SD DOMBO UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND INTEGRATED

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

2022/2023 FIRST TRIMESTER

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

COURSE TITLE: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

COURSE CODE: BCM329

LEVEL: 300

DATE: March 2023

PRESENTED BY GROUP 12
STUDENT ID SIGNATURE

1. UG0198321

2. UG0277521

3. UG0217021

4. UG0198221

5. UG0048021

6. UG0029321

7. UG0282921

8. UG0231621

9. UG0198721

10.UG0198121

GROUP PARTICIPANTS
 RIGHTS OF EMPLOYMENT

INTRODUCTION

The Concept of Employment rights has a major influence on the activities of both the employer
and employee in terms of an employment relationship. The employment relationship can be seen
as a process of socio-economic exchange (the economic component or the exchange of work for
payment) and the sociological dimension centred on power and authority.

Employment rights have secured various basic employee and employer rights which have
brought improvement to the workplace. However, these rights are increasingly limited. Despite
these limitations, it has been argued that rights are somewhat impossible to avoid by carefully
developed systems, employment policies and practices. The current emphasis on employment
rights is a natural result of the evolution of societal, business and employer/employee interests.

The scope of employment rights has broadened over the past few years as national and local
governments have enacted laws giving employers/employees specific protection.

In Ghana, these laws can be found in THE SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIRST ACT OF THE
PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA ENTITLED LABOUR ACT, 2003. This is
AN ACT to amend and consolidate the laws relating to labour, employers, trade unions and
industrial relations; to establish a National Labour Commission and to provide for matters related
to these. The date of acquiescence is 8th October, 2003.

BE IT ENACTED by Parliament as follows:

PART I—PRELIMINARY

Section 1—Scope of Application.

This Act applies to all workers and all employers except the Armed Forces, the Police Service,
the Prison Service and the Security and Intelligence Agencies specified under the Security and
Intelligence Agencies Act 1996 (Act 526).
Labour Act, 2003 (Act No. 651). Part III: Protection of employment (rights and duties of
employers and workers, contract of employment, grounds for termination, etc.) Part V:
Employment of persons with disabilities (incentives, public service posts, employment not to
cease upon disablement, training, etc.)

EMPLOYMENT

Employment is a paid mutual work arrangement between a recruiter and an employee. This term
applies to an individual who is hired for a salary or compensation to initiate work or tasks for an
organization. Although the employee can negotiate certain items in an employment agreement,
the terms and conditions are included and are mostly determined by the employer. This
agreement could also be ended by the recruiter or the employee. This agreement also stipulates
the responsibilities, payment terms and arrangements, and rules of the workplace, and is
recognized by law.

Employment arrangements could be that an individual has entered some form of verbal or
written commitment with an entity, known as the employer, under certain stipulations such as
payment, schedule, etc.

RIGHTS

Rights are ethical, legal, and social principles of safety and freedom accorded to citizens by law.

RIGHTS OF EMPLOYMENT

Employment Rights are the fundamental rules employers and employees are legally bound to
abide by in their professional relationships. This has to deal with the rights of both the employer
and the employee.
 Importance Of Rights Of Employment.

1. Employment rights help to ensure that employees and employers are treated fairly and
equally at work.

2. Employment rights also help to ensure that employees are paid fairly for their work.

3. Employment rights ensure both parties abide by the employment contract.

4. Employment rights also help to ensure that employers provide safe and healthy
workplace for employees.

5. Employment rights also help to ensure that employees have the opportunity to advance in
their careers.

EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Employee rights are the fundamental rules employers are legally bound to abide by in their
professional relationships with employees. Employee rights are not only protected at the contract
level but also the public policy, state, and federal levels. The employee rights act protects
employees from discrimination by employers. Discrimination against an employee based on their
race, gender, colour, ethnicity, or age violates the employee rights act. Some of the rights that
employees enjoy at the workplace are the right to privacy, free speech, and a safe working
environment. These rights protect employees from harassment or discrimination in the
workplace.

CATEGORIES OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

There are three different categories of employee rights that managers tend to consider. They are:

(1) Contractual rights (2) statutory rights and (3) other rights.

 Contractual rights are based on law.

 A contract is a legally binding promise between two or more competent parties.

 A breach of contract, in which one of the parties does not perform his or her promised
duty to the other party, is subject to legal remedy.

 Both employers and employees have rights and obligations to each other when they enter
into a contract.

 An employment contract spells out explicit terms of the employment relationship for both
employee and employer.

 Contractual rights have 2 types of terms and conditions;

(a) Expresses terms that are usually written down and which govern the specific details of
the employee’s contract of employment.

