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Poor Work-Life Balance
Assessment 1: Report Overview For this assessment, write a 1000 word report on the issues below: Poor Work-Life Balance
Your report should be structured as follows:
1. Introduction (200 words): Define the issue and use Australian research and statistics to explain how common it is, and the likely impacts of this violence (for instance, mental or physical health impacts, number of hospitalisations, and other indications of impact).
2. Theoretical section (800 words): Select TWO theories from the following list, and apply them to the issue: Liberal feminism, Marxist/socialist feminism, radical feminism, critical masculinities theory. You need to pick the most appropriate theory to help you explain the issue. Think carefully about the theories you select.
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Write 400 words on EACH theory, in which you briefly define the theory, and then describe how that particular theory would explain the issue you have selected. For instance, if you select Marxist/socialist feminism for the issue of sexual assault, then your 400 word paragraph needs to explain what Marxist/socialist feminism is, and present a Marxist/socialist feminist explanation for sexual assault. Your bibliography should contain no fewer than EIGHT academic sources. Any media sources are additional to this.
Marking Criteria
1. Accurate and clear presentation
2. Further research and comprehensive understanding (AT LEAST 8 ACADEMIC SOURCES)
3. Logical and clear structure
4. Quality of written expression
5. Correctly formatted citations and bibliography.
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Discrimination Issues
Introduction
In this contemporary society, people have based the element of religious accommodation in making different decisions especially within work environments that have seen the employers either agreeing with the employees or having a different feeling in consideration of the differences in beliefs and discrimination issues. Today, it is more likely to find a Christian refusing to employ a Muslim because they have different beliefs and faiths.
The law therefore considers religious discrimination in different angles (Burmeister, 2014). These laws therefore address the issues that tend to be different from the other forms of employment discrimination. These laws have been constituted in a complex manner, a factor that has seen the reduction of religious discrimination and accommodation cases within the working environment. This paper therefore seeks to carry a study on discrimination issues as regarded by religion and accommodation.
Issue
Flips burger is a company that has fifteen employees with the company putting emphasis on adhering to its rules and regulations as defined by the EEOC. According to the case study, a plaintiff was fired for legitimately acknowledging her religious beliefs by putting on a Hijab to work during their Ramadhan celebration (Burmeister, 2014). It is however essential to note that the defendant had no valid reasons to prove the Plaintiffs breach of the working conditions.
It is essential to establish the fact that the employers always have the right to develop boundaries and policies in the manner in which employees dress. However, religious and accommodation issues are likely to come in between this aspect (Burmeister, 2014). It is in this case essential to stress that if the dressing code genuinely reflects the employee’s religious belief, there is need for the employer to accommodate these beliefs since failing to do this would create issues for the employers business.
Elements of the Cause of Action
In determining the elements that led to the cause of action, it is vital to understand that the defendant had the capacity and authority to set work place rules in governing the image of the company and in promoting the professional appearance of his employees as would be indicated in a court of law (Massengill, & Petersen, 2008). However, there is a need to grant opportunities with the aim of accommodating the employee’s genuine religious beliefs such as the wearing of Hijab to work. This therefore depicts the manner in which the employer discriminated the employees’ rights within the work environment.
Discrimination Issues
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Applicable Defenses for the Case
Even upon the placement of policies within the workplace, employees need to be on the look in considering and accommodating the religious beliefs of the employees as a way of avoiding litigation. In as much as the employer may have had no reasons of terminating the services of the employee, it is essential to consider that this is an act of discrimination that is also viewed as unethical (Massengill, & Petersen, 2008).
Considering the fact that the Plaintiff provided the employer with adequate notice about the religious even that was underway and the practices that follow these events, the employer still failed to accommodate this fact, a factor that proves that he is guilty of discrimination.
The Basis for the Judge’s Rule
It is essential to consider the fact that this case needs to be determined in different ways. First, the employer who is the defendant having been provided with adequate notice on the employees beliefs failed to accommodate the beliefs of the employee. This therefore denotes that fact that the employee’s religious rights were violated (Rabin-Margalioth, 2003). The judge would therefore consider the fact that the employee’s garments were worn for religious purposes and were not injurious to the public’s welfare.
