Handbook: Discrimination and Safety Laws

Within our paper Team A will discuss to you some brief information concerning laws in healthcare. You will read all about health and safety laws, as well as equal-employment opportunity laws. They all are very important regarding your health and laws that protect you while you are on your job. This gives a person the right to work where there is no risk, concerning health and safety issues. The health and safety issues in a work place should be kept under control, the safety laws are put in place to keep everyone safe on the job.

Health and safety laws are critical in the workplace; the work act 2005, now known as the 2005 Act, this Act gives a general guidance of the roles of each party in the process of safety laws in healthcare. Exchanging of views to reach a decision in healthcare, as well as all companies the laws are enforced for many reasons. “The nondiscrimination issues that are usually always addressed in any workplace are, actions such as hiring, firing, demoting, and promoting based on a prejudice of some kind of results in the unfair treatment of employees. With some significant exceptions, such as affirmative action, discrimination is strictly forbidden by a countless numbers of federal laws. Many organization positions in response to these issues are, if you operate an Equal Opportunities Policy, it should cover such areas as: Being opposed to all forms of discrimination, on the grounds of age, appearance, body size, caring responsibilities, caste, class, culture, HIV status, homelessness, immigration status, learning ability, mental health, nationality, physical ability, political beliefs, race / ethnicity, religion, sexuality and unrelated criminal conviction”(Equal Employment Opportunity,2001).

Declare your intention to work to promote equality of opportunity in employment practices, access to services, service provision and selection. States that are responsible for implementing, promoting and monitoring of this policy; besides the legal duties not to discriminate, all staff both paid and unpaid have a responsibility to ensure. Nondiscrimination policy and health and safety laws impact all organization liability pretty much the same way. Typically, a company or organization’s policy against discrimination, are mainly found in the employee handbooks or rules, this can act as a shield in the event that an organization gets sued for discrimination. The organization can minimize its’ liability in a lawsuit by proving that it has policies that promptly and adequately addresses any employee’s complaints or reports of discrimination and is therefore, not negligent.

“These types of nondiscrimination policy and health and safety law impact employees in different ways, depending upon the case in our opinion. For example if the case is regarding Disability, there is a disability law that will protect all employee’s called Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) .The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications. It also applies to the United States Congress. To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability or have a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. An individual with a disability is defined by the ADA as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such impairment” (Equal Employment Opportunity commission, 2009).

“Criminal Law issues to consider in relationship to equal-employment opportunity laws and health and safety are on an entirely different outcome. Some of the issues are most employers now conduct criminal background checks, potentially derailing qualified workers who are rebuilding their lives or who have inaccurate records or minor offenses” (Equal Employment Opportunity 2009). “As a result, many employers are losing out on qualified workers in industries as diverse as trucking, health care and private security, where there are serious labor shortages. However there are some rights for potential employees Anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws provide critical protections for workers with criminal records. But too often these laws are not enforced. NELP is working to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Credit Reporting Act to expand job opportunities for people with criminal records. NELP maintains extensive resources on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance on the use of conviction and arrest records in employment decisions and the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Labor applying the civil rights protections to the workforce development community”(National Employment Law Project, 2011).

Equal Employment Opportunity Act, this is the law that prohibits specific types of job discrimination in certain workplaces. There are at least seven Equal Employment Opportunity Laws, which are: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Civil Rights Act of 1991, Equal employment Opportunity Act of 1972, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and The National labor Relations Act of 1935. Non-discrimination issues must be addressed; the most frequent violations in the health care employment field are related to Title VII issues. The justice department enforces the statute. All employee remedies must be exhausted before they can sue their employer. The Title VII Act also prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national for participating in the discrimination complaints process or for opposing any unlawful employment practice under Title VII Act.

