Answer

Employment and Labor Law

Part 1

            There are several scenarios whereby the employer-employee relationship could be affected by a contract dispute. For instance, in the scenario where the employee is provided with employment in a company under the at-will employment and provided with an assurance that he will not be wrongfully terminated (Bruno, 2018). A contract dispute can be experienced when the employee is terminated without any notice when he fails to accomplish an assigned task within the deadline. The contract available, in this case, is the at-will employment contract which permits the employer to terminate the services of the employee at any time (Bruno, 2018). The affected parties are the employer and the employee.

A tort-claim will negatively affect the employer-employee relationship particularly if the worker is wrongfully terminated. The tort action will include a potential litigation. Notably, the termination will result to a breach of duty on the employer’s part hence causing injuries to each other which acts as the basis. Under the at-will employment contract, the employer is provided with a duty of not engaging in wrongful termination as an exception offered to the at-will employees (Arnow-Richman, 2016).

In the first case, the employer is impacted with the obligation of not discriminating against the employee on any basis to suggest good faith. In addition, the employer has the obligation of not engaging in wrongful termination acts. The at-will employee has the obligation of working in good faith and completing the assigned duties as required by his job responsibilities. In addition, the worker has the obligation of offering protection to the resources of the organization and not engaging in any form of illegal activities while in the workplace.

The employer’s defense can include the fact that the employee is terminated because of the fact that the at-will employee contract permits him to end their relationship without any prior notice. On the other hand, the employee can provide an argument that the he was wrongfully terminated after the employer breached the good faith exception which involved him promising job security without any form of serious violations. I have ever experienced a similar situation whereby the employer worn the case since the contractual agreement and its argument on willful termination was provided with a great significance in comparison to the good faith exception.

Part 2

            The Title VII under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides an indication that there are five primary classes of individuals protected under the law. The classes in question include religion, race, national origin, color and sex (Cotterell, 2018). In addition to these primary classes, the seventh amendment to the civil rights act includes reprisal, mental or physical disability as well as sexual orientation (Cotterell, 2018). Affirmative action is a policy which was established with a primary aim of enhancing the opportunities of present in the workplace or the education to the underrepresented sections of the society by considering the person’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

            Sommer and Asal (2019) state that the fundamental aim of introducing the Affirmative action was to do away with instances of unfair discrimination in the workplace. The focus is to guarantee that instances of unfair discrimination within the work environment are eliminated. Additionally, affirmative action seeks to ensure that equity in an employment setting is upheld with a fundamental aim of redressing the impacts of discrimination (Sommer & Asal, 2019). Moreover, the affirmative action was also set to promote an economic efficiency and economic development in the workforce and to provide effects to the obligations as a part of the International Labor Organization (Sommer & Asal, 2019).

            Title VII and Affirmative Action are still necessary because the world is increasingly becoming globalized, suggesting that workplace diversity is continually becoming a commonality. The use of racial preferences is still common in the workplace which advocates for the need for an affirmative action. Title VII is also still necessary because of the rise in workplace diversity. Despite the fact that discrimination is considered as illegal, the employers indifferent work environments are still implementing discriminative tactics that advocates for the need for Title VII protection.

Part 3

            Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a form of legislation which ensures that a specific group of employees are provided with job-protected, unpaid leave of a period of up to 12 weeks annually (Arnedt, 2019). FMLA is designed in a manner that it assists the workers in establishing a balance between their family and work responsibilities. Evidently, the Act focuses on accommodating the legitimate interest of the employers as well as engages in closing the gender inequality gap in employment.

            The FMLA is associated with several limitations that may discourage an employee from implementing its usage in the event of absence. For instance, an employee may overlook the Act when he/she lacks a bonafide “serious medical concern” as presented under the FMLA requirements. Arnedt (2019) states that for a person to qualify, an employee is required to document some incapacitation measure alongside fulfilling other fundamental requirements. Therefore, in the events whereby an employee is only diagnosed with mild conditions, he/she will be discouraged from implementing the Act’s usage. Additionally, an employee undergoing a serious medical crisis will also be discouraged from relying on the FMLA’s protection. Furthermore, those with personal crisis or serious conditions that prevent them from executing their workplace duties will not access the Act’s services since they fail to meet the FMLA criteria.

