top of page
Worker's Civil Rights
Issue
The following proposals may resolve some of the more common abuses conducted by management in the workplace.
Layoffs (Require Financial Proof)
It is fairly common for companies to lay off employees when the nation experiences an economic slowdown or recession. This practice is often carried out even when businesses are not experiencing 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 of the companies were not 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 in droves which exacerbated the economic slowdown into becoming a great recession. In the end, many executives got away with violating their workers' civil rights by laying off their employees without 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 of their employees. If this policy was in effect, it would have prevented the snowball effect of mass layoffs and its negative impact upon the economy.
Layoffs (Guarantee Job)
Another abusive behavior by employers is that they lay off older workers in favor of younger and cheaper laborers. This is discriminatory and often occurs during a recession. To prevent this, federal law should require companies to rehire their 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 along with their employees. This policy would ensure that the executive did everything that was possible to prevent layoffs from occurring with 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 limits one's availability to find work elsewhere which results in violating a worker's civil rights.
Employers may say that non-compete clauses are necessary to retain qualified workers, but that effort should be accomplished by offering better 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 freely in this country.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing jobs to foreign countries is a violation of a worker's civil rights. This practice not only harms individual workers by limiting their prospects, it is greatly detrimental to the nation's economy.
Solving the outsourcing problem is fairly simple: companies who wish to do business in the country should be required to provide such produces/services within the given nation.
For example, if the Ford auto company wanted to close its factory in America and move its jobs to Mexico, then the parts manufactured in Mexico may only be sold and used in Mexico. If Ford wanted to use the same part in America then that part (and all other parts for the vehicle) must be manufactured and assembled in America. That way, companies may expand their products into other countries, but not do so at the expense of costing Americans their jobs.
Automated Interview
Despite federal laws, people have been discriminated against during the job interview process, sometimes without their knowledge. Examples are an applicant's appearance (height/weight/hairstyle), personal preferences (sports/hobby/other), length of time being unemployed, etc. For the long-term unemployed, the situation has gotten to the point where employers are actually bold enough to advertise that applicants must be "gainfully employed" at the time of their application. This is discriminatory and violates a worker's civil rights.
The easiest 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 should be posted online with the job listing or application process. By doing so, employers may evaluate candidates to the same degree (by asking the same questions), but without the possibility of discriminating against them since the correspondence is entirely online or through the mail.
For handling the special case of 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 date of where it may be determined that the applicant is not currently working at the time.
To ensure compliancy, the automated interview system should be offered by the Department of Labor as a free but mandatory service for all employers in the country.
Job postings from businesses will be listed on the Labor Dept.'s website and applicants will apply online as well. As an alternative, a paper version of the job application process may be offered by the Labor Department if necessary.
The automated system will prevent all forms of discrimination by sending the employer only discrete information (such as this is candidate #1's answers, etc.). No names, ethnicity, or creed will be provided. 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 which prevents nearly all forms of discrimination from occurring, whether protected by law or not.
Another advantage is that the system also provides an accurate accounting of the unemployed since businesses are required to submit such information whenever a worker's status changes. The former employee also has the ability to enter their information into the system if their past employment is ever contested. Having accurate unemployment numbers is important for determining matters such as if a stimulus package is necessary for improving the economy.
Overall, the advantage of having a federally-mandated automated interview system by the Labor Department prevents practically all forms of discrimination during the job hiring process.
bottom of page