LAWS AFFECTING BUSINESS
How to Legally
Terminate an Employee
Terminating an employee has become a
necessary part of a business.
•
• When firing an employee you should always
remember to legally cover all their bases so it
doesn’t encounter a lawsuit.
The Sherman Antitrust Act
• Passed in 1890, the Sherman Antitrust
Act was the first major legislation passed
to address oppressive business practices
associated with cartels and oppressive
monopolies.
• The Sherman Antitrust Act is a federal
law prohibiting any contract, trust, or
conspiracy in restraint of interstate or
foreign trade.
The Clayton Act
• The purpose of the Clayton Act was to give
more enforcement teeth to the Sherman
Antitrust Act. Passed in 1914, the Clayton
Act regulates general practices that may be
detrimental to fair competition. Some of
these general practices regulated by the
Clayton Act are: price discrimination,
exclusive dealing contracts, tying
agreements, or requirement contracts;
mergers and acquisitions; and interlocking
directorates.
Robinson-Patman Act
• Robinson-Patman Act, passed by the U.S.
Congress in 1936 to supplement the Clayton
Antitrust Act. The act, advanced by
Congressman Wright Patman, forbade any
person or firm engaged in interstate
commerce to discriminate in price to different
purchasers of the same commodity when the
effect would be to lessen competition or to
create a monopoly.
Types of Legislation in Businesses
• Employment Law- Laws that protects
employees in the workplace.
• Consumer Law- Laws that protects
consumers in and from businesses.
• Competitive Law- Protects businesses from
other businesses in the market.
Examples of Legislation in Businesses
• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
(Promises that workers will have a safe premises and
machinery to work with)
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
(No one shall be discriminated sexually in training,
employment, and recruitment)
• Trade Description Act
(Product must perform the way as advertised)
Code Of Ethics
A code of ethics is a set of guidelines which are
designed to set out acceptable behaviors for
members of a particular group, association, or
in this case a business
•Many organizations govern themselves with
a code of ethics, when dealing with sensitive
issues like investments, health care, or
interactions with other cultures.
• A code of ethics can also increase confidence
in an organization by showing outsiders that
members of the organization are committed
to following basic ethical guidelines in the
course of doing their work.
• It should address both the particular nuances
of the company's industry as well as its
broader goals for social responsibility and
should be concrete enough to serve as a guide
for employees in a quandary without laying
out rules for every situation that could arise
Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which
prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin;
• the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and
women who perform substantially equal work in the same
establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;
• the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
(ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or
older;
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended (ADA),
which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified
individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state
and local governments;
• the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things,
provides monetary damages in cases of intentional
employment discrimination.
Examples of Acts:
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
– statements or specifications in job notices or advertisements of age preference
and limitations. An age limit may only be specified in the rare circumstance
where age has been proven to be a bona fide occupational qualification
(BFOQ);
– discrimination on the basis of age by apprenticeship programs, including joint
labor-management apprenticeship programs; and
– denial of benefits to older employees. An employer may reduce benefits based
on age only if the cost of providing the reduced benefits to older workers is the
same as the cost of providing benefits to younger workers.
• Equal Pay Act
– The EPA prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the payment of wages or
benefits, where men and women perform work of similar skill, effort, and
responsibility for the same employer under similar working conditions.
• Employers may not reduce wages of either sex to equalize pay between men and
women.
– A violation of the EPA may occur where a different wage was/is paid to a
person who worked in the same job before or after an employee of the
opposite sex.
– A violation may also occur where a labor union causes the employer to violate
the law.
Active Leaders
• Understand the needs
and characteristics of
each person in the
group.
• Fulfill work
responsibilities.
• Passion drives a lot, and
you can inspire so much
in others through your
own passion and
enthusiasm.
• A great leader needs to
be able to delegate
effectively.
• Pay attention and listen
carefully to the input of
each member of the group.
• A popular leadership trend
since the 1980s has been to
encourage employee
participation in problem
solving and decision
making. By obtaining and
considering the suggestions
of others, a leader has
access to more data,
experience and opinions.
• Great communicator.
• Great leaders are followers
too. If you’re a leader
without following, you’re a
dictator.
Inactive
Leaders
Tend to react to a daily work
challenge after someone tells them
about it, whereas the active leader
proactively seeks out obstacles.
A disorganized leader isn’t
leading, he’s chasing his own tail.
If all you want to do is talk,
you’re not a leader.
You aren’t in it to win it, your just
there to get by.
Uses power to serve there self.
In-groups vs.
Out-groups
Fear Tactics
Micromanagement
 To manage or control with
excessive attention to minor
details.
 The people that are hired to
do certain jobs inside of the
business have certain skills,
and those skills need to be
taken advantage of.
• “Hey, go-getter. Yes, you
could do it all, but there are
times it's best to step back
and stop stifling your team's
productivity and creativity.”
Culture In A Workplace
• 1. Understanding Who They Are and What Drives Them
– Each company is like an individual, everyone has different ways of doing
things.
– When starting in a workplace, understand the business’s vision and
mission.
• 2. Flexibility
– Businesses are constantly making changes, and that means having to
interfere with one thing to get the most important priorities done first.
