Employment laws have been used for a long time to safeguard the interests of employees and employers at the workplace. Mobile executives encounter mixed employment laws depending on the locations they are posted. However, the market forces of demand and supply tend to override the existing employment laws. The latter explains why civil rights groups often take the place of litigation measures in order to address job discrimination at the workplace.
According to Schwartz and Lucas (2012), there has been a sudden upsurge of multinational corporations. As a result, most modern company executives travel a lot and some of them even work overseas in order to propel the objectives of their respective organizations. The article explores workplace implications and the associated employment laws for company executives who relocate and work in remote locations. The authors begin by exploring the United States employment law. Second, the effect of the existing employment laws on the local and overseas executives has been discussed. It is interesting to mention that the US employment laws tend to vary for the two categories of executives. There is a need to amend such laws bearing in mind that all company executives do not experience similar working conditions. For instance, some workplace locations can be considered to be hardship zones. Therefore, allowances and other fringe benefits should vary accordingly.
On the other hand, Curran and Quinn (2012) discuss various attitudes that employees and employers have towards employment laws. The authors have discussed this subject matter in relation to Irish employment law. Moreover, a comparative approach has been used to deliver the objectives of the paper. Two different forms of employment laws have been used to gauge the impact of information availed to employees and race equality. From the article, it is evident that employment law in Ireland is not uniform across the board. For example, factors such as race, gender, and information available to employees play critical roles in shaping the nature of employment laws that are adopted by most organizations.
The authors have also used semi-structured interviews to obtain the most valid and first-hand data from the individual experiences of employees and employers. The empirical findings also indicate that legislation does not play the basic role of initiating change that is required in the existing employment laws. Moreover, the labor market is generally the key factor that determines the employment wellbeing of the entire workforce. In other words, market-prompted voluntarism overrides the power of existing legislation when it comes to employment law. It is necessary for all employment relations practices to be firmly embedded in the legally enacted rules and regulations.
The history of the fair employment law has been discussed by Engstrom (2011). The 1964 Civil Rights Act can be traced as the origin of equitable employment law in the United States. Before the close of the 1960s, employment laws had already been enforced in over 20 states. Although the initial state-level schemes to enact and enforce employment laws were considered to be fairly effective, it is vital to mention that the federal courts were later given the mandate to oversee the implementation of employment laws. During the 1940s, it can be recalled that the civil rights groups played a major role in championing the rights of workers who were being discriminated at various workplaces.
The main issue of concern during this time was racial discrimination in employment. The administrative approach used by the civil rights groups was found to be relatively effective in agitating for the demands of workers. Although civil rights groups are still active in the current decade, court and litigation measures are largely used to address the breach of employment laws at the local, state and federal levels. Pressure groups are no longer viable platforms for seeking redress on job discrimination even though their functions are still recognized by governments across the globe.
References
Curran, D., & Quinn, M. (2012). Attitudes to employment law and the consequent impact of legislation on employment relations practice. Employee Relations, 34(5), 464- 480.
Engstrom, D. F. (2011). The Lost Origins of American Fair Employment Law: Regulatory Choice and the Making of Modern Civil Rights, 1943-1972. Stanford Law Review, 63(5), 1071-1143.
Schwartz, J. C., & Lucas, A. R. (2012). The mobile executive: US employment law. Business Law International, 13(3), 263-277,241.