OL 645 Module One 1 The Human Resources Glossary defines human resources as “[t]he people that staff and operate an organization.” Most people have some knowledge of this department due to their personal work experience. As employees in any organization, individuals come into contact with the key functions of human resources. These often include, but are not limited to, responsibilities that address compliance and labor laws, recruitment and training, recordkeeping, payroll and benefits, employee relations, employee performance improvement plans, and more. In this course, students will have an opportunity to explore these roles while considering the applications of law, ethics, and politics as they relate to HR operations. Human resources, typically referred to as HR, is a multifaceted function that supports, and sometimes leads, an organization’s internal and external initiatives around talent and talent management. In many cases, these initiatives are influenced by the interrelationship of legal governance, ethical practice, and the political environment. Understanding these elements is key to the success of an HR department and its ability to support individuals within an organization. In addition, the HR function is largely responsible for playing a lead role in determining employee trust and loyalty. Success of the function is dependent upon consistent and credible communication about the organization’s workplace policies, its ethics and values, and its corporate mission. In this module, we will review general concepts related to law, ethics, and policy in HR. As a part of this overview, we will also examine the relationships among these three guideposts, as well as how to mitigate risks associated with each. OL 645 Module One 2 HR, the Law, and Managing the Regulatory Environment in Business Law plays an important role in the HR function. One of the best resources on workplace-related regulations is The Department of Labor (DOL) (for an overview, see http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm). The DOL serves to manage and enforce more than 180 federal laws. The most common include wages and hours, workers’ compensation, employee benefit security, and union membership. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is just one example of a critical regulation that is far-reaching in terms of its impact domestically and internationally. With so many regulations in place that influence the way most organizations conduct business, it is easy to understand why the role of HR within organizations is so important. One of the most well-known labor related regulations is the FLSA. The act serves to set basic minimum wage and overtime pay standards. The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division enforces these standards. It is important to note that certain industries with specific job types will often pay more than the minimum wage. Grocery store cashiers and IT workers with industry certificates a ...

1. OL 645 Module One 1
The Human Resources Glossary defines human resources as
“[t]he people that staff and operate an
organization.” Most people have some knowledge of this
department due to their personal work
experience. As employees in any organization, individuals come
into contact with the key functions of
human resources. These often include, but are not limited to,
responsibilities that address compliance
and labor laws, recruitment and training, recordkeeping, payroll
and benefits, employee relations,
employee performance improvement plans, and more. In this
course, students will have an
opportunity to explore these roles while considering the
applications of law, ethics, and politics as
they relate to HR operations.
Human resources, typically referred to as HR, is a multifaceted
function that supports, and sometimes
leads, an organization’s internal and external initiatives around
talent and talent management. In
many cases, these initiatives are influenced by the
interrelationship of legal governance, ethical
practice, and the political environment.

2. Understanding these elements is key to the success of an HR
department and its ability to support
individuals within an organization. In addition, the HR function
is largely responsible for playing a lead
role in determining employee trust and loyalty. Success of the
function is dependent upon consistent
and credible communication about the organization’s workplace
policies, its ethics and values, and its
corporate mission.
In this module, we will review general concepts related to law,
ethics, and policy in HR. As a part of
this overview, we will also examine the relationships among
these three guideposts, as well as how to
mitigate risks associated with each.
OL 645 Module One 2
HR, the Law, and Managing the Regulatory Environment in
Business
Law plays an important role in the HR function. One of the best
resources on workplace-related
regulations is The Department of Labor (DOL) (for an
overview, see
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm). The DOL
serves to manage and enforce more than
180 federal laws. The most common include wages and hours,
workers’ compensation, employee
benefit security, and union membership. The Fair Labor

3. Standards Act (FLSA) is just one example of
a critical regulation that is far-reaching in terms of its impact
domestically and internationally. With so
many regulations in place that influence the way most
organizations conduct business, it is easy to
understand why the role of HR within organizations is so
important.
One of the most well-known labor related regulations is the
FLSA. The act serves to set basic
minimum wage and overtime pay standards. The DOL’s Wage
and Hour Division enforces these
standards. It is important to note that certain industries with
specific job types will often pay more than
the minimum wage. Grocery store cashiers and IT workers with
industry certificates are two examples
of this. Unions, too, can negotiate set wages that are often
higher than those of nonunion laborers. It
is the role of HR to ensure that employers pay all of their
employees, including casual and seasonal
laborers, at a rate at or above the amount prescribed for the
employer’s industry.
HR and Ethics Overview
The word ethics is derived from the Greek ethos, meaning
character and morality as related to acts
and behavior. The word morality or moral comes from the Latin
moralis, meaning customs or
manners. These concepts can be related to the workplace
through managing how people behave and
represent the organization by offering them a set of acceptable
ethics. Most organizations outline this
in their code of conduct policy.
Ethics is an important part of HR, whose very creation was
intended to manage behaviors to an