– Usually business have to cancel things they had planned in order to
meet customers needs and demands.
• 3. Commitment to Individual and Collective Success
– Businesses have to be committed to their employees in order to achieve
success
– Employees are relying on their workplace for their education and
experience
Diversity in a workplace
• Respecting individuals differences can increase
productivity and reduce any problems.
• Diversity is critical for an organizations success.
• Diversity doesn’t need to mean race and ethnicity, it
can also be used as each single employees qualities
that make the organization grow and succeed .
• Different views from each person to make a judgment
about a topic.
• Ignoring diversity can issue time, money, and
efficiency.
• Diversity increases organizations sales and ignoring it
you can lose valuable workers.
Leading
• Leaders do not tell other people what to do, they
help others to take charge.
• Concern not only about goals but also about the
people.
• Many leaders inspire others to follow by setting an
example.
• A leader builds people’s confidence.
• Must have clear vision, effectively communicate, also
have a strategy in mind to make the vision reality.
Managing
• Managers are task oriented.
• They supervise and direct work flow.
• Tend to be more concerned about the process and
the results.
• Often focus on goals, structures, and resources.
• Managers get paid to get things done.
• Managers have stability.
What is Outsourcing?
• Outsourcing is the act of one
company contracting with another
company to provide services that
might otherwise be performed by inhouse employees.
• Examples: call center services, e-mail
services, and payroll
Why do we outsource?
• There are many reasons that companies
outsource different jobs, but the biggest
reason is that it saves money.
• Many of the companies that
provide outsourcing services are able to do
the same amount of work for less money,
because they don't have to provide benefits
to their workers and have fewer expenses to
worry about.
• Depending on location, it may also be more
affordable to outsource to companies located
in different countries.
15 Steps To Evaluate An Employee
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AMBITION / INITIATIVE
ATTENDANCE
ATTITUDE / COOPERATION
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
DEPARTMENT AND COMPANY ORIENTED
FOCUS
IMPROVEMENT FROM PREVIOUS EVALUATION
INTEGRITY
KNOWS WHEN TO ASK
LEVEL OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE
PRODUCTIVITY / DEADLINES
QUALITY OF WORK
RELIABILITY / GO-TO PERSON
STRESS MANAGEMENT
TEAMWORK / PITCHING IN
Workplace Manners
• Office Etiquette or Office Manners is
about conducting
yourself respectfully and
courteously in the office or
workplace
• First impressions are important! You
are the ambassador/s of the business
Examples of Workplace Manners
• Always act with honesty and dignity
• Chewing gum and popping bubble gum in the
presence of co-workers is neither cool nor
dignified
• Wear appropriate office attire; No cut off’s,
Short shorts, Low cut shirts, flip flops
• be sure to shower regularly and use a suitable
deodorant
• The essence of good manners and etiquette is
to be respectful and courteous at all times and
with everybody
Soft Skills
• Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an
individual's interactions, job performance and career
prospects
• Unlike hard skills, soft skills are interpersonal and
broadly applicable
Soft skills are often described by using terms
often associated with personality traits, such as:
• optimism
• common sense
• responsibility
• a sense of humor
• Integrity
• More simply soft skills are the “common sense” skills
applicable in the workplace
Styles of leadership
Autocratic Leadership
•Is the leadership form of, to a basic level,
dictatorship. The Autocratic leader exerts there power
on there employees with little room for there input. It
is effective for unskilled jobs but for other jobs it often
leads to high employee turn over, absenteeism, and a
loss of benefits from teamwork.
Bureaucratic Leadership
A Bureaucratic leader makes the employees work
by the book. It is effective for jobs with risk
involved such as jobs with toxic substances
involved or high places. The down falls of this
leadership style involve a demoralized staff and a
diminish organization ability to react to external
changes.
Laissez-Faire Leadership
Laissez-Faire is a French term for “leave it be” This
leadership style involves letting your employees work
on there own. Often a leader would monitored the
progress the employees make and communicate it
back to them. This is a good form of leadership for
some skilled employees but it can lead to a leader not
exerting enough control.
Democratic Leadership
This form of leadership involves taking your
employees ideas and wants into consideration
when making decisions. This often encourages
teamwork in the work place as well as encourages
harder working employees. This form of
leadership is good where teamwork is essential
but time is not.
Etiquette in The
Workplace
Office etiquette or Office manners
is about conducting yourself
respectably and courteously in the
office or workplace.
Good Office Manners
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Always act with honesty and dignity
Be neat, clean and conservative
Show respect for other people’s workspace
Show appreciation
Be helpful and co-operative with other workers
Aim to improve your other work skills
Say “Please”, “Thank you”, “You’re welcome.”
Take responsibility for your mistakes, apologize and go
about correcting the mistake.
Make new employees welcome
Show consideration for others
Keep work area tidy
Have cell phone turned on silent
Wear approiate clothes
Bad Office Manners
• Do not cough or sneeze in someone’s
direction
• Do not interrupt while someone is speaking
• Do not gossip about other workers
• Do not sell things to other workers
• Do not take your IPod to work
• Avoid sexist remarks
• Never blame someone else for your mistake
• Do not arrive late for a meeting
• Never be petty
• Do not dominate a meeting