What’s HR & HR Law?
What Are Human Resources & Labor & Employment Law & Labor & Employee Relations? & How Can HR Improve A Business’ $$$$?
SUMMARY
* What are Human Resources & Human Capital and Why Should It Matter to You?
* Micro and Macro HR
* How Macro and Micro HR Impact the Bottom Line
* What is Labor and Employment Law
* What are Labor and Employee Relations
* Examples of Labor and Employee Relations and Law in the Workplace
* Why Utilize an HR Consultant and Attorney?
* Why Utilize Charles Krugel?
What is Human Resources and Why Should It Matter to You?
The simplest definition of human resources (HR) that I can offer is that it’s the approach, the philosophy, a business adopts for the acquisition and management of employees. My philosophy is that it’s most effective for businesses to think of acquiring and managing employees in a manner similar to that of any other capital asset. Now what exactly does this mean?
Yes, employees are human and they are a business resource. However, in the same way that machinery or equipment is capital that appreciates or depreciates in value, and which can be improved, sold or discarded, HR relates to the management of employees in a similar manner. Although this explanation may seem callous, under closer examination it is evident that HR pays as much attention to the “human” half of its name as it does to the “resources” aspect.
HR concerns the approach and ideology a business adopts for its employment life cycle and its organizational development and culture. The recruiting, selecting, compensating, motivating, maintaining and promoting employees are all part of HR. HR further includes strategic, budget and succession planning. Moreover, to some extent, all businesses practice HR, and a business’ HR philosophy may be multidisciplinary or may be singular in approach.
For example, an HR ideology may focus more on labor and employee relations than on organizational culture and development. Yet, an effective HR philosophy has to acknowledge that because employees affect every facet of business, and are the human face of business, employees have the greatest impact on productivity and profits.
Therefore, in order to improve productivity and profits and decrease employment related expenses, management must know how to treat employees in a fashion which enhances their value. Ultimately, effective HR helps to maximize profits and productivity by minimizing employment related expenses and maximizing employee performance.
In U.S. industry, modern HR theories date back to the Industrial Revolution. Moreover, since the Industrial Revolution, HR has evolved along with changes in production, distribution, finance and, perhaps most importantly, legal and civil rights. HR poses problems for a business when it fails to understand how these changes influence macro and micro HR practices.
Macro HR is essentially the strategic function of HR in a particular work environment. Macro HR encompasses the understanding of how HR fits into the organization’s structure, mission and planning. Macro HR further incorporates policy and practice development and designating who administrates HR. Additionally, collective bargaining and union avoidance campaigns are generally considered macro related concerns. Some of the vernacular related to macro HR is strategic planning and organizational design and development.
Micro HR is usually understood to be the actual execution of duties as mandated at the macro level. These duties commonly include the administration of policies regarding the selection, hiring, compensation, placement, performance management, promotion, conflict resolution, discipline and discharge of employees. Some of the terms commonly associated with micro HR are operations planning, practices, procedures and administration.
How Macro and Micro HR Impact the Bottom Line
As stated above, a business will encounter difficulties when it fails to account for changes to macro and micro HR practices and changes to our labor and employment laws. Such difficulties include an unsafe workplace, attendance issues, conflict, misconduct, union organizing campaigns, high turnover and litigation. Simply stated, when a business encounters HR related problems, money is lost.
Businesses have money coming in through the “front door” via revenue, venture capital, grants, investors, etc. However, much of this money can leave through the “back door” because of poor HR practices. For instance, time and money is lost when a business realizes, after-the-fact, that it hired the wrong employee and may now have to discharge that employee. Consequently, that business now has to spend money and time finding and training a new employee and may even have to defend its treatment and discharge of the former employee.
Recognizing and efficiently resolving these problems often expends a great deal of time, energy and money. However, time and energy spent upfront, proactively, on HR related matters could help to reduce, and in certain instances eliminate, the loss of money out the “back door.” Thus, HR ideology is transformed into an investment in capital. Time, energy and money will be saved and increased productivity and profits will result. This ideology is commonly referred to as “preventive,” “positive” or “proactive” HR. Additionally, this is sometimes referred to as the human capital management philosophy. It is knowing which HR practices to adopt and which HR disciplines to focus on that is crucial in resolving macro and micro HR issues.
A competent HR professional knows which disciplines and policies to focus on and understands how the legal environment affects HR. A competent HR professional also knows that effective HR helps transform business from just a place to work into an environment which provides employees varied opportunities for meaningful contributions. Meaningful employee contributions lead to decreased operating costs, innovation and increased profits. Implicit in this explanation is the fact that results are measurable via means such as before and after analyses and time and expense audits.