4. agreed-upon or prescribed set of rules within the organization,
and to laws established by the state
and federal government. Ethics in business may be defined as
the moral principles that guide the way
a business behaves; the same principles that guide an
individual’s actions also apply to the actions of
a business.
One can view the nature of morality and ethics through a variety
of lenses, such as relativism and
absolutism, the ethics of human rights, virtue ethics, and the
stakeholder approach. In regards to
ethics in HR and business, however, it may all boil down to
cultural relativism. For instance, how we
view ethics in the United States, particularly within
organizations, may be different than how people in
Russia, China, and Japan view ethics. Morality may vary with
culture, time, and circumstances. The
opposite position is that of absolutism, the notion that there are
universal truths in morality that apply
at all times and in all circumstances.
In a global business world, this aspect becomes important to
consider. The question becomes: when
businesses operate globally, how far do they go to adapt
organizational rules to local circumstances?
In practice, running a successful and thriving business while
toeing the legal and ethical line can be
challenging. Think about offshore jobs, which are addressed in
the final assignment and are a good
starting place for thinking about the risk and opportunity
involved when locating operations in other
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm

5. OL 645 Module One 3
countries. The relationship between ethics and the law is often
paramount to how organizations
formulate their policies and practices both on U.S. soil and
abroad.
The Political Landscape: An Example of Its Impact on HR-
Related Legislation
Often politics influence ethical standards that apply to business.
Enron became a prime example of
unethical practices when the government discovered that it was
mismanaging its finances. The
government regulates many industries like the natural gas
industry, in which Enron operated.
Periodically a business will apply for deregulation, giving it the
ability to self-govern. Enron applied for
and was granted de-regulated status. What ensued caused one of
the biggest scandals in business
and government regulation in the past century. The
misrepresentation of earnings reports allowed the
company and its executives to continue to secure investors
based on false information while
embezzling funds. Ultimately, the company went bankrupt. The
loss by investors was over $70 billion
and cost trustees and employees upwards of $2 billion in
investments and pensions, little of which
was recouped. Visit http://finance.laws.com/enron-scandal-
summary to read more about the Enron
case.
The political outcry from Enron resulted in new regulations and

6. legislation. The most well-known
example of this legislation is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
most commonly referred to as Sarbox
or SOX. SOX is a United States federal law that set new or
enhanced standards for all U.S. public
company boards, management, and public accounting firms.
SOX required top management to
individually certify the accuracy of financial information. It
also made penalties for fraudulent financial
activity much more severe, required the presence of
independent, outside auditors to review the
accuracy of corporate financial statements, and required more
oversight by a company’s board of
directors.
These and other examples highlight the importance of having a
well-educated and active HR function
within organizations to partner with senior leadership to help
manage laws and policy while enforcing
a code of conduct.
Background Information and Keeping Up
In addition to the course eBook, there are many resources
related to HR law and HR ethics. There
are not as many resources for HR and politics; these are often
found within other resources based on
context. Many resources can be found in the online Shapiro
Library (go to my.snhu.edu).
Consider the following as useful resources and tools to build
your knowledge and competence in this
area.
Journals

7. Popular Press Magazine
http://finance.laws.com/enron-scandal-summary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company
OL 645 Module One 4
Websites
—Politics and HR
http://www.employersgroup.com/Content.aspx?id=909
—Politics and HR
http://www.shrm.org/legalissues/federalresources/pages/hruspol
itics.aspx
-
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm
http://www.employersgroup.com/Content.aspx?id=909
http://www.shrm.org/legalissues/federalresources/pages/hruspol
itics.aspx

8. http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm
OL 645 Module One 5
References
Johnson, R. (2003). HR must embrace ethics, People
Management, 9(1).
Klein, N. (2000). No Logo. Hammersmith: Flamingo. (List of
organizations with history of perceived unethical business
practices)
No author. (n.d.) Summary of the Major Laws of the
Department of Labor.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm
Rose, A. (2007). Ethics in human resource management.
http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/dl/free/0077111028/536508/EHR_C02.pdf)
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm
http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/dl/free/0077111028/536508/EHR_C02.pdf
http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/dl/free/0077111028/536508/EHR_C02.pdf