However, two issues remain that need to be considered. The wearing of Hijab may be acceptable within a work environment. But the other Islamic clothing’s that cover the body and the faces of an individual such as the Niqabs and the burkhas may prove challenging to tolerate especially for the employees who serve within public places (Rabin-Margalioth, 2003). This would hinder the manner in which humans communicate especially when not seeing the face of someone serving you.
These are factors that employers therefore need to deliberate with employees in striking an agreement. It is therefore significant that the employer needed to ensure that the organization incorporated the element of inclusivity in accommodating the employees and their religious beliefs even when the company was concerned about its image in order to avoid the litigation.
Discrimination Issues
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Conclusion
This study confirms that fact that people have based the element of religious accommodation in making different decisions especially within work environments that have seen the employers either agreeing with the employees or having a different feeling in consideration of the differences in beliefs. The employers always have the right to develop boundaries and policies in the manner in which employees dress.
However, religious and accommodation issues are likely to come in between this aspect. It is therefore essential for employers to consider the religious beliefs and practices of their employees in order to protect the rights of the workers and avoid litigation.
References
Burmeister, B. (2014). What you should know about the Employment Equity Amendment Act. Finweek, 18-20
Massengill, D., & Petersen, D. J. (2008). Job Requirements and Religious Practices: Conflict and Accommodation. Labor Law Journal, 39(7), 402-410.
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Retaliation
Critical Legal Thinking Case Study
In this case, Miriam Regalado files a sex discrimination charge against North American Stainless (NAS). Her fiancé Eric Thompson is later fired and proceeds to file a charge against NAS for alleged third party retaliation. He claims that he was fired in retaliation because his fiancée had filed a case against the company.
The U.S. District Court and the U.S Court of Appeal rule that Thompson is not protected by Title VII as third party claims are not permitted. The U.S. Supreme Court however rules in his favor, stating that Thompson is protected under Title VII and that employers should not perform actions aimed at dissuading a worker from filing or supporting a discrimination charge.
Retaliation claims are allowed under Title VII in a bid to protect employees from unlawful termination, based on an action that is protected by federal law. This also includes third party retaliation which encompasses protection of a close friend, colleague, relative, partner or other relation from termination for being associated with the person in question.
The law recognizes that an employer may terminate an individual related to the affected person as a form of ‘punishment’ and in a bid to dissuade them from making a claim or supporting discrimination charge and thus seeks to protect such individuals. The absence of such a law would make employees susceptible to unlawful termination for being involved in activities that are protected under the law such as filing for discrimination or supporting violation of such endeavors. Employee relations would also be at risk of termination without any fault. (Nacua, 2006).
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North American Stainless was unethical in its decision to fire Thompson and he should not have been fired just because Regalado was his fiancé. The case however does not clearly state the reason for Thompson’s dismissal, leading to a question of whether he may have been fired for a different reason other than retaliation.
This case sets precedence for increased possibility of employers being sued for retaliation following firing other relations such as girlfriends, boyfriends, co-workers, relatives and friends. The decision by the Supreme Court makes it clear that an individual can file a retaliation claim if he is fired due to activities, protected under the law, that a person they are related to is involved in.
On the other hand, the possibility of being sued may decrease because employers are now more aware of the risk of retaliation based on this case. It therefore means that they would be more cautious when dismissing staff.
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Employee Voice in an Organization
Employee voice refers to the worker’s participation in influencing the decision-making the process of an organization. Employee voice has become vital in every organization as it is key to the successful business process. Articulation of the individual dissatisfaction is regarded as the first voice that seeks to address some immediate issues through proper management (Mowbray et al, 2015).
The employee’s voice will simply imply the two-way exchange where the workers air the issues affecting them with the management. Employees can air their concerns and problems indirectly using representatives or directly through some forums. Employee voice can act as a crucial pillar for the better worker’s engagement, better performance and management styles in a given organization (Mowbray et al, 2015).
Employee voice can be attained through various mechanisms for their effectiveness in a given organization. Informal and formal employee voice mechanisms are the commonly used types of the many organizations. Employee voice can also be categorized as either task-centered or power centered depending on the structure of the mechanism adopted (Townsend et al, 2012). All of these mechanisms are always centered on the team working initiatives, empowerment techniques and also the full engagement of the employers (Townsend et al, 2012).
