HROE.5601 Navigating the HR Legal and Regulatory Environment
This course is designed to introduce students to the complex legal and regulatory environment confronted by Human Resources professionals who manage the employer-employee relationship. The course will offer the student a detailed examination of the numerous laws and regulations governing the empoyer-employee relationship, inclding Equal Employment Opportunity laws (such as Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act); the Family and Medical Leave Act; the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act; the Fair Labor Standards Act; Title IX; the National Labor Relations Act; OSHA; whistleblower provisions in laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank; and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. While the focus of the course will be on the substantive aspects of workplace laws and regulations, students will also be introduced to the procedural and remedial aspects of these laws, to provide students with a more complete understanding of the legal and regulatory environment in which a Human Resources professional is required to operate. It is expected that the course will be interactive, using hypothetical examples to illustrate the application of these laws in the workplace, and in appropriate examples, how these laws interact and/or overlap. Through the use of presentations, hypothetical examples, interactive discussions and dialogues, assigned readings, and student projects, the students will learn to effectively identify, handle and respond to sensitive workplace legal issues. Upon successful completion of this course, students will appreciate the legal and regulatory complexities involved in managing a workforce, from the hiring process through termination of employment.