Equal Employment in Healthcare Human Resource Management

Since the implementation of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws

Human resource management in the health care sector has seen major changes in terms of hiring and keeping staff (Hernandez & O’Connor 2010). The EEOC is in responsibility of ensuring that equal employment opportunity regulations are followed by employers in a variety of industries, including health care (EEOC 2013). There are several illegal employment rules and practices that have been implemented in various firms that provide employment (Herzing University 2017). Employee discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or genetic information is among the systems, as is workplace harassment by employers or supervisors (EEOC 2017). These policies tend to offer an undue advantage to some employees over others hence being a ground for unfair competition. Putting the discriminative policies and practices in check provides a favorable working environment for the employee.

Case Scenario of Violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Laws

In October 2013, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions (US EEOC) filed a lawsuit against Saint Vincent Health Center in US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania for having indiscriminately administered a mandatory flu vaccine to its employees without providing exemption on religious grounds to the employees. The exemption provided was for medical reasons only and those excused were expected to wear face masks while attending to the patients (EEOC 2013). The employees who declined to receive the vaccine based on genuine religious beliefs were fired contrary to the policies at work in the health center that permitted members not to receive the vaccine if they had medical or religious reservations. The case has since been settled between the EEOC and the health center before getting to court, and the six employees affected are to receive monetary compensation of up to $300,000 and reinstatement to their jobs in the health center (EEOC 2013). The EEOC has also advised Saint Vincent Health Center to incorporate concerns of the employees based on sincere religious beliefs into its policies to curb the occurrence of a similar incident in the future.

The management of Saint Vincent Health Centre

Took the rigorous move in a bid to cut on the compensation of employees who contract flu in the course of duty as well as ensuring the safety of the employees (Herzing University 2017). However, the fact that the concerns of the six employees were not heard and worse still that they lost their jobs, pointed to discrimination against their religion; a prohibition by the EEOC (Grӧschl & Bendl, 2013). The EEOC chooses to publicize such cases on its website to enlighten members of the public on their rights as employees and the necessary steps they ought to take should these rights be infringed upon (EEOC 2017). The commission also makes cost-free presentations in meetings and other public forums to inform people of the employment statutes. Moreover, the Commission has EEOC Training Institute and Federal Sector Training provisions that offer training and a broadened understanding of the equal employment opportunity laws to different employees at a cost (Hernandez & O’Connor 2010). The training is important to both the employer and the employees since it helps them understand the trending policies, their application, and how they can be incorporated into the employment policies to enhance productivity.

References

Grӧschl, S., & Bendl, R. (2013). Managing Religious Diversity in the Workplace. New York. Routledge

Hernandez, S.R. & O’Connor, S.J. (2010). Strategic human resources management in health services organizations. New York: Delmar Cengage.

Herzing University (2017). Health care human resource management. Online Presentation. Herzing University.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2013). EEOC’s fiscal year 2016 highlights. Retrieved on 11th January 2017 http://www.eeoc.gov

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2017). Prohibited employment policies/practices. Retrieved on 11th January 2017 http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm