The human resource manager can be a key figure in helping companies avoid legal liabilities in today's highly litigious business environment. By carefully monitoring the legal environment in which a company operates and by creating an internal work environment which is sensitive to the legal atmosphere as a whole, the human resource manager can help foster a corporate culture which actively seeks to provide ramifications other than legal conflict for resolving employee-employer disagreement. This research examines specific areas where human resource managers should focus their attention and considers ways in which human resource managers can work toward providing as safe an environment as possible from a corporate standpoint, while still meeting the needs of their employees.
One of the areas that has come into the legal spotlight recently is the area of employee privacy with regard to drug testing. Drug testing is increasingly being used by companies as a pre-employment condition. Drug testing as a condition of employment or for employees who have not exhibited other questionable behavior has successfully been challenged in court, but the issue of public safety has also been used to justify such employment procedures. In this way, for example, an airline may require a pre-employment drug screen of its employees because a drug-free workforce is in the public interest. Similarly, a company which does not have a drug screening policy may request that an employee undergo a drug test if that employee is acting in a strange or impaired way. Such behavior can also be used to search the employee's work space for illegal drugs or alcohol (Webster 142).
The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) also represents an area where human resource managers must hone their skills in order to protect their employers. When the law initially went into effect (in July 1992), it applied to employers with more than 25 employees. As of July 1994, i...