Employment law: hiring, firing, and discrimination

Employment Law & Its Relation to Hiring, Firing, & Discrimination

Employment law constitutes an integral part of employee hiring, firing, and discrimination. These norms are set to ensure all recruited staff are treated equally regarding waging, promotions, and shielding against unjust, discriminatory treatments.

Moreover, Employment Laws and Employment Discrimination regulations also establish a company's reputation towards potentially honest and hard workers wanting to join. 

It compels aspiring workers to join such an organization where everyone is given a fair chance to exhibit their skills, know-how, and competence and work their way up the designatory pecking order within the organization.

Compelling Guidelines for Ending Workplace Discrimination

Employment Laws and regulations are strict, rigid and prevent one or a group from discriminating against another. 

Furthermore, such employee laws on discrimination also ensure unbiased and just employment for everyone deserving. It convinces recruiters not to judge individuals during interviews based on their race, religion, sex, body, and skin tone. Rather it compels hirers to use objectivity and only focus on the skills and knowledge these candidates have to offer upon selection.

Employee law regulations also compel recruiters to present equal employment opportunities to such individuals and refrain from displaying biases like unjust pay, repeated harassment, or wrongful discriminatory termination from employment without notice.

The United States of America greatly emphasizes protecting employees from potential discriminatory threats.

Some Known Anti-Discriminatory Federal Laws Entail as Follows –

• 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title VII) prevents discrimination against company workers based on sex, religion, race, origin, and skin tone.
• 1963 Equal Pay Act (EPA) prohibits discrimination of wages between male and female employees performing similar job roles.
• 1990 Americans with Disability Act (ADA) strives to safeguard against discrimination at workplaces against individuals with certain limitations.
• 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) strives to safeguard expecting women from discrimination or companies taking unjust action on employees due to their medical condition.
• 1967 Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) intends to safeguard employees from age discrimination (especially those 40 or above). 

Besides the USA, other nations like INDIA also impose strong prohibitions against any form of employee discrimination.

Let's Take a Closer Look

• 1976 Equal Remuneration Act prevents gender discrimination during recruitment, promotion, firing, and work tenure.
• 2016 Disabilities Act prohibiting discrimination due to disability.
• The Maternity Benefits Act prohibits discrimination per maternity status.
• 2017 HIV & AIDS (Prevention & Control Act) prohibits discrimination against individuals suffering from such conditions. It also prohibits AIDS or HIV testing (unless the candidate consents) for securing employment.
• The 2019 Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Act prohibits discrimination against transgender people leading to unfair treatment during employment, denial of promotion, or unjust firing from employment.
• The (2013) Women's Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act restricts unfair treatment like harassment of female workers within a recruitment set-up.

Hiring & Firing & Preventing Inequality

Hiring and firing employees has been part and parcel of every employment set-up for centuries. And the process continues at present times.

Aspiring candidates are considered for job roles based on their skill set, knowledge, and prior experience on the offered designation.

However, humankind's evolution, discriminatory nature, and superiority complexes have tainted the hiring process over a few decades. 

Several recruiters worldwide make their hiring decisions per inappropriate or unjust parameters. 

Take Some Common Examples

• Many companies look to reduce their employee age group by selecting fresh post-university students or younger employees to stay on par with the industry competition. Such behavior begets grounds for ageist biases or discrimination against potential candidates in their 30s or 40s.  
• Similarly, some recruitment bodies look to employ candidates from specific ethnic backgrounds- thus creating a base for ethnic discrimination in the hiring process.
• Another common instance is when the hiring committee neglects candidates with disabilities, medical issues, or mobility hurdles. Such discriminations are illegal, unjust, and utterly repugnant.

Prevention of Discriminatory Hiring

• Potential recruiters must adhere to non-discriminatory laws when hiring candidates for specific job roles. They must not dismiss candidates from applied roles based on religion, race, sex, etc. They can do that only if the candidate doesn't meet the skill and knowledge requirements of the applied job role or if there is a difference of opinion in wages, work timings, etc.
• Hirers can, however, conduct background checks on potential candidates during the hiring process. It determines whether the candidate seeking a job has no criminal history or lacks proper credit or educational history. Of course, the recruiter must obtain consent from the candidate before conducting the background check.
• Moreover, recruiters must also adhere to the presented job requirements. All job eligibilities and responsibilities must be presented in a non-discriminatory manner. It must clearly state the required educational qualification, work experience, skill set, job hours and average salary range. The posted job must also be presented for all groups of candidates (relevant to the role) without discrimination- including disabled individuals from vivid social-economic backgrounds.
• The hiring committee must also levy a pre-recruitment examination and first round of interviews. It must comprise standardised questions to determine candidates without biases. 

However, the hiring manager must be educated on Employment Laws on Hiring to prevent them from asking illegal questions like pregnancy, marital status, and financial condition.

Employee Termination – Understanding Unjust Causes & Preventing Them

The Employment Act also prohibits the wrongful termination of a candidate due to discrimination, personal grudges or professional jealousy.

 While the recruiter can hire candidates, they can't terminate their terms of employment without presenting justifiable causes.

Simply put, the Employment Law doesn't accept and strictly prohibits unlawful termination based on gender, race, religion, caste, etc.

 Furthermore, the Employment Law also prohibits recruiters from firing someone on maternity leave or addressing wrongdoings in the recruitment set-up. 

Per the Employment Law, if an organisation is deemed guilty of terminating employees on such unjust grounds, they must restore their job and compensate their lost salary. Severe punishments await those firms who violate this clause under the Employment Law.

Another form of unjust firing is called Retaliatory termination. It is strictly prohibited under general Employment Law and Federal Laws (USA). 

Moreover, the candidate has the right to file a lawsuit against the firm for their wrongful/retaliatory/discriminatory termination and request financial recovery for damages and grievances caused.

Candidates eligible for filing lawsuits against their employment firm must present the following evidence to strengthen their case.

The Evidence Is as Follows –

• Recruitment policies and official paperwork
• Previous pay slips
• Performance review 
• Emails and other related communication mediums
• Statement from supporting co-workers and observers

Final Verdict

Employment Law gives potential job-seekers the necessary protection and peace of mind to work in an office space without fear or hesitation. 

It upholds their employment rights and keeps biased, opportunistic, or exploitative individuals from demeaning and humiliating them.

Furthermore, it is also important for job seekers to familiarize themselves with various Employment Laws or speak to their lawyer on such matters to increase awareness.

By doing so, they can stand firm against wrongful accusations, discrimination, or termination from their workplace.