Does HR manager need to know the law? Perhaps you will all agree that the answer is definitely yes.
In this article, we will discuss the points of intersection of jurisprudence and human resource management, the wrong applicability of the law and their consequences, and solutions will be given to the issues raised.
What do you think will happen if the employees are fired because of the wrong application of the law?
SCENARIO 1:
It is possible that the employees simply do not go to court, trying to save themselves from unnecessary problems; court hearings, additional expenses, significant deterioration of relations with the former employer.
SCENARIO 2:
Maybe the employees will go to court to protect their rights. It is very likely that the company will lose a lot of money and the employees will be reinstated to their previous job.
SCENARIO 3:
The probability is very low, but it is not excluded that the employer will win the court dispute.
Workers’ labor rights are being violated all over the world. According to the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Index 2022 report, the most violated labor rights of workers around the world are:
The World Index of the International Trade Union Confederation has identified the worst countries for workers in 2022. they are Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Myanmar, Philippines and Turkey.
Let’s discuss the situation in Armenia. As a lawyer, I discuss 5 or more medium-complexity and complex labor issues every day.
If we discuss the cases when an employment contract is terminated at the initiative of the employer, then I can state that one of the most common problems encountered by me is the need to change production volumes and (or) economic and (or) technological and (or) work organization conditions and (or) production necessity. due to the cases of reduction in the number of employees and (or) positions and in the case of the employee’s regular failure to perform the duties assigned to him by the employment contract or internal disciplinary rules without a valid reason.
When the employer terminates the employment contract on his own initiative, he often has shortcomings for a number of reasons.
1. NO COMMUNICATION
Communication is one of the most important elements of work performance these days. Surely everyone will remember one situation related to communication problems. In the absence of communication, the human resources manager tries to resolve complex and problematic situations on his own, without the support of the legal team. Such problems often arise in teams where there is no legal position and the human resources manager has to prepare all working documents independently without the support of a specialist. A situation is also possible when the company has a lawyer, but the human resources manager, not imagining the possible dangerous consequences of the situation, tries to solve the problem by himself.
2. LACK OF COMMUNICATION
These are the situations when we have court disputes, on which extended discussions are scheduled.
During the preliminary discussion of the problem, the specialist is presented incompletely, and when the employee applies to the court for the purpose of legal protection, the company engages lawyers and advocates to get out of the situation with minimal losses.
3. INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF LABOR LAW
Incomplete knowledge of legislation is often caused by not being familiar with legal electronic resources: arlis.am, irtek.am, datalex.am, etc. For this reason, situations are not excluded when such laws are applied that have lost their force.
Despite the fact that the specialization of a human resource management specialist implies a mandatory knowledge of labor law, some human resource managers find that documentation is an administrative part of their work and do not spend extra time to do this part properly and completely.
4. FAILURE TO FOLLOW LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
Armenian legislation is changing very quickly. At this moment, the RA National Assembly adopted the RA Law “On Making Amendments and Additions to the Labor Code” in the first reading, by which large-scale changes were made to the RA Labor Code.
It is very important to follow the changes so as not to be guided by the old settings.
5. NON-DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF THE SITUATION:
This causes misunderstandings, misunderstandings and unfair situations.
A question may arise from this, what are the solutions?
- Perfect knowledge of labor legislation. This does not mean that you need to know everything by heart, but it means that you need to know how and where to find them.
- Constant cooperation with the legal team on problematic issues. If the problem has arisen, which is clear, there is experience in solving such a problem, then there is no need for legal support.
In the case when a problematic situation has arisen and such a case has not happened before, then the issue should be resolved with the assistance of lawyers.
- Trainings, seminars, courses that will provide an opportunity to follow legislative changes.
- Understand the employee’s problem, explain his rights and responsibilities and correctly present the problem to the company’s heads
Summing up, I want to remind you that everything seems complicated until you know how to act in such situations.
Article author: Nare Smbatyan