Devry HRM320 2021 July Discussions Latest (Full)

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 1 Discussion

Who is the employer?

A cleaning agency provides services for a variety of residential and commercial clients on a regular basis. The agency selects, pays compensation including benefits, and withholds taxes from the cleaning workers. The agency also provides the cleaning equipment and supplies to do the work as well as supervises the cleaners on the clients' premises. One large client of the agency reserves the right to direct the cleaning workers on when, where, and how specifically to clean when on the client premises. They also do their own evaluation of the workers' performances and regularly reports those to the cleaning agency along with requests to remove any workers they deem unsatisfactory. Because of this unusual level of client involvement, the agency rarely supervises or directs cleaning workers who service this client and instead instructs them to seek guidance and direction from the client for any cleaning instruction and concerns.

Are these cleaning workers employees or independent contractors?

Who is the principal or employer of the workers—the cleaning agency or the client?

 

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 2 Discussion

Help Wanted

Review the Help Wanted excerpt from the newspaper on the Library of Congress Website (Links to an external site.).

This ad is full of items that Title VII now prohibits as Title VII forbids employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in hiring and employment.

How would you feel if a job you wanted to apply for was off limits to you?

Think about the current world. Should Title VII protections be extended to protect other classes or groups of people in the modern world, and if so, who? Why or why not?

 

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 3 Discussion

Preppy Gear

Preppy Gear, Inc. (PG) is a retail clothing chain. PG markets itself to older teens and young adults with a look that is "sometimes preppy, always fly." PG clothing is heavily branded with the PG logo and often attracts consumers that are very image conscious when it comes to their sense of dress and style. PG caters to this both in having a relatively high price point for its clothing and in running marketing and sales campaigns that play up the company's distinctive image. To further support their corporate image, the company seeks to hire sales associates that are in their teens and 20s to work in public-facing sales associate positions at their stores. The company says that this is a business necessity in that people want to buy clothing from people who look good wearing that same clothing. Managers are told to look for employees who are attractive, well put together, and give off that good old American boy or girl next door look. PG clothing is for the popular kids, not for geeks, nerds, or weirdos.

The company advertises and hires for its retail sales associate positions widely and hires people from all racial and ethnic groups, as well as hires both men and women. However, almost all PG sales associates have the "PG look." Last year, of those who applied for available positions, 45% of white applicants were hired, 42% of African American applicants were hired, 46% of Hispanic applicants were hired, 100% of Native American applicants were hired (only four applied), and 59% of Asian applicants were hired. Eighty percent of PG sales employees are women, but women are four times as likely to apply so both sexes are hired at about the same rate. Although PG does not have any policy regarding color or track such numbers officially, it's apparent that virtually all of the African American sales associates are light skinned.

A position at the local PG store at the mall became open and the store advertised and received several applicants that very first day. Of the applicants, Kiki, a 21-year-old dark-skinned African American woman, was turned down for a sales associate position at PG despite having several years of experience as a sales associate at similar stores and strong references. Lita, a heavyset Latino woman was turned down as well for not having the "look" that PG is going for. Alison, a white woman who interviewed with a Goth style hair, makeup, and jewelry was also turned down for not having the "look." All of these applicants had clean criminal records on their background checks.

Instead, PG hired Anna, a 19-year-old recent high school graduate and former cheerleader, who was eating food in the mall food court one day when she was approached by the store manager and was asked to interview. Anna buys PG clothing and likes "the look," so she applied for the position that day and was hired despite not having any prior work experience. This same system is used to hire sales associates from all races and ethnic groups, men and women.

Is there a problem with this hiring practice? Why or why not?

 

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 4 Discussion

The Pregnant Professor

Abigail Adams was hired as an associate professor of economics at Heartland University. She was the first woman professor hired in the department. When she was hired, she was given the same 3-year time period as all other associate professors at Heartland University to establish herself as an academic through teaching ability, publishing multiple articles in peer-reviewed journals, and developing a rapport with colleagues in the department through committee participation and attendance at professional conferences. After 3 years, as was the custom, she would face a tenure vote and would either receive tenure and be promoted to full professor or be denied tenure and given 1 year to locate another position.

