As a businessman, you already know the importance of having employees to get various tasks done. However, you might not be aware that you need to abide by some workers’ rights. You need to ensure that your employees are working to the best of their ability. Also, to ensure that your business does not face liabilities.
Before going into the different workers’ rights and laws you have to consider when hiring employees, you need to understand exactly how important this is. An employee has the right to file a complaint or raise a claim against you and your business if they believe that they are not getting their full rights. This means that you could face serious ramifications, expenses, not to mention the hassle of the whole ordeal.
1. Safety and Health
One of many workers’ rights is to have a safe and healthy workplace. Workers are entitled to a safe and healthy environment to conduct their work. If there is any danger or risk to their well-being because of the nature of their job, then you need to be well-prepared to deal with such liability. This also covers any job that is not necessarily done in the workplace.
For example, if you have a business in Charlottesville, Virginia, and one of your workers was driving one of your business’s cars in a work-related errand, then they were involved in an accident, you could be held liable for that. Your injured worker could contact a car accident lawyer in Charlottesville to get compensation for the injuries they have sustained. A worker can also file a claim against your business if they get injured in the workplace.
2. Harassment and Discrimination
You have your own workers’ rights against harassment and discrimination. Both harassment and discrimination are issues that can lead to dire and legal consequences. You don’t want to face them. An employee should not feel threatened or be fearful of being harassed due to gender, age, color, or other differences. There are various laws out there that protect people from being discriminated against in the workplace. Still, as a businessman, you need to ensure that your business abides by these laws. You have different measures to protect your employees from such an experience and protect your business from facing serious repercussions. Even a potential employee can file a claim against you if they believe that they are being rejected from a job position simply due to their skin color, beliefs, ages, or gender.
3. Working Hours as One of the Workers’ Rights
Working Hours are set by the city or state that you are in. But usually, labor laws state that workers are entitled to certain days off and working shifts that do not exceed a certain number of hours. Usually, employees get to have two days off per week, not to mention sick leave and the agreed-upon vacation days according to their signed contract.
4. Overtime Pay as One of the Worker’s Rights
If workers do work outside of working hours because they were asked to, they are entitled to overtime pay. This also applies to employees having to work during the holidays or days that are off nationwide. Laws state that overtime pay cannot be less than the minimum wage, depending on what county or city you are in.
5. Workers’ Rights: Equal Pay
This is kind of related to discrimination against women, as well as different races. If two people are doing the same work, then they both should be getting the same payment. It should not matter whether they are different genders or different races. If it is evident that a worker was given preferential treatment due to a difference in gender or race, you might be in danger of putting your business at risk of lawsuits. Equal pay has not been achieved fully, and people are fighting to eliminate wage gaps between different races and genders.
6. Privacy
Whether a person is merely a potential employee or already works for you, they have a right to maintain their privacy. It is not acceptable to conduct background checks or go through their stuff without permission. Doing so without their permission is a violation of their workers’ rights and can have them suing you for not abiding by the laws put in place to protect such rights.
Now that you are fully aware of the different workers’ rights that people have when working, you need to ensure that they are getting these rights. This will protect your business in the long run, creating a working environment that many people wish to work in. Giving your workers their rights will not just save you from potential lawsuits. Still, it will also create a great working community in which your workers are happy doing their jobs, boosting productivity and decreasing employee turnover.
