Employee Rights

Anywhere in the world, employees or workers have some basic rights in common. Different countries have different rules and regulations in supporting these rights; however, some fundamental rights as mentioned above, are uniform the world over. The rights of employees at a workplace include fair compensation, privacy and freedom from discrimination. The employee should not be discriminated on the basis of nationality, race, religion, gender or age. The employee also has a right to privacy, which means that nobody else can have access to his possessions and also the telephonic conversations in the office. However, this does not apply to the usage of e-mail and other Internet applications. The employer can track the Internet usage history of his employees. The employer cannot check the employee's background or credit history without his permission.

The information regarding laws and Federal regulations is useful to know various employee rights. Names of the different Federal laws are enlisted below.

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Fair Labor Standards Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act

Layoffs
A situation in which the employer needs to temporarily suspend the service of an employee or may have to permanently terminate it, is known as a layoff. An employee who is laid off is entitled to some benefits such as health insurance and pension.

According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), the firm employing more than 100 employees in his firm has to notify them at least sixty days in advance before the job cut.

The final pay has to be issued by the employer, immediately or within 30 days after the employee is laid off. Wages until the final day of services, commissions, bonus if any, overtime and vacation pay may be included in the final pay.

Employee Rights - Termination
Termination of an employee can be lawful as well as unlawful. If the services of an employee are terminated by unfair means, he can carry out legal proceedings against the employer, provided that the legal proceedings are followed in the purview of laws of that particular country. In case of a termination that is legal, the employee may have access to certain benefits, that have been specified in the contract. Severance packages are offered by most of the employers. Generally a salary amounting to that of one week of the month, for every year is offered as a severance package to the employee.

The topic of employee rights is subject to various factors including the laws and rules of a particular country, contracts and terms specified by the concerned employer and the constantly changing work environment across the world.