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Worker's Civil Rights

Issue
 
   The following proposals may resolve some of the more common offensives conducted by management in the workplace.
Layoffs (Require Financial Proof)

   Companies typically lay off employees when the nation experiences an economic downturn. This practice is often carried out even when businesses are not experiencing a financial difficulty at the time, and layoffs are used as an excuse to reduce the workforce in order to increase profits. During the Great Recession of America (2007-2009), companies laid off millions of workers even though many companies weren't in financial trouble at the time.

   For example, Microsoft laid off approximately 5,000 workers even though they had over $20 billion in cash. Other companies followed suit and laid off employees in droves which further exacerbated the economic slowdown into becoming a deep recession. In the end, many executives got away with violating their workers' civil rights by laying off employees without the appropriate financial justification.

   To prevent this from happening again, legislation should be considered that requires companies to first prove their financial hardship with the Department of Labor prior to laying off any employees. Essentially, showing that they cannot make payroll in order to justify the reduction. If this policy was in effect back then, it would have prevented the snowball effect of mass layoffs throughout the country.
Layoffs (Guarantee Job)

   Another abusive behavior by employers is that they lay off older workers in favor of younger (and cheaper) laborers. This is clearly discriminatory and often occurs after a recession. To prevent this, federal law should require companies to rehire their former employees who were previously laid off before they may find a replacement.
Layoffs (CEO)

   To prevent frivolous layoffs, legislation should be considered that requires the CEO of a company to be laid off as well as their employees. This policy would ensure that the executive did everything that was possible to prevent layoffs from occurring within their company.
Unpaid Work
 
   Unpaid overtime work (for salaried employees) is a violation of a worker's civil rights. America is not a slave state so federal law is needed to require employers to pay for all work performed by their employees, whether they are salary- or hourly-based.
Non-Compete
 
   Many companies require the newly hired to sign a non-compete agreement or they won't be offered the job. However, non-compete clauses limit one's availability to find work which results in violating a worker's civil right for employment.

   Employers may say that non-compete clauses are necessary to retain qualified workers, but that effort should be accomplished by offering incentives to their employees (such as higher pay). Legislation should be considered that makes all non-compete agreements null and void in value, and by doing so, reinstates a citizen's right to work in this country.
Outsourcing
 
   Outsourcing to foreign countries not only harms individual workers by limiting their prospects, it also becomes detrimental to the nation's economy as well. Solving outsourcing is simple: companies that wish to do business in the country should be required to provide such products and services within the given nation.

   For example, if an auto company wanted to close its factory and move its jobs to Mexico, the parts manufactured and assembled in Mexico may only be sold in Mexico. Or, if another company wanted to move its support center service to India then only calls that originated in India may be handled within that country.

   By following this basic policy, companies may expand their products into other nations but not do so at the expense of costing the local economy its jobs.
Automated Interview
 
   Despite several federal laws, people have been discriminated against during the job interview process without their knowledge.

   Some examples are an applicant's appearance (height/weight/hairstyle/clothing), personal preferences (sports/hobbies), length of time being unemployed, etc. For the latter, the situation has gotten to the point where employers are bold enough to advertise that applicants must be "gainfully employed" at the time of their application. These are all discriminatory in nature and violate a worker's civil rights.

   The best manner of solving these issues is to automate the interview process of where the interviewer doesn't have direct contact with the applicant. The questions that are normally asked during the interview process should be posted online with the job listing or application. By doing so, employers may evaluate candidates to the same degree as before by asking the same questions, but without the possibility of discriminating against them since the correspondence is done entirely online, or through the mail.

   For the special case of not discriminating against the long-term unemployed, human resources should be required to hide the applicant's employment dates from the hiring manager. That way, only the duration of previous employment would be known (e.g., two years at a particular job), and not the actual timeframe where it may be determined that the applicant is not currently working when applying for a job.

   To ensure compliance, the automated interview system should be offered by the Department of Labor as a free, but mandatory, service for all employers in the country.

   All job postings from businesses will be listed on the Labor Dept.'s website, and job applicants will apply online as well. A paper version of the job application and interview process may be offered by the Labor Department for those without internet access.

   The automated system will ensure the prevention of being discriminated against by sending the employer only discrete information (such as, "This is candidate #1's answers," etc.). No names, ethnicity, or creed will be provided by the system. Background checks will be conducted by the automated system whenever the employer decides to move forward with a particular applicant. So, the entire interview process becomes fully automated that prevents nearly all forms of discrimination from occurring for the applicant.

   Another advantage of having a federal system is that it also provides an accurate number of the unemployed in the country since businesses are required to submit such information whenever a worker is hired or fired. The former employee will have the ability to enter their information into the system if their past employment is ever contested.

   Overall, the main advantage of having a federally-mandated automated interview system by the Labor Department is that it prevents all forms of discrimination during the job hiring process.
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