During the next 3 years, Professor Adams earned high marks in student reviews for her teaching ability and she published two peer-reviewed scholarly articles on economics. Her male peers in the Economics Department were enthusiastic regarding her teaching reviews, though less so about her publishing, because they all published multiple articles per year and expected her to do the same. In the second year of her appointment, Professor Adams became pregnant and reduced some of her nonclassroom professional commitments as her pregnancy advanced. She then took a 3-month leave after the birth of her child, time that was not included in the 3-year review period. Upon returning to work, Professor Adams resumed her previous level of professional activity.

Throughout the 3-year probation period, the Chair of the Economics Department, Professor Cratchett, as well as the majority of the other professors in the department complained about Professor Adams' unwillingness to participate in their weekly discussion forum on economics and her "lack of commitment" to professional activities, including her failure to participate in several economics conferences held at various places around the world. Professor Adams complained that Professor Cratchett was unfriendly to her and preferred the company of the other men in the department. She also complained that many of these conferences occurred while she was pregnant (and could not fly) or while she was on maternity leave. She also claimed that her salary as Associate Professor was not commensurate with that of her male colleagues and that this resulted from the subjective determination of compensation and promotion in her department, a process controlled by her male colleagues.

After her 3-year probation, her colleagues in the Economics Department unanimously voted to deny her tenure. They advertised her position as open to new candidates and within a year had hired another woman, Professor Betsy Ross, to replace her.

Does Professor Adams have a claim for discrimination?

 

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 5 Discussion

Case Court Reporting

Religious Rowan worked for many years for a hotel restaurant as a waitstaff person. The restaurant had a family-style menu and was closed on Sundays. The restaurant was owned and operated by the hotel and primarily served a family oriented clientele. The restaurant was acquired by a national chain that changed the dynamic of the restaurant, making it into a bar and pub that was open 7 days per week.

Religious Rowan is a devout conservative churchgoer and does not believe in working on Sundays, because that is a time for church, nor does Rowan believe in the consumption of alcohol. Rowan told the new employers that due to religious beliefs, working any Sunday shifts and/or taking orders and serving alcohol to clients would be impossible.

The employer agreed that Rowan could always have Sundays off but insisted that Rowan get certified by the state to be able to sell alcohol as that was a new requirement of the waitstaff position. Rowan refused, and because there were always several other waitstaff personnel available that could take and serve alcohol orders, the restaurant said that was fine, because Rowan was otherwise an excellent employee.

Rowan was able to serve for 3.5 years in the same role with the accommodations of not working on Sundays or being involved in selling or serving alcohol without a problem. However, a new restaurant manager came in and determined that in order for the restaurant to improve its efficiency of operations, which was a goal the new manager was hired to implement, Rowan could still skip Sunday shifts but could no longer be accommodated by not participating in the sale of alcohol to customers as that pulled other waitstaff off of their assigned tables and was not perfectly efficient. Rowan refused to get licensed to sell alcohol or to serve it and was subsequently fired for insubordination. Rowan then sued for the failure of the hotel to accommodate her religious beliefs.

How should the court rule and why?

 

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 6 Discussion

Upsides and Downsides

Our readings focused on the benefits of unionizing and collective bargaining. Let's examine the opposing point of view. Many people feel that unions and collective bargaining actually have a heavy downside that is sometimes ignored. Do you think there is a downside or disadvantage to having unions or engaging in collective bargaining?

For example, the ability to unionize often leads to increased pay and benefits for workers. Workers also can receive extra protection and benefits in terms of workplace safety and the establishment of a formal independent process to handle workplace disputes between employers and employees. On the other hand, union protections can make it harder for companies to promote the best employees and fire the worst employees and instead rely on tenure and seniority for staffing decisions. Some workers also object to having to join a union and pay union dues for some jobs when they do not want to belong to the union.

Some other world factors that must be considered in any discussion of this issue are outsourcing and third-world labor markets. Explain how outsourcing and third-world labor markets enter into the mix when it comes to unionizing and collective bargaining. Explain your responses and support your positions.

 

HRM320 Employment Law

Module 7 Discussion

Debate: Defined Benefit or Contribution Plans

Congress passed the Employment Retirement Income Security Act to protect employee benefits including pension or retirement benefits. Answering the following questions.

What protections does ERISA provide to employees in general?

Why are these protections important?

Can employees truly rely on benefits such as health insurance and retirement?

Now think about the modern world. There is national health insurance available through the Affordable Care Act and Social Security does exist as a disability insurance and retirement program. Does it make sense in the modern world for employer-run health and benefit plans for insurance and retirement to still exist, or would it be better to redeploy those resources in other ways?