            The recent legislation related with same sex-marriage garnered attention for the FMLA and its provisions in that it prompted the act to make amendments to the term “spouse” under the Act. Noticeably, the Final Rule ensured an amendment on the term to guarantee that the eligible employees available under the same sex unions can take FMLA to care for their families or spouse without considering where they live (Dove, Findley, Edwards & Jones, 2016). This eliminates an element of discrimination for the same-sex couples in the workplace when it comes to achieving their FMLA rights.

Part 4

            Age discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) is a piece of legislation passed in 1967. The Act cited the utilization of the arbitrary age limit to generate staffing choices (McCann, 2017). ADEA provided an indication that the deficiency of occupation abilities because of long haul joblessness excessively influences aged employees. The law’s goal was to limit these harming impacts. The Act, which is authorized by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is applicable to private and public businesses with at least 20 laborers (consistently within the current or earlier work calendar year) (McCann, 2017). The Act was first altered in 1986 and again further amendments were inflicted in 1991 with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act. The ADEA has its focus on prohibiting instances of age discrimination within an employment setup. The initial law of 1967 covered workers falling between the age of 45 and 65 years (McCann, 2017). However, subsequent amendments to the act resulted to an increment in the upper age limit and then its subsequent elimination which ended the mandatory retirement for almost all workers in the workplace.

            The average lifespan of Americans is estimated at 77 years (Button, 2019). Moreover, the employees seeking retirement after the age of 65 has also quadrupled since 1991.  With these factors, it is evident that the ADEA should be revisited to ensure that the age for the social security is enhanced to cater for the old age workers who still want to work past the age of 65 years. Arguably, the employment rate of people past 65 years is on the lower side forcing businesses to hire older employees (Button, 2019). The act should be revisited to ensure that the mandatory requirement option is re-included for all the employees in the workplace. However, minimum retirement age should be extended to at least 75 years to cater to the average lifespan figures.

Part 5

            Aptitude tests have several advantages. For instance, the tests make it possible for the employer to make objective comparisons since it relies on quantitative measures to outline a person’s work experience and skills (Rogers, Meara, Barnett-Legh, Curry & Davie, 2017). Also, aptitude tests are effective in cost and time saving. Users do not have to implement other measures to gauge the skills of the applicants since they are highly accurate. One of the cons includes the fact that the test induces anxiety which affects the prospects of the applicants (Rogers et al., 2017). In addition, aptitude tests are considered as prejudicial against people who think outside the box. Personality tests are beneficial since they provide a test of what the potential applicants will do rather than what has already been done. Additionally, personality tests are also effective in avoiding instances of unconscious bias. The primary disadvantage of personality test includes the fact that it is highly biased. Moreover, firms have relied on its usage for wrong situations such as during hiring process than in career development.

            Drug testing is desirable since it prevents cases of health concerns and injury in the workplace. Moreover, the tests are also effective in ensuring that the members of the workforce reach their full productivity by maintaining efficiency in the workplace. One of the cons is that the testing procedure is high and cannot be recouped. Moreover, the process also has the ability of offering false positive results (Findlaw, 2018). Employee integrity testing is beneficial since they are highly effective and less biased. However, the tests are mostly prejudiced since they consider aspects such as religion and sexual orientation of the applicants.

            Undergoing testing, from the employee’s perspective, is beneficial since it promotes the worker’s productivity, safety and motivation by communicating a message that the worker is competent enough to meet the required workplace standards. I do not consider drug test to be an invasion of privacy. This is founded on the fact that the testing process does not result in the breach of individual rights (Findlaw, 2018).

REFERENCES

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  Dessler, G. (2007). Human resource management. (11^th Ed.) Pearson Prentice-Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

  Gentry, C. R. (2011). Corporate Finance Salary Outlook. Journal of Accountancy, 211(3), 38.

  Osibanjo, A. O., Adeniji, A. A., Falola, H. O., & Heirsmac, P. T. (2014). Compensation packages: a strategic tool for employees’ performance and retention. Leonardo Journal of Sciences, (25), 65-84.

   

  http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Financial+Accountant&l1=Boston+

   

  Westervelt, R., & Valk, V. (2010). Executive Compensation. (Cover story). Chemical Week, 172(19), 17-21. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.