Employment Law New Challenges in the Business Environment

Employment law is an area that is constantly changing. Decisions are being rendered that redefine the parameters of selection, discrimination, privacy, and termination. Sexual harassment has become one of the most litigated areas of employment law. The number of cases involving disability discrimination is growing rapidly Sexual orientation may soon be considered a suspect classification under gender discrimination. Family leave may soon be given with pay. At-will employment may soon be displaced by the Model Termination in Employment Act's termination for cause contracts in lieu of an employee's right to sue. Arbitration will be the method for dispute resolution. The right of privacy advocates will continue to do battle with the proponents of drug and polygraph testing. As companies continue to find ways to improve the bottom line, diminishing employee theft of goods, services, and time will be a likely target. Surveillance will increase through the implementation of subtle methods. A trend has developed eliminating affirmative action in certain jurisdictions. Employment issues used to be handled by personnel departments with a director as the head. Now, a human resources division is often in place with countless more workers and a vice president as its leader. At the other end of the spectrum, NAFTA and GATT has made inroads against unions, labor laws, OSHA, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, pension and health benefit s, minimum and hourly wage laws, child labor laws, and the number of high-paying skilled and office positions through the deployment of jobs to Mexico and overseas, where these laws are not in effect. The global business environment will entice companies to seek out the most efficient labor force per dollar of wages and the least expensive manufacturing plants and office space. American workers will have to work longer, harder, and more efficiently while continuously learning skills to keep them competitive. Employment issues are now high profile. The study of employment law is important because of the impact it will have on businesses, management, and employees. The focus ofEmployment Law: New Challenges in the Business Environmentis on discrimination and employment regulation. As with my first book, Practical Business Law, I have written this book presenting principles of law in a step-building approach and illustrating those principles with stimulating employment perspectives (there are more than 100 employment perspectives in this book). Seventy-five cases from the year 2000 to present have been added to this edition. Each case is followed by case questions and commentary. Human resource advice and a chapter checklist appear at the beginning of each chapter with a hypothetical scenario illustrating employment law problems confronted by a small business. Employee lessons, human resource dilemmas, case problems, review questions, and a Web site assignment close out each chapter. Employment Law: New Challenges in the Business Environmentis a simple approach to employment law, with a foundation of legal principles explained in the layperson's language. The principles, once learned, can be applied to understand the judges' opinions in the cases presented. The ultimate task in learning is to apply the principles of law to factual situations. This can be accomplished through having the students resolve the issues in dispute. In each chapter, cases are included that focus on the important principles of law to be learned. These cases are extracted from actual cases to enhance class discussions while providing the student with a pragmatic view of the reasoning behind court decisions. This makes the book timely. It also provides the student with a text he or she can truly understand and appreciate. At the same time, the text affords the professor the opportunity to discuss the principles more fully by introducing his or her own examples and instances of practMoran, John J. is the author of 'Employment Law New Challenges in the Business Environment', published 2004 under ISBN 9780131477353 and ISBN 0131477358.