(Guest blog post regarding US labor & employment law and effects on business) For any country to progress at an exponential rate, it is imperative that the contribution towards the economy by the businesses is governed properly. And, if a business has to run making profits there has to be great labor force supporting the cause. Needless to mention, the role played by the labor in the development of a country and its economy is indispensable.
The United States of America has a huge labor force, and hence it is imperative to have rules and laws regulating the force and also to be in the best interest of the labor, protecting their rights. The U.S department of Labor is a governing body that does the same, that is to protect the wage earners right, to help and improve the work conditions etc.
The Department of labor has many major laws covering, the wages and hours and over the period of time, many changes and amendments have been made to most of the laws in the best interest of the employees. However, there have been times where the changes and amendments to these laws did not prove satisfactory to the country’s growth.
In the recent times, the proposed changes to the labor law by the department of labor are not received well by the businesses. This change relating to the ‘Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act’ widely affects the way the managements of the businesses deal with some of their private information. It now means that the management has to disclose information relating to counsel if they hire any for any kind of labor advice or for any negotiation with the unions, and this can have quite drastic effect on the relationship between the union and the management, as well as on the overall functioning of the organization.
In addition, the companies have to declare the reason behind hiring the counsel and also have to disclose the fee paid to them. This report with all the above said details would be available to everybody including the company’s union, its competitors and valued customers. There would be certain instances where the management would not want to disclose such information and if they are compelled by this law, then they might not want to take the service of any counsel and deal the issues on their own, which is not recommended.
It is known to us that every employer has to maintain notices and post the posters designed exclusively for them, for example the Fair Labor Standards Act poster, Texas Compliance Posters, Posters for American Samoa etc., to name a few. Now, with the above change, companies would also have to post sensitive and private information and make it publicly available and that can have negative implications on the business.
Hence, management teams across the country are looking forward to negotiate further to make amendments to the labor laws without affecting the business by letting their private information go public. Change is the only constant in the way to progress, and let’s hope the change is in the right direction.