Importance of employment laws
The Federal and State government agencies are look after the welfare and interests of job applicants. In order to ensure that interests and welfare of job applicants are safeguarded and they are not exploited, certain laws are enacted and enforced by government agencies. All these statutes have to be followed by HR while recruiting and posters have to be posted conspicuously at places where job applicants can see them. This is mandated by the law and its violation can attract heavy penalties and law suits.
Labor law agencies enforce various laws targeting various aspects of hiring and work. The agencies make laws affecting minimum wage, leaves at work, safety at work, law against discrimination in hiring, work hours, child labor and many more. The HR has to keep in mind all these laws while hiring.
Major laws for concern for hiring purpose
Though all the laws issued by the authorities have to be meticulously followed, there are certain laws that have to particularly followed while dealing with job applicants. Both the federal and state labor law agencies enforce these laws. State laws varies from state to sate but there are few federal labor laws whose compliance and displaying of posters is necessary for the job applicants to see and understand the laws. These federal laws are discussed below.
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)
EPPA protects the job applicants from polygraph tests which are basically lie detecting tests. Generally employers can not request a job applicant to undergo polygraph tests for the purpose of employment. This law applies to all the private organizations. This law does not cover the government agencies and organizations related to security and national security. In any cases, the test results can not be demanded by the employer and discrimination can not be done on the basis of the test results.
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
EEO states that discrimination can not b done in hiring or during employment on the basis of color, nationality, religion, race, sex and age.
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
FMLA gives provision for leaves during the employment for caring for the family member, self or some covered service member. This law covers all the private and public organizations having more than 50 employees within 75 miles. To be eligible for the benefits, employers have to commit at lest one year or 1,250 hours of service over past one year. This law gives 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for taking care of family or self. A leave of 26 weeks is earmarked for the care of a covered service member.
- Affirmative Action (AA)
Affirmative Action is the law which gives special consideration for certain disadvantaged groups in employment.
All these laws are mandatory in purview of the federal and state labor law agencies and HR recruiters have to be very considerate and mindful of the laws. They knowingly or unknowingly not try to violate any of the laws. Non-compliance of laws comes with heavy consequences and adverse affects for the company.