Assignment: Employment Laws

For this assignment, please answer all of the questions below in narrative format. Your answers should be 2 paragraphs in length.

Overview

The Family and Medical Leave Act is one of the more recent laws that were passed to benefit those who are working. The Act gives employees unpaid leave to handle circumstances where the employee needs to be away from work and protects their employment status. In the past, an employee that misses a lot of work would have to worry about their job. They would need to resign and when the situation was over, find a new job. The converse of this Act is the impact it could have on a manager in a department; while the employee is gone, the work still needs to be done.

Questions

Think about the impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act and answer the following two questions:

1. Describe how the Family and Medical Leave Act has affected a supervisor's ability to manage.

2. Describe how the Family and Medical Leave Act has benefited an employee who needs to be away from work due to a terminally ill child.

You are the new manager of the Health Information Management Department. When you previously met the staff for the first time, you told all of them that if they have a question or a problem, to please come and see you. You mentioned you have an open door policy at all times.

After being in the position for several months, you overheard the staff talking, and one of them stated, "We were told she has an open door policy - that is not true. She is never in her office."

3. What is usually the problem when a manager states, "I have an open door policy."

After previously examining the timeline for legislation of employment laws, it is rather surprising to discover that some of the laws have been in place for a long time. From the beginning of modernization of the work force, different classes of people have been protected along with circumstances that occur while they are working.

4. Name 3 major pieces of legislation or law that supported the advancement of the human relations movement in management, and explain how important this has been to an employee, and how this can be managed by the manager of the department.

A shop steward in a union environment is the first-line official of the union and is sometimes referred to as a union representative or delegate. The shop steward is normally a full-time union official who is employed and paid by the local or national union. The shop steward normally is an employee of the healthcare facility and is subject to the same rules that every other employee has to follow. In some healthcare facilities, they will have a position where they work and need to be productive, as well as carry out union activities which often result in complaints and grievances that are filed. The most important part of union activity is to realize that the manager represents management of the health care facility, and the shop steward represents the employees of the union.

5. Explain the responsibilities of a shop steward, and their responsibilities in a union environment.