The non-discrimination in this law is basically, point blank simple, you cannot discriminate against a person on a job because of one’s color, religion, sex or origin, those protections has been extended, to bare against discrimination. Currently right now in this day and age, the Title VII Act does not include discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation, but the federal legislation protects sexual orientation. What should the organization’s position be in response to nondiscrimination issues; the organization should response to nondiscrimination in issues by simply prohibiting discrimination in any and every organization, whether it’s in hiring a person or the basis of sexual orientation or gender? There are several states with an anti-discrimination law in place. There should always be policies in place to address discrimination issues. Different states may vary, but most discrimination acts these days are generally based on a person’s gender, or sexual orientation, and we asked a question, why is this so? There are surveys being done, now days on (LGBT) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, to seek the documentation on discrimination, just to see the pool of self-identified (LGBT) people. This type of issue should be addressed in a timely manner, because it goes on every day.

How might the nondiscrimination policy and health and safety laws impact the organizations liability? “There is a law called (GINA) Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act of 2008, this was signed into law by President Bush, this law means that all insures, and group health plans, as well as employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees, will need to carefully review and update all health plans, to avoid liability under the new GIINA law. GINA amends several statutes including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, sweeping new federal restrictions on the collection, use and disclosure of information that falls within its board definition of genetic information by these covered entities. Under GINA, employers, employment agencies, labor organizations and joint labor management committees face significant liability for violating and sweeping nondiscrimination and confidentiality requirements of GINA” (Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, June 2008 vol. 4 no.10).

How might the nondiscrimination policy and health and safety laws impact employees? The Title VII Act, created a policy/law of protected classes to protect different groups form employment discrimination of compensation, conditions, or privileges of employment. These protected classes include sex, age, national origin, race, and religion. All this act does basically is protecting the person in general. This act is responsible for processing complaints, and issuing regulations, and collecting information form employers. This all ensures that the employee is being treated fairly. Discrimination cannot be tolerated at all, but different organizations have been sued, due to different circumstances. We think that organizations should promote equal opportunities to all employees, have different activities in place to prevent discrimination, and each organization should always understand the importance of being a fair employer. How will you address state and federal laws regarding nondiscrimination and health and safety laws in your handbook section? As an employer we should address state and federal laws, by complying with equal employment opportunity laws.

These laws prohibit discrimination, and harassment. The United States department of labor requires organizations to ensure information, stating that the organization follows non-discrimination and equal opportunity laws in hiring and promotions. All organizations should describe the organizations policy for creating a safe and secure workplace, stay in compliance with OSHA laws, this law requires employees to report all accidents that occur within this organization. In this hand book safety polices should be addressed as well as the organizations policy regarding bad weather, hazards community conditions. An organization should make sure all state and federal laws are in one section of an employee handbook. There are many ethical considerations that should be involved in this section, such as cultural considerations, which involves a person’s religion background.

Everyone entering into the medical profession should examine their own culture background entirely, mainly because you want to be sure that he are she is able to provide good patient care in awkward situations. Then we have religious considerations, one should respect others religious beliefs in the work place, this can be difficult, you have to be cautious with this one, because the religious consideration, in some cases may mean rejecting medical treatment, but from an ethical perspective, a patient independence for their beliefs, is always an important consideration. What are some criminal law issues to consider in relationships to equal employment opportunity laws? Some criminal law issues to consider in relations to the equal employment opportunity laws, well; It’s just unlawful to discriminate, based on one’s race, color, national origin, and religion. If an employer chooses to use an individual’s criminal history in making employment decisions, it may violate the prohibition against employment discrimination under the Title VII of Civil Rights Act. In regards of ore responsibility of criminal law are not only those who aid and abet a perpetrator by encouraging or in any way knowing helping in the commission of such act (“Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.”., 2013 web. 11 Feb. 2013).

References:

Criminal responsibility (2013). In Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved: form http://www.britannica.com/FB checked/topic/143158/criminal responsibility Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, June 2008 vol. 4 no. 10 Retrieved from:
http://www.americanbor.org/health Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.com

National Employment Law Project.com
“Nondiscrimination legislation historical timeline” National Gay and Lesbian task Force, Retrieved: November 1, 2011.