It is knowing which HR practices to adopt and which HR disciplines to focus on that is crucial in resolving macro and micro HR issues. Labor and employment law and labor and employee relations fall into both the macro and micro categories of HR.
What is Labor and Employment Law?
These are two distinct categories which are often confused with one another because they somewhat overlap.
Generally, labor law refers to the body of laws and rules regulating labor unions and associations and their relationship with management. Such laws include the National Labor Relations Act and other state and local labor laws or ordinances. These laws and regulations permit employees to organize, elect representation and enter into legally binding contracts with management.
Generally, employment law concerns the body of laws and rules regulating civil rights and non-union related conduct in the workplace. Civil rights include a workplace free from discrimination and harassment for people (it need not be an employee) who fit into one of the legally protected classes (e.g., race, gender, disability, national origin, religion, military status, pregnancy, and in some instances sexual or gender orientation). Conduct laws refer to equal and fair pay, immigration and employment-at-will laws. Like labor laws, these are federal, state and local laws.
What are Labor & Employee Relations?
On the macro HR level, labor relations refers to the philosophy a business adopts for dealing with labor unions, union organizing and employee associations. On the micro level, this refers to practices and rules for dealing with individual employee issues relative to unions and associations.
Employee relations refers to the ideology (macro) a business adopts for dealing with harassment and discrimination and other employee issues, unrelated to labor unions or associations. This may include communication, discipline, recognition and payroll policies. On the micro level, it generally refers to how these laws and rules are applied to individual employees.
Examples of Labor and Employee Relations and Law in the Workplace
A company hears of a union organizing campaign. In order to prevent unionizing, the company commences an overly aggressive prevention campaign which incorporates talk of layoffs, relocation and creating new compensation and benefits policies. Consequently, the prospective union fights back by proliferating fear and filing agency complaints (e.g., unfair labor practices charges), which the company now has to defend. Thus, productivity decreases, expenses increase, morale deteriorates and the potential for unionization is significantly increased.
A supervisor receives a complaint from an employee concerning racial harassment in another department. Thinking that this has nothing to do with her department, the supervisor tells her employee to ignore it, and let the supervisor of the other department handle it. The issue falls through the cracks. Subsequently, a fight breaks out between employees in the other department. One employee is hospitalized with injuries. Another employee is arrested and fired. The arrested and fired employee is a minority who files a civil rights complaint for racial harassment and a lawsuit for wrongful discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. The company has little to no supporting documentation to show that it did anything to determine whether or not racial harassment existed in the workplace. Even if it wins the civil rights complaint and lawsuit, it will either have to pay thousands in legal fees or its employment practices liability insurance premiums may skyrocket.
Poorly aligned macro and micro HR practices led to the above discussed problems. It could be as simple as a business not recognizing that its HR philosophy is out-of-synch with its business strategy. Subsequently, policies are misinterpreted and incorrectly applied, and costly mistakes occur. Such mistakes further include improperly administered performance appraisals and improperly allocated wage and salary increases; all which could lead to legal exposure and liability.
The fact is, in order to prevent money from escaping out the back door, a business needs to understand and anticipate HR related issues before they arise or escalate. Usually, these issues are best resolved through means such as effective communication, policies and practices, the utilization of successful diagnostic and investigative techniques, and via effective legal counsel and representation.
Why Utilize an HR Consultant and Attorney?
Although all businesses with employees practice HR, and some even have an in-house HR department, many businesses still encounter HR related problems. These problems generally start with the conflicts between business strategy and HR practices (again, macro versus micro). It could be as simple as a business not recognizing that its HR philosophy is out-of-synch with its business strategy. Subsequently, policies are misinterpreted and incorrectly applied, and costly mistakes occur. Such mistakes include improperly administered performance appraisals and improperly allocated wage and salary increases.
A business can hire someone to help resolve individual cases (i.e., micro issues), but without attention being paid to the macro issues, or why these problems arise in the first place, that business will most likely throw more money at resolving the same issues and continue to waste capital. I have seen this happen again and again.
For example, two unionized companies enter into merger negotiations. Neither company approaches their respective unions in a meaningful or timely manner to discuss integration issues (e.g., compensation, pensions and seniority). Consequently, each union commences campaigns to destroy the merger. There is further talk of boycotts, slowdowns, “blue flu,” and other obstacles. Thus, fear and misunderstanding among each company’s officials and customers bring merger discussions to a halt. Eventually, both companies call off the proposed merger.
