidential once they're reported to the employer, but things should be kept private and so discretion is important and keeping information that is gathered during an investigation private is very important. Investigating a complaint, looking into it is also very important and documenting that. And then finally, letting the employee know what became of their complaint, how it was resolved in a general way. There are many times when an employee cannot know, for example, if another employee has been disciplined or if there has been something like that. The employee who reported it cannot always be told what happened to another employee, but they should be assured that their complaint was heard and looked into and that there was an investigation and results. So again, communicating to the employee, assuring them that it was good that they reported this and that it was taken seriously by the employer goes again a long way to making an employee feel that they're being treated fairly and respectfully in the workplace. There are other employment laws that also have as their objective fairness in the workplace and those include wage and hour laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act, OSHA laws and Workers' Comp. All of these laws have as their goal assuring fairness, fair compensation and fair treatment in the workplace. The key in all of this in the proper application of these laws and ensuring a well-functioning workplace is the role of the supervisor. It's important to remember that supervisors and managers manage people, not just work. So when choosing supervisors, it's important that they understand company policies, that they understand the procedures, that they know and understand and respect the rules against discrimination, harassment and retaliation. They need to be or the employer needs to be confident that the supervisors and the managers that they have hired and chosen to serve in those roles understand their legal responsibilities as a supervisor of people and that they can really carry out those responsibilities. Supervisors can create liability for companies when they don't enforce policies equally, when they allow a hostile work environment to be created, when they don't understand the need to report to their supervisors confidential information that they might receive from a co-worker or a subordinate. For example, a subordinate might report to their supervisor that they feel like they're being sexually harassed by an employee in another department and the subordinate will ask their supervisor to just try to handle it and keep it confidential and not let anyone know. It is very tempting for a supervisor who is trying to be respectful of that subordinate and be a good supervisor to honor that request. A supervisor needs to know that if they do that, they are breaking the law and violating company policies and really creating a problem for the employer and ultimately for the employee because the employer cannot adequately address the problem and really put an end to a problematic situation in the workplace if they can't investigate it and look into it. So a supervisor cannot and should not be allowed to handle these problems on their own. The supervisor needs to remember that they work for the employer and they're accountable to their management and that they're the first line of responsibility for enforcing policies and making sure a gain that people are treated fairly and that they feel that way and that the work environment is safe. There are of course legal consequences when people are not treated fairly in the workplace and when the various laws that we've talked about are violated. If someone is terminated or not given a promotion or a pay raise and they feel that someone else received it for less work or that they were not given performance reviews or that they were given improper performance reviews and that's why they were let go, that will lead to them taking action that they feel they have no choice but to take and that can lead to a lawsuit, a charge of discrimination filed with the EEOC or a state agency and in some cases a disgruntled employee will go to social media or to newspapers and even though it may not be a lawsuit or a charge of discrimination, dealing with the media or seeing an employer's name in the media can be very problematic for an employer. So it is important again as you've been talking about through this module to focus on treating people fairly, applying your rules, workplace rules and procedures fairly and keep your communication open with your employees. There are financial liabilities and expenses that can result from not following employment laws and these can be back pay, front pay, meaning pay that begins from the time someone files a lawsuit to the day a final resolution in favor of an employee, if that occurs, is entered. Compensatory damages, so an employee who is determined to have been found to have been the victim of a violation of an employment law by an employer may also be entitled to damages for emotional distress or physical distress that they incurred as a result. An employer who is found to violate employment laws may also have to pay the attorney's fees for the employee's lawyers and in some rare cases an employer can be responsible for punitive damages if a court determines that their conduct was particularly outrageous. So there are financial consequences of not following these laws and of not really essentially treating people fairly in the ways that we've discussed in this module. There is also another component of a legal problem when it arises and that is your own time and expense and the time that is required of you taken away from the business of the organization and completing your duties as part of the organization. Many employees of an employer will get involved in defending a lawsuit or a discrimination complaint as well as the attorneys that an employer needs to retain and the fees of those attorneys. So again it is important to look at these things because of the costs involved for not following the laws and not properly communicating with employees and applying policies fairly can lead to both time and expense for an employer. Thank you and that is the conclusion of this webinar.

fairness in the workplace

employment laws

anti-discrimination laws

job descriptions

company policies