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Legal Issues In Reduction Of Workforce

Legal Issues in Reduction of Workforce
Regulation and Conflict Management in the Workplace

Introduction
Team A conducted research on FastServe Inc. regarding legal issues in reduction of the company's workforce. This paper will address the important issues in understanding and avoiding the risks of discrimination claims against the FastServe Corporation by: 1) discussing what role length of service plays in making decisions for a reduction- in –force, 2) reviewing the extent to which management should consider gender, race, age and other protected class designations when making reduction- in – force decisions, 3) explaining the role ethics play in decision making and 4) recommending employment policies for FastServe Inc. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 employment practices must comply with federal and state anti-discrimination legislation (Harshman & Rudin, 2000).
Legal Issues in Reduction of Workforce
Upon receiving notice to layoff and redesign job descriptions of employees, specific areas were reviewed in order to make a decision that would provide the best outcome for the company. These areas included job performance, productivity, special achievements, job responsibility, educational qualifications, absenteeism and status.
Length of service should play a role in making decisions for a reduction-in-force in a non-union organization but it should be taken into consideration along with skill level. An employee should not keep his or her job simply because they have been with the organization for several years. Each employee would need to be reviewed not only on how long they have been with the organization, but on his or her performance as well.
At many organizations, the employees who have been there the longest are the organizations best assets because they already know how to do their jobs versus a new hire that requires a lot of training. There will be times when a new hire may have more education and experience than employees...