The informal mechanism is the main type of employee voice employed in this paper. Informal type of voice mechanism mostly entails the use of the communication tools that are mainly implemented by the management of a given firm. The type of employee voice mechanism entails the implementation of the social function meetings, communication e.g. through emails and other forums and finding a proper way of receiving the feedback from workers (Townsend et al, 2012).
The structure of the mechanism is a two way-communication type of employee voice employed in the organization. The structure includes the forum for sharing of information between the employees and the employer after the workers are provided with the right information about the businesses (Burris, 2012). Newsletters, notice boards and staff meeting are used by the employer to disseminate the information to the employees.
Intranet and the email are adopted to ensure the information reaches the workers. The meeting structure will allow the workers to seek clarifications about the certain matter from their bosses. Seek feedback and suggestions structure is to be enhanced through the problem-solving groups, surveys and regular meetings. The atmosphere is to be full of trust where the anxiety of the employees is reduced and make sure they freely provide their feedback about the business operations of an organization (Burris, 2012).
The feedback mechanism is part of the structure that encourages the dialogue with the employees. Evaluate and respond mechanism is to be implemented as part of the structure for ensuring the feedback and suggestions provided do not conflict. A structured way of responding to the feedback and the proper evaluation of the input by the workers is adopted in the informal mechanism of employee voice (Burris, 2012).
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There are various ways that ensure the employee voice mechanism adopted is effective in nature and successful in nature. Elimination of the barriers that hinder the efficient communication between the employer and employee is one factor considered in the many organizations (Morisson, 2014). Such a strategy for working on the various barriers can be made possible through the skip-level meeting or having the numerous feedback processes (Morrison, 2014).
Adoption of this strategy ensures the employees are closer to the managers who will impact the success of the employee voice mechanism positively. Proper evaluation of the ideas and opinions of workers by explaining why some suggestions cannot be adopted is offered as a useful forum that influences success. Adoption of this strategy ensures the organization fully benefits from the employee voice mechanism making it a success.
Enhancing mutuality in the relationship between employees and employers would impact the success of the employee voice mechanism (Morrison, 2014). Use of downward communication and use of the electronic media to ease the process of conveying the relevant information which consequently impacts the success of the employee voice mechanism.
Unions are important as they effectively offer sufficient reasons for their positive effect on productivity. Management behavior is positively impacted by the union where the issues of the employees are handled in the right manner. The union has both the positive and negative impacts on the employee voice mechanism.
Unions offer the collective bargaining for the employee’s voice which is a stronger force that ensures their issues are properly handled thus impacting the mechanism positively (Morrison, 2014). Union presence would lower the effectiveness of the mechanism due to lack of the direct employee involvement which is the major factor in the success of employee voice. Unions with greater monopoly enjoy a more effective employee voice due the pressure they put on the management.
In the formal employee voice mechanism, the employee perspective is mainly reflected in an organization. Reflection on the employee is mainly due to the full workers engagement in the decision-making the process as the main objective of an organization (Morrison, 2014). Formal mechanism aims at ensuring the employees air their grievances in an easier better channel thus making the reflection to be fully in them.
The necessity of the full presentation and the policies that require full safeguarding of the employees makes the employee voice a right that should be accorded to the workers in every organization (Townsend et al, 2012). Employers should grant the workers the freedom to express their opinions especially regarding the matters that affect them as failure to do so is a violation of their privileges.
In this case, the employee voice is a fundamental right that should be provided to the employees by their employers. The privilege of education, training and provision of good meals is a fundamental right identified in the story of Daniel during captivity. The strategy is to acquire as much knowledge as possible through the education rights which impacted his integrity leading to better actions and performances in future (Mowbray et al, 2015). The strategy was to gain during the captivity period and at the end having an uncompromising life full of genuine integrity.
Townsend, K., Wilkinson, A., & Burgess, J. (2012). Filling the gaps: Patterns of formal and informal voice. Economic and industrial Democracy, 0143831X12448442.
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