Legal Issues of Business Organizations - Essay Example

? Legal Issues of Business Organizations of Learning Introduction The application of law in business can sometimes be controversial and demanding in terms of financial output. In most businesses, the law might be partly applied because of several reasons, which differ from one company to another. Therefore, the report is an analysis of the application of law, relative to the given situations A, B and C. It also aims at establishing whether the legal provisions were violated or not violated. Section A The Application of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to Situation A According to the United States Department of Labor (USDL), one of the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is that, an employee is entitled to a 12 weeks leave and guaranteed job protection. The leave is only given because of three reasons; First, in case of birth or the employee has to take care of the employee’s eligible child or, when the employee has to provide foster care or adopt a child. Second, if the employee has to offer care to his/her immediate member of the family, including child, spouse and parent whose health condition is serious. Third, if the employee has to take care of own health condition that is serious according to the physician. During this period, the employee is not eligible to get his salary, but entitled to group health advantages. Considering the provisions, the twins were eligible children of the Employee A; he was entitled to a maximum leave of 12 weeks. As well, employee A’s spouse gave birth to twins prematurely, meaning that, it might have caused serious health complications. Therefore, he was obliged to stay with her as she recovered from her health condition. Since the Act provides for an employee to take care of spouse’s health, the leave was justified. According to the Act, the leave is unpaid. Therefore, Employee A was wrong to request for the withheld salary. The manager acted within the legal requirement for not approving payment to the employee who was granted leave under such circumstances. In situation A, the act was not violated. Section B Analysis of situation B regarding the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 According to the provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the employees who have reached 40 years, or older than that age are protected in the workplace (EEOC, B, 2008). It prohibits all forms employment discrimination in relation to the employee’s age. Under the act, it is illegal to discriminate the employee about his/her age from enjoying the privileges, terms and conditions of employment, such as hiring, compensation, firing, benefits, promotion, job assignments, layoff, and training (EEOC, B, 2008). The Act also provides that, the older employees should be favored with such employment privileges, terms and conditions, even if the practice would affect the junior workers, below the age of 40 years (EEOC, B, 2008). In addition, the Act prohibits retaliatory actions on the employees who are opposed to the discriminative practices on gender, or someone who has filed a discrimination petition on age factors, testified against such discriminatory acts, and investigating such practices (EEOC, B, 2008). Considering situation B, it was illegal to discriminate Employee B on employment promotion simply because he/she was 68 years. From the situational analysis, Employee B has been in the company of 42 years and his/her performance record was above average. This might be as a result of the long experience that he/she had in the company. Indeed, the employee seems to have mastered the ways of doing the work effectively, which resulted to exemplary performance. Therefore, promoting a younger worker whose performance was only adequate, because he/she was 32, years contravened the provisions of the Act. The management of the company should have favored the older employee because he was above average and the law protects them from all forms discrimination regarding the employees age. Precisely, the law provides for such older employees to be favored when it comes to promotion and the management of company X did not consider the act in doing the promotion. Therefore, in this situation, the act was grossly violated. Section C Analysis of situation C regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the disabled people are protected from discrimination from employment based on their disabilities (EEOC, A, 2008). According to the Act, local government, state, labor union, employment agencies, and private employers should not discriminate the qualified people from enjoying the privileges, terms and conditions of employment, such as hiring, compensation, firing, benefits, promotion, job assignments, layoff, and training (EEOC, A, 2008). In the United States, the Act applies non-discrimination standards in all sectors of the federal system. The rehabilitation Act was amended to cater for the welfare of the people with disabilities (EEOC, A, 2008). Considering situation C, the company X denied applicant C employment, claiming that his/her employment would cause undue hardship. Indeed, this contravened the provision of the ADA that prohibited discrimination based on one’s disabilities. Therefore, denying the applicant C the employment opportunity because of his/her disability violated the ADA provisions. According to the ADA, a disabled qualified applicant was entitled to reasonable accommodation that would facilitate their job functions. In fact, the disabled people qualified for employment were supposed to be provided with certain facilities to make their work easy. For example, the people with disabilities are entitled to access and use the facilities in the company. Therefore, such facilities including the existing ones were to be made in a way that facilitates their accessibility and usability. Once applicant C was successful for the job, the key-pads in two of the four elevator cars was to be lowered four inches to be accessible for him/her. This would enable him/ her to access all the seven floors of the building. Notably, the law provided that the employer should make sure there is accessibility and usability of all the facilities, not the cost of making them (EEOC, A, 2008). In fact, the company had to bear the cost to make the facilities friendlier to the person with a disability. Secondly, the law requires that the work schedule was to be restructured and modified to suit the person with a disability (EEOC, A, 2008). For example, the company had to consider the appropriate time the worker could report to duty, so that the day’s schedules might not be affected. Indeed, this would facilitate his/her work. Conclusion In situation A, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was not violated since the law acknowledged the 11 month’s leave as non-payable. So, there was no moral or legal justification to demand for payment during the period. In Situation B and C, the provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, were violated. Notably, the management of Company X did not favor the older employee even though his/her performance was above average, and the Act protected their age group from all forms discrimination on their ages. Specifically, the law provides for such older employees to be favored when it comes to promotion and the management of company X ignored the provision when they promoted the young employee. Finally, Company X disregarded the provisions of the ADA, which prohibited discrimination based on one’s disability status. Therefore, denying the applicant C the employment opportunity because of his/her disability violated the ADA. In addition, the company was wrong to justify their decision, claiming that the cost would be exorbitant. It was within their mandate to make sure that all the employees could access and use all the facilities in the company. References Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (A) (2008). Facts about the Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved from Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (B) (2008). Facts about Age Discrimination. Retrieved from United States Department of Labor (2011). Leave Benefits: Family and Medical Leave. Retrieved from Read More