(b) Implied terms that are unlikely to be written down but which nevertheless are
considered to be part of an employee’s contract (psychological contract).

 Employee statutory rights are protected by specific laws (by the government).

 Thus, statutory rights are rights created by legislation (e.g. The Ghana Labour Law (Act
651 of 2003) regulates employment and labour issues in Ghana.

 There are several types of employment contracts, such as:

(a) Permanent contract – continues until either side gives notice;

(b) Temporary contract – has no defined duration;

(c) Casual contract – the employee must be available for work, but the employer does not
guarantee work. e.g., a retired teacher may be on call to cover for a sick colleague.
 EMPLOYEE RIGHTS VS. EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES

 Balanced against employee rights is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe

working place for employees while guaranteeing safe, quality goods and services to
consumers.

 For example, an employee who uses drugs may exercise his or her privacy right and
refuse to submit to a drug test.

 But should that employee produce a faulty product as a result of drug impairment, the
employer can be held liable for any harm caused by that product.

 This means that employers must exercise reasonable care in the hiring and assignment of
employees to jobs.

VARIOUS RIGHTS EMPLOYEES HAVE COME TO EXPECT FROM THEIR

EMPLOYERS

There are other various rights that employees have come to expect from their employers and
these include:

(a) Management rights:

 The rights of the employer are usually known as management rights. The rights include:

 The right to run the business and retain profit, to protect its property and patents, manage
the workforce, to hire, promote, assign discipline, and discharge employees.

 It is therefore not surprising that in today’s competitive environment, before hiring

employees, employers sometimes impose certain restrictions such as:

 Preventing employees from revealing proprietary information outside the company.

Employers have ownership of an idea, invention, process, or work of authorship developed by

the employee during the time of employment. Etc.
(b) Negligent Hiring: the failure to use a reasonable amount of care when such failure results in
injury to customers or other employees.

 This implies that a general responsibility exists for employers to exercise reasonable care
in preventing employees from intentionally harming other employees during their course
of work.

c) Job protection rights: Employees tend to regard their jobs as an established right – a right
that should not be taken away without a just cause.

 For example, without the opportunity to hold a job, an employee’s well-being would be
greatly curtailed.

 It should, however, be understood that although employees might have a cause to regard
jobs as established rights, there is no legal protection affording employees a permanent or
continuous job.

(d) Employment-at-Will

 The principle assumes that an employee has a right to sever the employment relationship
for a better job opportunity or other personal reasons.

 Employers, likewise are free to terminate the employment relationship at any time-
without notice – for any reason, no reason, or even a bad reason.

 In essence, employees are said to work “at the will of the employer”

e) Wrongful discharge:

 A wrongful discharge is an illegal termination of an employee.

 A wrongful discharge suit challenges an employer’s right under the employment-at-will

concept to unilaterally terminate employees.

Courts recognise some exceptions to employment-at-will and they include:

 (a) Violation of public policy – an employee is terminated for refusing to commit a crime.

(b) Implied contract – when employees are discharged despite the employer’s promise of
(expressed or implied) job security.

An unjust discharge claim might exist where:

(a) Employees believe they were fired and then denied a guaranteed due process
procedure;

(b) In circumstances where a termination is falsely attributed to an employee; or

(c) For a protected legal right.

 For example, it has been said that approximately two million workers are discharged each
year, some being unfair dismissals.

(f) Whistle-Blowing:

 Employees engage in whistle-blowing when they report an employer’s illegal actions,

immoral conduct, or illegal practices to governmental agencies charged with upholding
the law.

 Several state laws protect whistle-blowers from retaliation from their employers.

 Not only is whistle-blowing a protected right of employees but also these cases result in
embarrassment for employers, harassment for employees and large fines for employers
that are found guilty.

 To prevent these cases, HR professionals recommend that internal policies are

implemented to encourage employees to report illegal and immoral conduct internally
rather than externally.
(g) Implicit contract

 This occurs when an implied promise by the employer suggests some form of job security
for the employee.

 Can be based on either oral or written statements made during the pre-employment
process or subsequent hiring.

 Some implied contracts may be binding such as those promises found in employee
handbooks.

(h) Explicit contract

 Explicit employment contracts are formal written (signed) agreements that grant
employees and employers agreed-upon employment benefits and privileges.

 They are popular with senior managers, executives and individuals with highly technical
or professional skills and abilities.

 Where they exist, they normally state the period of employment, terms and conditions
such as salary and benefits among others.

(i) Constructive discharge

 Is an employee’s voluntary termination of his or her employment because of harsh,

unreasonable employment conditions placed on the individual by the employer.

 This means that employees are “forced” to resign and therefore have no choice but to
quit.

