This document summarizes key topics from a chapter on employee rights and HR communications. It discusses current issues regarding employee rights such as drug testing, honesty tests, whistleblowing, and employee monitoring. It also examines the employment-at-will doctrine and exceptions to it. The chapter outlines guidelines for employee discipline and counseling. Finally, it discusses using an employee handbook and various communication methods to enhance employee rights and engagement.

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

2. 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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

3. 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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

4. Current Issues Regarding
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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

5. Current Issues Regarding
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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

6. Current Issues Regarding
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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

7. Current Issues Regarding
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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

8. Current Issues Regarding
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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

9. 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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

10. The Employment-at-Will
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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

11. The Employment-at-Will
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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

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

13. Discipline and Employee
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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

14. Discipline and Employee
Rights
• The most frequent violations requiring
disciplinary action involve
– Attendance
– On-the-job behaviors
– Dishonesty
– Outside activities
Fundamentals of Human Resource

15. Discipline and Employee
Rights
• Disciplinary Guidelines
– Make disciplinary action corrective rather
than penal.
– Make disciplinary action progressive; i.e.
verbal warning, written warning,
suspension, dismissal.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

16. Discipline and Employee
Rights
• Disciplinary Guidelines
– Follow the immediate response; ample
warning; consistency; impersonal.
– Allow employees to have a representative
present for disciplinary meetings.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

17. Discipline and Employee
Rights
• Disciplinary Actions
– Written verbal warning
– Written warning
– Suspension
– Dismissal
Fundamentals of Human Resource

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

19. 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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

20. 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.
Fundamentals of Human Resource

21. Using Employee Communications to
Enhance Employee Rights
• 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
Fundamentals of Human Resource

22. Using Employee Communications to
Enhance Employee Rights
• 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
Fundamentals of Human Resource