Legal Issues in Hiring New Employees

Introduction

When hiring new employees, it is crucial to acknowledge relevant legal practices in the recruitment process. This procedure incorporates interviews, investigations, testing and the selection of new staff members. The basic legal principles dictate that employers should refrain from illegal discrimination and conforming to the privacy rights of the applicants. Job applicants have legal rights even before they become employees. Beta Technology should, therefore, consider the necessary legal factors that govern the hiring policies and procedures.

Hiring Policies and Procedures that Address Legal Aspects of Hiring,

Recruitment and Selection

The human resource directorate should be well aware about the prevailing legal principles. While recruiting employees, there must be no discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, age or mental disability. Avoiding discrimination in the recruitment and selection process has been encapsulated in the Equality Act of 2010 which was brought into practice on 1 October (Walsh, 2015). Additionally, the HRM should rehabilitate and allow eligible employees to treat past convictions as they never happened as relevant for the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act of 1974. The recruitment process should also conform to the proponents of Civil Rights Act of 1964, Equal Pay Act of 1970 and Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1975(Arthur, 2012). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ensures an equal enforcement of conferring jurisdiction as well as the constitutional rights. Equal Pay Act of 1970 prevents employment discrimination between men and women, while Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1975 prevents discrimination based on childbirth or related medical conditions.

 

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Moreover, before advertising a vacant position, the human resource directorate should compile an inventory of the required skills, abilities and experience. These competencies ought to be used as a criterion for recruitment and selection. The advertisements should be made broadly available and in accessible formats. It is also the prerogative of the employer to conform to occupational health and safety, employment contract law, trade practice laws, and the minimum employment age (Walsh, 2015). The HR unit has also obtain an employer identification number which is vital in tax reports and the submission of documentation to Internal Revenue Services.

New Hire Processing-Required Information and Documents

The hiring process will require Beta Technology to adhere to hiring process guidelines for ensuring its effectiveness. As part of the hiring process, the company will also partake in disciplinary measures, such as reassignment, retraining and rescheduling (Arthur, 2012). Discipline is important because employers can be held liable for violent and criminal acts that take place outside their workplace. However, an employer is legally prohibited to pose questions that might be applicable to a specific gender or religion. In addition, the hiring application ought to remind the candidate that the employer is not creating an employment contract or providing an assurance that a candidate will be hired (Arthur, 2012). The human resource directorate is legally prohibited to ask photographs from candidates who are not hired. However, after an applicant has been hired, the department can ask for photographs for identification purposes.

Employee Classification Based on FLSA

Most employment opportunities are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (Walsh, 2015). The legal proponents of this Act lay emphasis on exempt and non-exempt employees and their entitlement to compensation. Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay while the exempt employees are not. The criteria used to classify employees as either exempt or non-exempt is based on their job description, what they are paid and how they are paid.

File Storage and Retention

File storage pertains to documenting employee’s records in a manner that conforms to the relevant legal requirements. An employer is legally required to store and retain some employee’s documents for certain periods of time. The files to be stored comprise of documents that show employee’s name, the date they commenced employment, superannuation contributions, termination of employment, and hours of work. The documents should also specify whether the employee is working part time, full time, fix time or casual (Walsh, 2015). The records ought to be kept for at least seven years. The documentation from unsuccessful candidates must be destroyed within a short period to guarantee the privacy of the applicants. This is because privacy laws may cause problems if the documentation is retained. Similarly, original documentation should be returned to the applicants. In the event of an employee being terminated, their documentation has to be kept for at least a year (Arthur, 2012).

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Such a document as a disability complaint should be stored until its final disposition, while affirmative action plans ought to be updated annually. Other documents, including the employee’s wage statement, need to be stored for three years from the time which the information was brought to the attention of the employer. According to Equal Pay Act, documents on wage rates, time cards, pay checks and payroll records should be kept for three years. However, as a general rule, the Employment Standards Act dictates that all the employer is obliged to keep the employee records for at least two years after the termination of the employment contract (Arthur, 2012).

Other Relevant and Necessary Information

An employer can also consider the administration of random drug testing and screening as an employment condition. Additionally, in the interview questions, the human resource manager should administer questions that are probing and, at the same time, relate to the job description. This circumstance will grant them a comprehensive knowledge on the kind of applicant they are hiring and what to expect of them. Background checks of the applicant are an important employment condition as well. The checks will comprise of independent internet searches, criminal records, and credit records (Walsh, 2015).

In addition, if Beta Technology wishes to offer benefits, such as health and pension plans, it will be vital to come up with adequate systems where employees can easily sign up. While hiring new employees, the employer is legally required to submit form W-4 and specifying the amount they wish to withhold from every pay check (Arthur, 2012).