 This implies that the employer has encompassed constructive discharge and therefore
may be liable for illegal conduct.
(j) Retaliation discharge:

 Some employment laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees. e.g.(a)
unfavourable working conditions, (b) transferring them to lower-rated jobs, (c) denying
them a salary (d) become uncommunicative with them after they file discrimination
complaints or (e) receiving favourable settlement) when they exercise their rights under
those laws.

 To prevent retaliation charges, employers are encouraged to implement a policy and train
managers and supervisors in acceptable and unacceptable methods of resolving conflict.

 Other suggestions to reduce retaliation charges include:

 Be objective in the treatment of employees

 Evaluate employees on performance, not personalities

Privacy Rights

 The right to privacy can be regarded as a matter of personal freedom from unwarranted
intrusion into personal affairs – includes the general principle of “personal autonomy”.

 It generally includes employee rights to be left alone – including e-mail and internet
privacy.

RIGHTS OF AN EMPLOYER

Employee rights are the fundamental rules employers are legally bound to abide by in their
professional relationships with employees. Some of these rights include; an employer can define
the code of conduct for employees, working hours, and timings, leave policy, salary policy,
conditions for termination and resignation, harassment policy and grievance redressal policy in
the working policy. The HR policies of the company can be drafted with the assistance of
employment Advocates.

 The Right to Contest the Compensability of a Claim

Employees have the right to file compensation claims, but employers do not have to accept those
claims without requiring proof. As an employer, you have the right to contest the compensability
of any claim. Employers have the right to request that their insurance carriers contest the
compensability of any claims filed by their workers.

Employers can request such a review on a variety of different grounds, including stating that the
injury in question was unrelated to employment, disputing the extent of injuries or even claiming
that the employee was not injured at all. This contestability of claims is an important right all
employers have, and it is one you should take advantage of should the circumstances be
appropriate.

 The Right to Demand Hard Work

The workers you hire for your business have the right to fair treatment, but you deserve the same
consideration. As the employer, you have the right to demand hard work from those you hire,
and your employees have a responsibility to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. If a
particular worker is less productive than he or she should be, you have a right to demand a more
satisfactory performance.

You are paying a fair wage, and you deserve quality work for your investment. In most states,
you also have the right to demand overtime work from those you hire, although many employers
will ask for overtime volunteers before making those extra hours mandatory.
In the absence of volunteers, however, you do have the right to require overtime during periods
of peak activity, and you should not be afraid to ask for those additional hours when you need
them.

 Protection of Your Trade Secrets

Whether your business is in the healthcare field, the technology industry or something else,
chances are you have trade secrets that give you a competitive advantage. Your employees are
required to respect the proprietary nature of those trade secrets, and you have the right to demand
that the information not be shared or otherwise disclosed.

Your trade secrets are your property, and they do not belong to your employees. These legally
protected trade secrets may include things like customer lists and lists of suppliers, pricing
information, strategic planning and financial data. It is important to lay out your policy clearly,
so those you hire will understand the rules — and the penalties for unauthorized disclosure of
your trade secrets.

 Loyalty for Your Workforce

As an employer, you do not have the right to unfettered loyalty, but you do have the right to
demand your workers act in your best interests and not their own. Employees do not have the
right to make deals on the side, and they should not be soliciting business for their benefit.

If you find that your employees are engaging in such unethical behavior, you have the right to
take the appropriate action. Those actions can include anything from a stern reprimand to
immediate termination, depending on the severity of the behavior in question and your own
needs as an employer.

 The Right to Quality Conscientious Work

As an employer, you have the right to demand hard work from your employees, but you also
have the right to expect top-quality work. From salespeople who work on commission to
customer service personnel in a big call center, you have the right to expect work that is up to the
high standards you have set. You may not have the right to expect perfection, and no employer
can hold their workers to such an unrealistic standard.

What you should expect is that workers will learn from their mistakes and that they will do their
best to avoid repeated problems. If you find the work unsatisfactory, you have the right to
demand a higher standard of quality. You also have the right to terminate employees who fail to
meet the quality standards you have set. There is a strong focus on worker rights in this country,
so much so that the complementary rights of the employer often get lost in the shuffle.

Even so, you have the right to hard work, quality work and honest behavior from those you hire.
After all, you are the one paying the bills, and you are the one who signs the paycheck.
Employees have rights, but the rights of the employer are just as critical. Understanding those
rights, and the responsibilities of your employees, can be key to your success as a business owner
and an employer.
 REFERENCE

1. The internet.
2. Ghana Labour Act, 2003 (Act No. 651).
3. Contributions from Group Members.