Employer Employee Relations - Study of Two Organizations

Introduction

Employer and employee relations have many different ways in which organizations understand laws and guidelines set forth by governing bodies in the respective area and within the entire nation. This paper will analyze the practices and policies of two different organizations employment policies. The main areas of focus will be views of employment classification; regular and contract or temporary, exempt and non-exempt status, and the interpretation of employment at will and the possible exceptions to the doctrine.

The research subjects are the First American Corporation, a national insurance services company founded in 1887, and the San Bernardino City Unified School District. Both parties administrative offices are in the state of California, though First American operates in all 50 states and 12 countries around the world. For the readers benefit, each section will contain the guideline definition of each topic followed by the comparative views of the subject companies.

Contractor or Regular Employee

Simply because they consider a worker an independent contractor does not make it so.

Exterior of the Internal Revenue Service office in...

United States

United States

The Internal Revenue Service has specific guidelines that determine whether workers are employees or independent contractors. (Business.com, 2005)

Who is an Independent Contractor?

A general rule is that he or she, the payer, have the right to control or direct only the result of the work done by an independent contractor, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result. (Internal Revenue Service, 2006)

Employer control

If a worker must follow an employer's instructions regarding when, where and how to perform the work, this suggests an employer- employee relationship. This is the biggest single factor in the determination.

A full-time schedule

Working full-time for one employer suggests an employer-employee relationship.

Hours of work

A defined workday suggests that the individual is an employee. Contractors are generally free to conduct their business more...