EMPLOYER LIABILITIES/EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

This research explores the relationship between employer liabilities and employee rights. The agency system in American government is reviewed, as are the more specific responsibilities of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Social Security Administration, and the National Labor Relations Board of the United States Department of Labor. Selected areas of related employer liability and employee rights are examined.

The Agency System in American Government

An overview of the agency system is presented in this section. Following this presentation, the size and complexity of the federal agency system are discussed briefly.

A careful reading of the Constitution of the United States would not prepare an individual for an understanding of the role of bureaucratic agencies in the federal government of this country. The Constitution charges the President and the Congress with the business of making laws and discharging government. Both the President and the Congress, however, have transferred some of their authority to quasi independent governmental agencies.1 The President retains some authority through the power to appoint the administrators of the various agencies, while the Congress retains some authority through the enactment

1Steve Kelman, Making Public Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1987), 88.

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there is microeconomic support for an increase in the level of the minimum wage. Within the context of the behavioral theory of the firm, there is even strong support for an increase in the level of the minimum wage. Within this perspective, an increase in the level of the minimum wage would improve equity in the interests and needs of the different groups comprising a business organization. Minimum wage is an employee right, as well as an employer obligation. Occupational Safety and Health, and Workers' Compensation Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, "society has been plagued by . . . great numbers of workers hurt and disabled on the job."16 Generally, workers' compensation is viewed as a mechanism which permits society to deal effectively with this problem. Critics contend, however, that workers' compensation is a mechanism which permits employers to avoid much of their responsibility to injured workers by hiding behind a governmental regulatory screen. These differing views stem from the premise underlying workers' compensation, which is the compensation of employees on a nofault basis for onthejob injuries and illnesses, in exchange for the loss of an employee's right to sue employers for negligence co
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Approximate Word count = 8097
Approximate Pages = 32 (250 words per page)