When employers start a business (or
open a branch of an existing business), they require
employees to produce, administer, organize, publicize,
sell, transport, maintain, repair, etc. They advertise
job openings, conduct interviews, and hire individuals
based on qualifications, requirements and wages. They
usually provide training to newly-hired employees
and make them aware of the company's policies, rules
and goals. They assign tasks according to the job
positions and employee profiles, and may offer vacations,
health insurance coverage, workers’ compensation,
and other benefits. But one day, sooner or later,
the employer may serve an employee the dreaded pink
slip, and terminate his/her employment without any
valid reason or cause. The employee becomes an ex-employee
and, usually but not always, is eligible for
unemployment
insurance. And his/her employment process begins
again.
From the beginning of the employment
to the end, the employee may have been treated unlawfully,
discriminated against, harassed, denied his/her due
wages or benefits, made to work in unsafe conditions,
or wrongfully terminated.
Years ago, the relationship between
employer and employee was governed by the assumption
that employers were like kings and were free to offer
any terms of employment and treat their employees
in any way they dictated, and the employees were free
to either accept or reject those terms (i.e., take
it or leave it). There were few laws and protections
available to employees that would safeguard their
interests at times of manipulation, shabby treatment,
defamation, discrepancies, retaliation, unfair practices,
etc. Employees did not have a platform to voice their
protests.
Initially, it was the unions that
protested employers' unfair practices and demanded
that employees be provided rights. In the 1930s, the
federal government enacted the National Labor Relations
Act (NLRA), which called for fair wages and safe
workplaces. The NLRA set off a deluge of new laws
governing the workplace.
With the Civil Rights Movement
of the 1960's, the federal government, followed
by many state governments, began to enact laws prohibiting
discrimination against women and minority group members
and barring discrimination against older employees.
In 1970 the federal government enacted the Occupational
Safety and Health Act (OSHA), setting minimum
workplace safety standards. By 1990 Congress had enacted
laws prohibiting discrimination against disabled workers,
and requiring employers to reasonably accommodate
such workers if the accommodation did not cause undue
hardship on the employer.
Today, employees and job applicants
are protected by various federal and state laws. Many
state courts have recognized additional employee rights
that have not been set out in written statutes, but
instead are part of common law, based solely upon
earlier court rulings. Employers no longer have the
right to treat their employees any way they desire.
Employees have the right to protest, make claims,
file litigation, and seek damages, if they believe
they have been mistreated at any stage of the
employment relationship.
