United States Department of Labor Case Study

United States Department of Labor Case Study

In this age of globalization, competition for jobs is high. This means that employers must be tactical in the benefits and compensation they offer employees in order to retain top talent. Experts posit that there is a steady stream of both regulatory and statutory changes that are difficult for employers and employees to keep abreast with. This thus necessitates a platform where the changes can be communicated to both the employers and employees in a comprehensive manner. While employers may have access to lawyers in order to get interpretations of the laws, employees may be left to their own devices. This makes the Department of Labor’s website especially regarding health plans and benefits all the more useful for them.

The major features of the website are the main page area, the subtopics bar, the part linking visitors to other Department of Labor web pages on the specific subtopic chosen and the interactive area that allows visitors to receive pertinent information via email. The main page area is an important part of this website as it gives a general overview of the laws that are responsible for ensuring that employees receive their due benefits while ensuring that employers are aware of the benefits due to employees. This area has the option of referring visitors to more detailed pages where the laws can be explained in their entirety including the specific repercussions of contravening them. The main page area offers a basic outline of what is entailed in a group health plan with specific roles played by the employer or employee agencies like labor unions. The subtopics bar is a navigational tool that indicates the specific benefits due to employees and also allows visitors to the page access the specific legislation overseeing the listed benefits. Specifically, this segment deals with childcare assistance, compliance assistance, information of different health plans, modes of continuation with health plans upon voluntary or involuntary termination, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), other fiduciary responsibilities, education on health benefits, mental health benefits, the Newborn’s Act that delves into the protection of mothers and their newborns, participant rights, information on specific plans, the portability of health coverage and women’s health and cancer rights protections (Dau-Schmidt et al, 2009).

Whenever a visitor to the site opens a given subtopic, the main page area changes to reflect information on it. At the bottom of this main page area is a segment that lists links that are pertinent to the subtopic chosen. This segment allows a visitor access to other pieces of legislation and other pages that have information like; pushes by other organizations for a review of the benefits. There is an interactive area on the left hand side of the page where a visitor can have information or changes pertinent to any part of the employee benefits and plans communicated to him/her via email. This covers a far wider spectrum as it allows interested parties have any information encompassed within the entire Department of Labor sent to them.

There is an option on the subtopics bar for checking compliance. This specific option marked ‘compliance assistance’ allows employees and employers to access information regarding voluntary compliance, opinions of the advisory board and other publications that detail the requirements for compliance. The information displayed therein is supplied by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) that is charged with ensuring that all employees are duly compensated (Rothstein & Liebman, 2011). Employers have to navigate the specific subtopics in order to fully understand all the benefits that are due to their employees.

There is a requirement that plan administrators give all the facts about the retirement and health benefit plans. These include all rules, documents detailing how the plans are to be operated and managed and financial information. Since some of the plans change on a regular basis, the plan administrators are obligated to communicate them to the participants. Therefore, employers that are willing to comply with all the rules must apply to be participants so that they receive information as it changes. On the other hand, plan administrators are obligated to provide information to any party that solicits it. Employers must be aware that ERISA compliance is a necessity that cannot be overlooked. Any deviation from offering requisite benefits and compensation may come at a hefty cost to the employer (Cox et al, 2011). Therefore, apart from being a participant of ERISA-covered retirement or health benefit plan, the employer must constantly visit the DOL website to get first hand information on the changing plan compositions.

The DOL website serves as a platform for informing employees about what their benefits are. It is therefore incumbent on the employees to ensure that they receive what is due to them. The website gives a detailed account of the benefits and the changes that occur when they occur. Employees can choose to be participants in the interaction with EBSA so that they are armed with all the relevant information. Once they acquire the requisite information, then they are empowered by law to ensure that they are given what is due to them. The advantage of the website is that it provides information on all the authorities that are charged with overseeing that benefits to employees are paid. Therefore, where such benefits have been withheld or where there is no full compliance to legislation, then the employees are empowered to follow the laid out legal processes to address the discrepancies.

The segment at the bottom of the webpage that offers information on links to detailed legislation and interest groups also offers answers to visitors’ frequently asked questions. Therefore, should an employee feel that he/she does not fully grasp the tenets of the legislations or the laid out plans and benefits, then, he/she can get further clarification from this segment. Additionally, links to employee organizations like labor unions and other interest groups are provided. If an employee feels that his/her rights have not been duly granted, then he/she can agitate for assistance from these bodies. Simply reporting a contravention of the laws in benefits due to employees is an adequate first step towards ensuring that there is compliance (Feinman, 1976).

Department of Labor
Updates via email By Topic By Audience By Location	Main Page Area     DOL web pages on this topic	Subtopics

Table: Outline of the Department of Labor website

The above illustration is an outline of the DOL website.  The outline is a basic representation of how the website should be navigated to attain maximum information in ensuring that a visitor complies with all regulations. On the left hand side, there is a tab that allows one to get all updates to the website via email. This updates may include reviews of legislation which may affect the benefits due to employees as well as the obligations of employers. The advantage of this section is that it is easy to use as updates can be given in three modes depending on the interests of visitors: Topics that are entailed in the updates encompass wages, unemployment insurance, health plans and benefits among others; the audience is divided according to jobseekers or those who are unemployed, employers, workers and representative organizations: and location entails the physical addresses of either the business in question or the employer or employee. The location is an important factor as labor laws may vary from state to state and from city to city (Barnes & Thornburg LLP, 2011). Ignorance in legislation is not regarded as a defense for contravening it which means that anyone who desires to be on the right side of the law should be a subscriber to the updates service so that he/she receives pertinent information as it arises.

The second important part is the right hand area that displays different subtopics. These are the specific benefits that are due to the different clusters of employees. For example pregnant women and mentally ill people have different benefits that are due to them meaning that they each have separate subtopics that detail them. The middle part displays the detailed information on the given subtopics. Since the subtopics section only lists the benefits and legislations the middle area becomes useful as it displays detailed information. At the bottom of the middle part is a list of other web pages that entail important information linked to the subtopics listed on the right. Any party seeking to be fully compliant with the requirements of Department of Labor must be able to properly navigate the website so that they receive all information encompassed therein. The above discussion has provided an account of the important aspects of the website that would enable a first time visitor get a basic idea of where to look the information he/she seeks.

 

 

References

Barnes & Thornburg LLP. (2011). California Enacts 22 New Employment Laws Impacting All Companies Doing Business In The State. The National Law Review, 12 October

Cox, A., Bok, D.C. & Gorman, R.A. (2011). Labor Law: Cases and Materials. New York: Walters Kluwer Law and Business

Dau-Schmidt, K.G. et al (2009). Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace 4th Edn. New York: Foundation Press

Feinman, J.M. (1976). The Development of the Employment at Will Rule. The American Journal of Legal History, 20(2), 118

Rothstein, M.A. & Liebman, L. (2011). Employment Law Cases and Materials 7th Edn. New York: Foundation Press

 

Last Completed Projects

Are you looking for a similar paper or any other quality academic essay? Then look no further. Our research paper writing service is what you require. Our team of experienced writers is on standby to deliver to you an original paper as per your specified instructions with zero plagiarism guaranteed. This is the perfect way you can prepare your own unique academic paper and score the grades you deserve.

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]