How Laws Protect the American Worker

How Laws Protect the American Worker

Julius T. Booker Jr

Southern New Hampshire University

Introduction

        The American workforce is protected under specifics laws. These laws cover all aspects of employment including wages, hours, vacation and finally, termination. The ability to hire and fire employees is a part of doing business but the steps taken to build a workforce are well established.  The employment process must be an equal playing field for all potential applicants and this study will identify the laws that protect the worker and employer as they seek each other out.  It will provide additional insight on how legislation was created by giving a brief history of societal movements in American history which prompted the need for change.  Although the cause of the movements was to eradicate discrimination in the hiring process and after, there is still work that needs to be done to create a fair system of checks and balances that all must abide by. Overall, this study will question the many facets of discrimination and how each affects businesses as they hire employees and how those employees defend themselves when they feel that their employer has subjugated them in some way.

The American Dream

        From the outset, this country was built on a premise that all were welcome and those who were willing to work would succeed. It created the idea of the American dream which Stern (2007) explained, “The promise of America is that if you work hard, you will be rewarded. You will be able to provide for your family, own a decent home, afford quality health care, and enjoy a secure retirement” (“Restoring the Promise…”). This promise was to include all races and genders in the American melting pot. This type of promise is easily stated but much harder to enforce.

        Discrimination played a major role in keeping some people out of jobs of which they were qualified and roles that they were deemed unsuited for based on surface qualifications. Pagura (2012) presented a workable definition of discrimination as "to distinguish unfavourably". It takes its meaning from the context in which it is used. Distinguish means to set apart, isolate, to treat differently. Unfavorably means in a negative way” (p. 45). There are several types of discrimination that this study will attempt to identify and pair with legislation that makes them illegal and defends employees. The types are gender, sex, age, race, physical or mental incapacity, pregnancy, political beliefs, religious beliefs and marital status. Some of these types are biological, such as gender or race, which the person cannot control and should not have to suffer for regardless. Others on this list are choices, like political views, which are under the same protections because of the rights afforded to workers by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Stern continued, “that dream is at risk. We stand at a moment of unprecedented economic opportunity, but that opportunity is not being extended to all.” It is because of this limited view by some that the needs of the many are not being met and the laws that govern this nation came to force for their protection.