Week 2 Employment Laws

MEMORANDUM

TO:        Bradley Stonefield

FROM:        Atwood and Allen Consulting

DATE:        August 23, 2015

SUBJECT:        Employment Laws

CC:        Traci Goldeman

There are several Employment Laws that you will need to be aware of, but the most applicable laws for you will be the laws listed below along with the consequences of noncompliance within these laws.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: This law covers a wide array of possible issues in hiring and throughout the employee’s tenure. This law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. There are six exemptions to this coverage but only two of those are going to be important to you. The first of these exemptions is the Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications. When you list the job as Help Wanted you will make very clear the requirements for the job to cut down on the amount of people applying who are not experienced in driving limos. You will have every right at that point to not hire someone without the necessary qualifications. The other one that will be beneficial for you in your hiring process is Testing. You will want to test the ability of the new prospects to make certain that they can drive the limos. To follow the law you may not discriminate against someone who is qualified for the job and passed the testing that is required. If you were to discriminate against someone who passed the testing and was otherwise qualified for the open position you could be taken to court where the defendant could ask for compensatory damages as well as punitive damages. In a company with 15-100 employees the maximum combined damages per complaint is $50,000.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): When you first look at this law you might think that it will not apply to you since someone in a wheelchair is not going to have the mobility necessary to fulfill the job requirements but that does not mean that someone who is a partial or possibly even a full amputee will not able to satisfy the job requirements. This law also covers such things as rehabilitated drug and alcohol abusers and people who have tested positive for HIV/AIDS. Also if you hire someone whom you find out later has a drug problem they can be fired immediately but the alcoholic must be given a reasonable accommodation which would be a choice to either seek treatment or face being fired. To assist with your hiring you are able to now require all employees to take a pre-employment physical but only after a conditional employment offer has been made, as always you should be drug testing your future employees. Failure to comply with this law can cost you depending on the size of your company and whether the discrimination was done “with malice or reckless indifference” upwards of $300,000 in both compensatory and punitive damages.

Employment Laws

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August 23, 2015

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA): You may not hire anyone who is not legally authorized to work in this country. To ensure that you do not hire anyone who is an “unauthorized alien” you are required to verify the identity and authorization to work for all new employees. To do that you and the new employee must fill out and sign the I-9 form. We strongly suggest that you make copies of the documents provided by the new employee verifying their ability to work in this country and keep the copies in their in employee file. Please remember you cannot discriminate on the basis of citizenship or national origin. At this point you are verifying their ability to work in this country.