As you know, we will have the semi-annual senior staff conference shortly, and the HR department is tasked with conducting a number of seminars at this high-level, high-visibility conference. I’d like you to lead the preparation for our session on Statutory Regulation of Employment.

There are five key regulatory areas that I want you to focus on:
1. Employee Privacy
2. Employee Unions
3. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
4. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
5. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

What I need you to do is prepare an outline for me to hand out at the session that relates to these five areas. I am uninterested in the history—just the information that explains briefly what we are obligated to do, with maybe some examples in key areas. As an illustration, the part on FLSA might look like the following:

Fair Labor Standards Act

• Overtime (OT) must be paid after 40 hours of work in the workweek.

o The OT rate is 1.5 times the employee’s normal time rate.
o Employee cannot waive the right to overtime right—it is a legal obligation.

• Some union contracts also require OT after 8 hours in a day.
• An employer can agree to add more, but not less than the law.

o Benefits remain without a 1.5 times increase—only the wage itself.
The goal is for you to prepare an outline that doesn’t exceed a four-page handout (1400 words) and provides practical, useful, and correct information to our senior managers on the five topics identified. Be sure to cover the range of employment law, even where it might not directly apply to Cost Club; for example, be sure to address where government employees are subject to a different rule. Our senior leadership may hear about some government agency’s obligations being different, and we want our folks to know the facts—not just those immediately relevant.

Also, focus on the finer points that can cause us problems, like the need to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable employment practices related to drug and genetic testing and other privacy concerns. You can sprinkle in some examples on the most significant items, if that may help the audience understand.

Finally, one of the most important areas of emphasis in our meeting is the need to weave together not just the legal principles of employment, but also the ethical issues that commonly arise in employment law matters. We want to close our presentation in a way that emphasizes both legal compliance and ethical behavior in employment.

As you read the memo from Pat, you begin thinking about how you will first understand, and then condense such important and complex information into a practical outline form.

Optional Information:
Level/Year: graduate
Subject: human resource management

Already Tried:
books, internet