Employee law
Employee’s workplace rights mandated by US federal law
The employees’ workplace rights as mandated by the US federal law are the set of privileges that the workers should enjoy as they carry on their stipulated duties. The employees' rights in the workplace are informed by the federal and state laws which have created regulations that define the relationship between the employees and the employer (Kelly & Kalev, 2006). The workers' rights also encompass the rights that are not necessarily mentioned in the legal statutes but implied from the legal protection (Kelly & Kalev, 2006). The rights of the employees at the workplaces are described in different groups such as the right to enter into collective bargaining agreements through the labor unions. Other categories of the rights are the equal wages for males and females, safety, and health protection at the workplace, family and medical leave and the capacity to express grievances without retaliation from the management. Some of the laws that support the rights of the employees include the Americans with Disabilities Act, which covers the rights of the disabled workers, age discrimination in employment Act which involves age discrimination in employment. Most of the rest of the laws have been stated above.
Controversial workplace issues
Gender equality
The issue of gender equality has been controversial in many countries around the world, America included. The federal law and the civil rights act of 1964 are explicit that the employers should treat the women just like men (Powell, Bagilhole & Dainty, 2009). Therefore the hiring, compensation and assignment decisions and procedures should reflect that reality. However, the situation is different on the ground with research showing that men earn more as compared to women with same skills and experiences (Kelly & Kalev, 2006. On the other hand, the employers offer maternity leaves to the female workers but the same form of paid benefit to the men who assume fatherhood status. Similarly, same-sex couples who adopt children do not get the benefits, which have been a gender issue among the American public (Powell, Bagilhole & Dainty, 2009).
Incentive Pay
Most employers offer incentives to motivate and encourage the workers who perform exceptionally well. The result is that the employees engage in the pursuit of the personal goals at the expense of the organizational missions. For example, the groups of the employees who earn less by lower incentives lead to controversies as they resent the high-earning peers. The issue of rewarding the managers and the team leaders could be deemed as unfairness leading to controversies in the workplaces (Gerhart & Fang, 2015).
Workplace privacy
The employees should enjoy the right to privacy in their e-mail conversations. The fact that the employers monitor workers at the workplace does not imply an intrusion into their private lives. However, the right accorded to the employees should be accompanied by adherence to the worker's obligations which mean that the employees should be professional in their email conversations (Allen, et al. 2007). The employees should also adhere to the professional ethics so that they don't engage in activities and discussions that could hurt the interests of the organizations. As such the workers should not use working hours to participate in private conversations (Jacobson & Tufts, 2013). It would be appropriate if the employees have several e-mail accounts to enable them only carry out the private conversations during their free time to avoid the conflicts with the employers. The employees should always ensure they don't engage in conversations that are adverse to the goals of the organizations.
References
Allen, M. W., Coopman, S. J., Hart, J. L., & Walker, K. L. (2007). Workplace surveillance and managing privacy boundaries. Management Communication Quarterly, 21(2), 172-200.
Gerhart, B., & Fang, M. (2015). Pay, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, performance, and creativity in the workplace: Revisiting long-held beliefs. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 2(1), 489-521.
Jacobson, W. S., & Tufts, S. H. (2013). To post or not to post: Employee rights and social media. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 33(1), 84-107.
Kelly, E. L., & Kalev, A. (2006). Managing flexible work arrangements in US organizations: Formalized discretion or ‘a right to ask’. Socio-Economic Review, 4(3), 379-416.
Powell, A., Bagilhole, B., & Dainty, A. (2009). How women engineers do and undo gender: Consequences for gender equality. Gender, Work & Organization, 16(4), 411-428.