Or consider this example: Company officials hear of a union organizing campaign. In order to prevent unionizing, the company commences an overly aggressive union prevention campaign which incorporates talk of layoffs, relocation and creating new compensation and benefits policies. Consequently, the prospective union fights back by proliferating fear and filing agency complaints (e.g., unfair labor practices charges), which the company now has to defend. Thus, productivity decreases, expenses increase, morale deteriorates and the potential for unionization is significantly increased.
Poorly aligned macro and micro HR practices led to the above discussed problems. The fact is, in order to prevent money from escaping out the back door, a business needs to anticipate and fully understand HR related problems before they arise or escalate. This is accomplished through means such as effective communication, representation, diagnostics and policies. This is where I come in.
Besides traditional labor and employment law representation, I train my clients to prevent macro and micro HR problems from arising and to resolve issues before they escalate. Because of my efforts, my clients know how to “read” and listen to their workforce.
In part, my practice focuses on educating my clients about how the various laws, agencies and regulations work, while simultaneously protecting my clients’ business interests. In other words, I don’t just represent my clients’ legal interests, I also teach proaction and prevention. I teach my clients successful HR practices.
As an owner or operator, you want to be able to resolve your employees’ problems without the intervention of indifferent individuals and third parties, such as government agencies or employee representatives. You want to hear about your issues directly from your employees not from their attorneys, their representatives or other 3rd parties. Look at it this way, do you really want bureaucrats or 3rd parties telling you how to manage your workforce or run your business?
I am not an indifferent individual because I not only understand HR and the legal environment, I understand what it is like to run a business. I do it on a daily basis. You started and run your own business. So have I.
Until a few years ago, I worked for various organizations in an HR and labor and employment law capacity. Overtime, I realized that my employment experiences and family background helped forge a distinctive consulting and legal representation style. For instance, like other attorneys, I take an objective view of the issues I deal with. However, because I interact so closely with my clients, I do this to a lesser extent than other professionals. In fact, my clients have said that one of the qualities they admire about me is that I closely identify with them. Moreover, I disliked dealing with the daily drag of bureaucracy. So I started my own practice.
Additionally, because I am a solo practitioner, on a 24/7 basis, if you contact me, I am the only person you will deal with.
On occasion, and with client consent, I utilize professionals in the security, risk management, assessment, compensation, benefits, accounting, tax and legal fields. These are highly trusted and competent professionals whom I sometimes introduce into labor and employee relations matters, policy and practice development, or complex litigation matters. These professionals provide administrative, advocacy, security, costing and plan implementation services.
Also, I take the time to learn about and understand my client’s internal operations and their external competitive environment. While maintaining the confidentiality of a client’s concerns, I learn as much as I can about a client’s business by talking with owners, officers and staff. Moreover, beyond the typical reading and research about a company and their industry, I attend industry exhibitions, seminars, conventions and other related events.
Perhaps even more importantly, I understand a client’s need to eventually separate themselves from me. Although I enjoy long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with clients, I recognize that if they are not learning how to resolve issues on their own and saving their money, then I have failed. In fact, one of my mantras is that through utilization of my services, I hope to eventually render myself obsolete to my clients. Has this happened? Yes and no.
New issues and problems always arise and though my consulting style involves relating all issues together into the “big picture” (macro), HR issues oftentimes require too much time and effort for in-house people to resolve or they need additional training to learn how to do it themselves. Specific instances include negotiating and implementing employment agreements (hiring and separation), labor negotiations, policy and handbook reviews, and training related to updates or changes in the law.
Relative to results, I have been lead negotiator for more than 6 collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, I led negotiations for greater than 7 interim/temporary labor agreements and 58 employment agreements, including noncompete agreements and severance/separation agreements. I have represented management in more than 60 lawsuits, arbitrations, mediations and agency cases/complaints. I have resolved more than 100 labor grievances and employee complaints and completed over 100 in-house investigations. During my tenure with one former employer, within one year, I reduced unemployment compensation expenses from $95,700/quarter to $54,800/quarter. Also, with that same employer, within one year, I reduced their legal expenses from $23,000 in any given month to $300/month. Moreover, I’m a published author in my field: “AIDS and the ADA: Maneuvering Through a Legal Minefield,” The Labor Law Journal, CCH, Inc.
I have devoted my entire education and experience to helping businesses with their HR needs, with particular emphasis in the areas of labor and employee relations and labor and employment law. I possess the qualifications, skills and abilities necessary to help businesses identify and resolve their HR related issues and reduce HR related costs. As an HR attorney and consultant, I aggressively represent the macro and micro HR efforts of clients from start to finish; from creation and even through the sometimes unavoidable and almost always unfortunate litigation of issues.
Contact me to discuss your issues and concerns about anything you have read on my blog or to discuss your business’ HR related problems.
