Fmla Violations
The legal aspect is one of the major issues in Human Resource Management. I will look at the other side of violation of employment law. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 permits employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave per year for a new baby, a sick family member or the employee’s own serious illness. Many companies offer more than what is required by law. For example, the law states employees must provide medical certifications of the illness or birth and can also request another medical opinion. Many companies do not require documentation and also allow employees to use FMLA paid leave along with their paid vacation days or sick days in order to take off more than twelve weeks (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).
A couple of years ago, …show more content…
a VA certifying official/financial aid officer at one of our other 13 campuses was on FMLA leave to take care of a sick family member. It was discovered that she was working a new job while receiving FMLA pay from our company. She was also going to school with one of our online schools, and our parent company was paying her tuition. Before each class, employees have to submit a voucher request for the tuition voucher. Another employee at her campus was entering her requests for her before each class because she was unable to access the website outside of the office. The two employees are no longer with the company. I am unaware if all the necessary documentation was collected to prove her family member needed her care, but she was able to still work another job and attend school during this time.
According to Matthew Effland (2010), “Abuse of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) typically manifests itself as regular long weekends (the “Friday/Monday Leave Act”) and/or annual illness at the same time of year, often following denied requests for time off, during nice weather, or at traditional holidays.
And then there is the employee with the “perfect fit.” That’s the one who manages to use exactly 12 weeks of leave every year.” Employers can avoid these situations by: training the managers, checking the policies, require complete certification from all employees using FMLA instead of trusting their word, request second medical opinions, and utilize investigative or surveillance devices (Effland, 2010). This last suggestion seems extreme and expensive, but whatever it takes. It is illegal to refuse FMLA to an employee, but when it is abused, it hurts the organization and the credibility of other employees who really do need …show more content…
it.
Interviews are one of the most popular selection tools in the selection process and are normally used for all job levels.
Many interview questions can be perceived as unfair and illegal. Questions that should not be asked include: What years were you born or how old are you? Are you pregnant or plan on getting pregnant? Do you have children? Have you ever been to a psychologist or psychiatrist? Are you taking prescription drugs? There are many others. Some are obviously discriminatory, but others are harder to pick out. For example, you cannot ask a candidate if they have ever been arrested, but you can ask if they have been arrested for a felony in the past five years (Levy, 2013).
Although interviews have low validity for predicting future job performance, they are very important because employers and candidates can exchange important information about the organization and about the candidate. It is also important for the interviewer and the candidate to meet in person so that the interviewer can get a feel for the candidate and the candidate can get a feel for the organization and possibly a realistic job preview (Levy,
2013).
If interviews were eliminated, employers would be shocked because this is often the most common selection tool used in the hiring process. Eliminating interviews would anonymize hiring and would help minority candidates get selected because there would be no room to discriminate. Discrimination can be against race, sex, weight, attractiveness, handicaps and many others. This would lower legal costs for an organization. Discrimination could still exist in the form of promoting or firing employees. A reliance on data, tests and interviews would greatly increase and this will raise costs, but will help hire more minority candidates as well as more productive employees (Hausman, 2012).
In order to reduce attrition in other countries, I would suggest utilizing Hofstede’s dimensions of cultural differences. Most of the countries listed are in Europe and North America. These continents are highly individualistic whereas Asia is low on the individualism index and high in collectivism (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011). Choose to transfer employees that can culturally fit in. Technical skills and job knowledge should not be the only standard for selecting candidates to work overseas.
I also suggest measuring employees’ general mental ability (GMA) and their personalities when determining who to transfer overseas. The Big Five is used to predict job performances. People high in conscientiousness and emotional stability are predicted to be successful in the US, Canada, and Europe. In general, the three personality traits that are related to the success of expatriate assignments are extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability. If candidates with the essential personality traits are selected, then cross-cultural training will more likely be successful (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).
If my client wants to install security cameras in bathrooms, I would make sure he/she knows this violates privacy rights and is generally not even legal. Cameras on entrance/exit doors or in the common areas of the business are common and not in violation of privacy rights. I would advise my client against using cameras to investigate employees and only use as a last resort. Employees will respond very negatively if they realize they are being spied on. The impact on the organizational culture and employee attitudes will be a decrease in organizational attraction to current employees and potential employees. Privacy concerns impact a company’s reputation and employees and potential employees will question the intentions of the organization if their privacy is not respected (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).
References:
Cascio, W & Aguinis, H. (2011). Applied Psychology in Human Resource Management (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Effland, T. (2010, January 28). Expert provides five tips for fighting back against FMLA abuse. Retrieved from http://www.employmentlawdaily.com/index.php/news/expert-provides- five-tips-for-fighting-back-against-fmla-abuse/
Hausman, D. (2012). HOW CONGRESS COULD REDUCE JOB DISCRIMINATION BY PROMOTING ANONYMOUS HIRING. Stanford Law Review, 64(5), 1343-1369. Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.edmc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/ docview/1026635229?accountid=34899
Levy, P. E. (2013). Industrial organizational psychology: Understanding the workplace. New York: Worth.
