Question

what human resources documents do you need to be aware of in the context of legal and ethical responsibility

Answer 1

Documentation is the record of work activities, both written and preserved. These records are composed of government and legally mandated components, documents provided by company policy and procedure, documents recommended by best practices in human resources, and formal and informal record-keeping of job events.

Types of Documentation

Policies, policies, the employee handbook and performance improvement plans are all sources of documentation that record anticipated employee actions and organizational expectations in order to ensure an organized, equitable organizational where workers know what is required of them.

Records are both the accused, the accuser, and witnesses' written accounts of hostile workplace activities involving employee misconduct, such as sexual assault or other significant transgression.

This paperwork also contains permanent documents such as the application for signed jobs, written work references, application materials such as resumes and cover letters, and background checks. Aside from the employee personnel file, other paperwork such as the I-9 form (which verifies the fitness of the employee to work in the United States) is also kept, as are medical records, FMLA records, and so forth.

As in a manager's record of his or her interactions with an employee over the course of a year, the recording can also be informal. It's critical that managers keep this record on all members of their reporting staff. No employee should be singled out for recording results. This treatment of one employee differently from the others may be viewed as discrimination against a later date.

Human resources are becoming highly bureaucratic, way beyond their original daunting amount of paperwork, rules and guidelines. Although many human resources documents have a relative meaning to an company, it's hard to manage them all fairly. To differentiate between certain documents with a higher value and those with a lower value, the following list is given as a reference for helping to correctly classify the actual significance of human resources documents.

1. I-9 Form

Both active employees and approved former employees are required by federal law to have an correct I-9 Form in file. Both active staff I-9 Forms should be checked or stored in a three-ring binder arranged alphabetically by the last name of the employee. All I-9 Forms of inactive workers should be scanned or stored in a three-ring binder chronologically ordered by the date of destruction. It is illegal to maintain a Form I-9 in an employee’s personnel file.

2. OSHA Records

In addition to the regular OSHA records (i.e. , 5 years of OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 Forms), organizations should also maintain numerous other employee safety related documentation including: weekly tailgate sign-in sheets and associated training materials, as well as Safety Data Sheets reports, Lockout / Tagout transactions, Internationally Harmonized System Instruction, Injury and Illness Prevention Programs, and chemical use records.

3. Employee Handbook

The employee handbook is an organization's administrative Bible, outlining procedures, guidelines and goals for success. Keeping an employee responsible for corporate rules , policies, and activities is nearly impossible without the employee handbook. Particularly remarkable is that the employee handbook conveys the working relationship between the employee and the boss at will. To that end, each employee must have a signed employee handbook declaration of recognition on paper.

4. Job Description

The job description is the core of the human resources feature in that it has direct relevance to employee selection, training , performance management, compensation, legal issues (e.g., ADA, FLSA, OSHA), workers ' compensation, discipline, and career ladder growth. For any position found on the organizational map, all organizations must have an exact job description.

5. Timesheet

The timeline is the main employee financial record that records all daily working hours, overtime performed, job expense information, absence leaves, shift start / end times, meal cycle start / end times, and various certificates of accuracy, legal enforcement, and injury-free consideration for each payroll period. This paper is critical in various possible wage and hour problems which can be constructive.

6. Performance Appraisal

An annual performance evaluation must be found in the Personnel folder of each employee. The performance evaluation is the critical form of reporting that outlines the strengths, shortcomings and performance goals of an employee. Without a performance assessment, it becomes highly troublesome for employee accountability and, by derivation, corporate defensibility relative to a wrongful termination claim.

7. Arbitration Agreement

The Arbitration Arrangement sets out the willingness of the employee to deal with serious disagreements with the employer by means of formal arbitration instead of a lengthy, expensive, and damaging jury trial. As with the employee handbook and confidentiality agreement, every employee of the company should review and re-sign this legal document every year.

8. Confidentiality Agreement

The Confidentiality Policy forbids workers from: revealing private company details to unauthorized parties; soliciting from the business of the company customers, staff, or partners; and keeping any confidential information at the time the company is removed from the business.

9. Job Application

For any employee the work application starts the human resources paper trail. The job application in its most basic form gathers pertinent details about the employee (e.g., name, address, telephone number), outlines the work and education records of the employee, which are used as screening tools to decide if an interview can take place, and introduces the at-will employment relationship to the employee for the first time.

10. Conditional Job Offer Letter

The conditional job offer letter formalizes the terms of employment by stipulating the start date, work description, name of the boss, starting pay rate, exempt or non-exempt status, compensation packages, the at-will employment agreement between the employee and the employer and contractual conditions ( e.g., drug and alcohol screening, driving record, background investigation).