JH603 Legal Environment and ethical Foundations of Staffing

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• JH603 Legal Environment and ethical Foundations
  of Staffing
• (lecture 4

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Key terms

• ethics
• common law
• equal opportunity anti-discrimination
• Human rights
• Child protection
• Privacy
• Awards agreements

• whistleblower
• direct discrimination
• ethics audit
• indirect discrimination
• State Federal law
• affirmative action
• statute law

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The sources of Australian law

• Law is the publics agency for translating
  morality into explicit social guidelines and
  practices and for stipulating punishment for
  practices
• Approved rules of conduct come from
  institutionalised social arrangements where a
  range of values, beliefs and norms govern
  behaviour
• Australian law is based on a complex mix of legal
  jurisdiction
• Statute and common law
• Civil and criminal law
• State and federal law

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The framework of Australian law
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The Legal framework and legislative environment
for Staffing

• EEO and anti discrimination
• Workplace relations
• Privacy
• Child related employment
• OHS
• Unfair/Unlawful dismissal
• Contract law

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Legal framework (EEO) cont.
There are a number of categories of
discrimination

• Age
• Career status
• Criminal record
• Disability
• Industrial activity
• Lawful sexual activity
• Marital status
• Physical features
• Political beliefs or activity

• Pregnancy
• Race and racial vilification
• Religious beliefs or activity
• Sex
• Gender identity
• Association
• Victimisation
• Sexual harassment

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The three key concepts of equal opportunity law
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Legal framework (EEO) cont

• Equal opportunity describes changing workplace
  behaviour and culture to ensure that all
  employees have equal access to fulfilling and
  productive working lives
• Three components
• 1. Workplace discrimination which may be
• Direct, or
• Indirect

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Legal framework (EEO) cont

• 2. Sexual harassment
• An unwelcome sexual advance or an unwelcome
  request for sexual favours, or
• Other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in its
  workforce
• 3. Affirmative action
• Involves programs undertaken by an organisation
  to achieve equal opportunity for disadvantaged
  groups
• Three key mechanisms
• Organisational programs
• Implementation reports
• Annual reports

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Legal framework (Privacy and Surveillance )

• Mostly related to Federal govt legislation but is
  being extended to other information gatherers
  such as recruitment agencies,State govt dept.,
  employers etc (Privacy Amendment Act 2001)
• General guide to collection.use,access of
  information
• Surveillance a developing area .Workplace
  Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW) a forerunner for
  future ?Makes surveillance overt (to protect
  staff) but extent of covert surveillance ?an
  issue also with email and electronic comunication

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Workplace Relations

• Workplace Choices Act 2005
• Major shift in IR/ER continues under Howard govt.
• Structural changes e.g.Aus.Fair Pay Comm.IRC
  dispute settlement etc.
• Development of AWA structure and move to
  Enterprise bargaining
• NOTE this is a major legislative area which
  impinges on many areas of HRM

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Child Related Employment

• Employment Screening particularly sexual offences
• Commissions (State) as clearing house for
  information and approvals
• Scope of employees concerned is widening and can
  include supervised and unsupervised contact and
  volunteers

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Unfair/Unlawful dismissal

• Protection as aim BUT many exceptions (see p.
  195-196 Compton )

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Legal framework cont

• While law affecting HRM may have strong ethical
  foundations, the fields of law and ethics do not
  overlap exactly
• The law of HRM is derived from both statute law
  and common law
• HRM law could involve both criminal and civil
  perspectives
• HRM law could be affected by state, territorial
  and federal jurisdictions

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Business ethics and 21st century organisations

• Ethics
• A set of guidelines as to acceptable conduct
  directed toward resolving conflicts of interest,
  so as to enhance societal well-being
• Ethics as essential in business and corporate
  life influencing how we treat each other (equity)
  and manage our relationships

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Business ethics and human resource management

• A code of conduct is about the ground rules that
  activate those values. There are six steps in
  developing a code of conduct
• Ensure stakeholder participation
• Ensure integrity of the content of the code
• Develop the content of the code
• Ensure the code is integrated into business
  systems
• Communicate the code to all stakeholders
• Regularly review the operation of the code, train
  staff, appoint an ethical watchdog, and give
  recognition to outstanding ethical conduct

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Business ethics and 21st century organisations

• Moving beyond just the legal requirements
  requires operating through a framework of
  acceptable values, corporate citizenship and
  social responsibility
• What is ethical and what is legal is not always
  clear.Both require interpretation enforcement
• Ethics skills can be learned through training

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Ethics and general business issues

• There is a scepticism about the morality of some
  business leaders, both in the UK and in Australia
• Australians want more external regulation of
  business
• The collapse of Enron was triggered by deep
  seated cultural influences money, power and
  privilege used to buy off people (Similar
  pattern in Aus. Companies)
• Whistleblower legislation in Australia has
  improved with recognition of their importance
• Can we trust our business leaders e.g.
  HIH,Onetel,AWB.?

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Business ethics and human resource management

• HR is well positioned for creating,
  implementing and sustaining ethical
  organisational behaviour
• Organisational culture
• Communication
• Training
• Performance management
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Group dynamics
• Organisation structure

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Business ethics and human resource management

• HR departments need to develop the highest levels
  of ethical credibility and authority
• There are many issues where HRM departments can
  demonstrate ethical credibility and authority
• Discrimination, recruitment, whistleblower, basic
  rights, privacy, testing, salary and benefits,
  employee protection
• Strategically, HR managers should approach HR
  ethics from the perspective of the organisations
  values, rather than deal with isolated ethical
  problems

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References

• Compton R.L, Morrisey W.J, Nankervis A.R, 2002
• Effective Recruitment Selection Practices
• CCH, Australia
• Dessler G, Griffiths J, Lloyd-Walker B, 2004
• Human Resource Management ,2ed, Pearson, NSW
• Stone R.J. , 2002 ,, Human Resource Management
  ,4ed, John Wiley, Queensland
• Baker McKenzie , 2004/2005, Australian Human
  Resources Guide ,CCH ,Australia

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The ethical implications of the roles of HR
professionals
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Fig 2.1The relationships between business law
and business ethics
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Figure 2.2Public trust in professional ethics
Mori Survey, UK, 2002