A couple of years ago, …show more content…
a VA certifying official/financial aid officer at one of our other 13 campuses was on FMLA leave to take care of a sick family member. It was discovered that she was working a new job while receiving FMLA pay from our company. She was also going to school with one of our online schools, and our parent company was paying her tuition. Before each class, employees have to submit a voucher request for the tuition voucher. Another employee at her campus was entering her requests for her before each class because she was unable to access the website outside of the office. The two employees are no longer with the company. I am unaware if all the necessary documentation was collected to prove her family member needed her care, but she was able to still work another job and attend school during this time.
According to Matthew Effland (2010), “Abuse of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) typically manifests itself as regular long weekends (the “Friday/Monday Leave Act”) and/or annual illness at the same time of year, often following denied requests for time off, during nice weather, or at traditional holidays.
And then there is the employee with the “perfect fit.” That’s the one who manages to use exactly 12 weeks of leave every year.” Employers can avoid these situations by: training the managers, checking the policies, require complete certification from all employees using FMLA instead of trusting their word, request second medical opinions, and utilize investigative or surveillance devices (Effland, 2010). This last suggestion seems extreme and expensive, but whatever it takes. It is illegal to refuse FMLA to an employee, but when it is abused, it hurts the organization and the credibility of other employees who really do need …show more content…
it.
Interviews are one of the most popular selection tools in the selection process and are normally used for all job levels.
Many interview questions can be perceived as unfair and illegal. Questions that should not be asked include: What years were you born or how old are you? Are you pregnant or plan on getting pregnant? Do you have children? Have you ever been to a psychologist or psychiatrist? Are you taking prescription drugs? There are many others. Some are obviously discriminatory, but others are harder to pick out. For example, you cannot ask a candidate if they have ever been arrested, but you can ask if they have been arrested for a felony in the past five years (Levy, 2013).
Although interviews have low validity for predicting future job performance, they are very important because employers and candidates can exchange important information about the organization and about the candidate. It is also important for the interviewer and the candidate to meet in person so that the interviewer can get a feel for the candidate and the candidate can get a feel for the organization and possibly a realistic job preview (Levy,
2013).
If interviews were eliminated, employers would be shocked because this is often the most common selection tool used in the hiring process. Eliminating interviews would anonymize hiring and would help minority candidates get selected because there would be no room to discriminate. Discrimination can be against race, sex, weight, attractiveness, handicaps and many others. This would lower legal costs for an organization. Discrimination could still exist in the form of promoting or firing employees. A reliance on data, tests and interviews would greatly increase and this will raise costs, but will help hire more minority candidates as well as more productive employees (Hausman, 2012).
In order to reduce attrition in other countries, I would suggest utilizing Hofstede’s dimensions of cultural differences. Most of the countries listed are in Europe and North America. These continents are highly individualistic whereas Asia is low on the individualism index and high in collectivism (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011). Choose to transfer employees that can culturally fit in. Technical skills and job knowledge should not be the only standard for selecting candidates to work overseas.
I also suggest measuring employees’ general mental ability (GMA) and their personalities when determining who to transfer overseas. The Big Five is used to predict job performances. People high in conscientiousness and emotional stability are predicted to be successful in the US, Canada, and Europe. In general, the three personality traits that are related to the success of expatriate assignments are extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability. If candidates with the essential personality traits are selected, then cross-cultural training will more likely be successful (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).
If my client wants to install security cameras in bathrooms, I would make sure he/she knows this violates privacy rights and is generally not even legal. Cameras on entrance/exit doors or in the common areas of the business are common and not in violation of privacy rights. I would advise my client against using cameras to investigate employees and only use as a last resort. Employees will respond very negatively if they realize they are being spied on. The impact on the organizational culture and employee attitudes will be a decrease in organizational attraction to current employees and potential employees. Privacy concerns impact a company’s reputation and employees and potential employees will question the intentions of the organization if their privacy is not respected (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).
References:
Cascio, W & Aguinis, H. (2011). Applied Psychology in Human Resource Management (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Effland, T. (2010, January 28). Expert provides five tips for fighting back against FMLA abuse. Retrieved from http://www.employmentlawdaily.com/index.php/news/expert-provides- five-tips-for-fighting-back-against-fmla-abuse/
Hausman, D. (2012). HOW CONGRESS COULD REDUCE JOB DISCRIMINATION BY PROMOTING ANONYMOUS HIRING. Stanford Law Review, 64(5), 1343-1369. Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.edmc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/ docview/1026635229?accountid=34899
Levy, P. E. (2013). Industrial organizational psychology: Understanding the workplace. New York: Worth.