Assignment 3: The Law and Ethical Considerations
This assignment allows you to demonstrate mastery of the following course outcomes:
1. Analyze employment related laws, and ethical considerations their application, and implications in the workplace
2. Evaluate rights, obligations, and liabilities in the employment process and relationship.
3. Evaluate compliance with current laws and regulations related to safety and fairness in the workplace.
4. Effectively communicate to internal and external audiences the principles and application of employment laws and ethical considerations in the business environment.
Social Media in the Workplace
Overview: There are times when HR professionals are faced with workplace situations where the laws and policies are evolving and yet ethical considerations need to be addressed. Below is an emerging workplace situation where there is no absolute right or wrong answer, but the situation needs to be analyzed from various points of view.
Description of the situation: An employee posted derogatory remarks about the organization and about another worker on Facebook. The organization’s policies does not address free expression just “offensive” and “harmful” speech. The supervisor is concerned that the posting was dehumanizing, humiliating and could incite hatred again persons or groups because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. The supervisor comes to the HR manager to ask for guidance on how to address the employee.
Action: Respond to all questions below. Utilize resources from the class, do outside research and make sure to have at least three sources as part of your final paper. This paper will also require independent research outside of class resources.
Answer each of the questions in narrative form (not bullet points). Use the outline below as a way to organize your response and comments. NOTE: You must use all the underlined headings below in your paper in same order as below. Failure to do so will result in -1.5pt deduction.
1. Applying the SHRM Code of Ethics: Describe at least three ethical considerations from the SHRM Code of Ethics that would apply and why? You must apply the specific facts to each of the three ethical considerations and what that means from the perspective of HR professional on handling the employee who posted the information. https://www.shrm.org/about-shrm/Pages/code-of-ethics.aspx
2. Legal and Ethical Considerations: What are the various considerations that need to be discussed regarding facts, affected parties, and who should be involved? Discuss each subpara a. b. and c. below in separate paragraphs using the specific headings below.
a. Identify applicable laws and explain how each relates to the facts in our scenario. Be specific. Describe key facts along with the applicable laws. Be specific.
b. Identify affected parties. Describe who is likely to be impacted and why?
c. Identify who should be involved in any resolution. Identify who, as well as when and why they should be involved. Be specific.
3. Possible Courses of Action: Discuss each subpara a. b. and c. below in separate paragraphs using the specific headings below. -.5pt if you do not.
a. What are potential legal remedies that can be taken? Be specific.
b. What policies or procedures need to be reviewed, revised, or created? Be specific.
c. What role should the HR professional play in this situation? Be specific.
4. HR actions: Discuss each subpara a. and b. below in separate paragraphs using the specific headings below. -.5pt if you do not.
a. What kind of employee training might be needed in the future to address this concern? Be specific.
b. What advice would you as the HR professional provide to the supervisor? Be specific.
Formatting directions for this assignment #3. [Failure to comply with formatting requirements will result in -1pt deduction]
• Use the underlined headings found in the outline above in your paper to denote the different questions.
• Paper must be in APA style, in text citations, narrative format (not in bullet points, no numbering except for each paragraph and no PowerPoint).
• Should be approximately 3-5 written narrative pages, double spaced
• Include a cover page which should have student name and title of your paper.
• Include a reference section at the end of your paper with at least 3 citations/references in APA style format.
https://learn.umgc.edu/content/enforced/634556-M_005302-01-2218/How%20to%20Create%20an%20Effective%20Social%20Media%20Policy.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8cqSBi2cPom3BQeuj3fkfdfmm
https://learn.umgc.edu/content/enforced/634556-M_005302-01-2218/Social%20Media%20Policy.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8cqSBi2cPom3BQeuj3fkfdfmm.