Employee Rights and HR Communications

Fundamentals of Human
Resource Management
Eighth Edition
DeCenzo and Robbins
Chapter 4
Employee Rights and HR Communications
Fundamentals of Human Resource

Introduction
• Employee rights have become
one of the more important
human resource issues.
• The U.S. Constitution, laws,
and Supreme Court rulings
have increasingly constrained
employer actions related to
employee rights.

Current Issues Regarding
Employee Rights
• Drug Testing
– The severity of substance abuse in
organizations has led to use of drug testing
even by organizations not covered by the
Drug-Free Workplace Act.
– Drug testing of current employees typically:
• Offers rehabilitation to those who fail
• Communicates that drugs will not be tolerated

Employee Rights
• Drug Testing
– Should be done after a job offer is made.
– Those who fail are generally no longer
considered.
– Companies are
• Moving to more precise tests by using ones
that do not involve body fluids
• Communicating clear policies and procedures
• Relating the testing program to safety and job
performance.

Employee Rights
• Honesty Tests
– Written tests to get applicants to
reveal information about their
integrity.
– Legal alternative to polygraph
– Used to predict theft and drug use
– Multiple questions on the same topic
to assess consistency of responses.
– Should not be used as the sole
criterion for a hiring decision.

Employee Rights
• Whistle-blowing
– occurs when an employee reports his/her
employer to an outside agency over what the
employee believes is an illegal or unethical
practice.
– Sarbanes-Oxley Act protects employees from
retaliation for reporting company wrongdoing.
– Laws protecting whistle-blowers vary by state.
– Many firms have voluntarily adopted policies to
protect employees who identify problems.

Employee Rights
• Employee Monitoring and Workplace
Security
– Interests are protected against
• Theft
• Revealing of trade secrets to competitors
• Using the customer database for personal gain

Employee Rights
• Employee Monitoring and
Workplace Security
– Must balance these security
needs with employee rights.
– Develop and communicate
policies for monitoring
• computer
• e-mail
• telephone

The Employment-at-Will
Doctrine
• The doctrine, based on common law,
allows employers to dismiss employees
at any time for any reason.
• Has been modified to prohibit
termination based on race, religion, sex,
national origin, age, or disability.

Doctrine
• Exceptions to the Doctrine:
– Contractual relationship: A legal
agreement exists defining how
employee issues are handled.
– Statutory considerations: Federal
and/or state laws can create
exceptions
– Public policy violation: Employees
cannot be fired for disobeying an
illegal order from the employer

Doctrine
• Exceptions to the Doctrine:
– Implied employment contract: verbal or
written statements made by members of
the organization, such as promises of job
security or statements in an employee
handbook.
– Breach of good faith: An employer
breaches a promise or abuses its
managerial powers.

Discipline and Employee
Rights
• Discipline
– A condition where employees conduct
themselves in accordance with the
organization’s rules and standards of
acceptable behavior.

Rights
• Factors to consider when disciplining
– Seriousness of the problem
– Duration of the problem
– Frequency and nature of the problem
– Extenuating factors
– Degree of socialization
– History of organization’s discipline
practices
– Management backing

Rights
• The most frequent violations requiring
disciplinary action involve
– Attendance
– On-the-job behaviors
– Dishonesty
– Outside activities

Rights
• Disciplinary Guidelines
– Make disciplinary action corrective rather
than penal.
– Make disciplinary action progressive; i.e.
verbal warning, written warning,
suspension, dismissal.

Rights
• Disciplinary Guidelines
– Follow the immediate response; ample
warning; consistency; impersonal.
– Allow employees to have a representative
present for disciplinary meetings.

Rights
• Disciplinary Actions
– Written verbal warning
– Written warning
– Suspension
– Dismissal

Employee Counseling
• This approach is most appropriate
when a performance problem is not
amenable to training and development
or mentoring and coaching.

Employee Counseling
• Listen to the employee to uncover the
reason for poor performance.
• Focus on performance-related
behaviors
• Get the employee to accept the
problem, and work to find solutions.
• Managers are not expected to solve
employee’s personal problems
• Employee Assistance Program

Using Employee Communications to
Enhance Employee Rights
• Why Use an Employee Handbook?
– Helps employees learn about the company
– Provides central information source
concerning policies, work rules and
benefits.
– Helps ensure that HRM policies will be fair,
equitable, and consistently applied.

• Using Information Technology for
Employee Communications
– Provides greater flexibility and
timeliness of information.
– Networked communication - e-mail,
instant messaging, voice intranets and
extranets, and the talking Internet.
– Wireless communications - microwave
signals, satellites, radio waves and
radio antennas, and infrared light rays

• Why Companies Support Suggestion
Programs
– Allow employees to tell management what
they perceive they are doing right or wrong
– Connected to other management systems,
such as continuous improvement
processes
– Suggestions must be acknowledged and
employees recognized for their efforts

Employee Rights and HR Communications

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