Legal Issues in Human Resource Management

There are numerous legal issues to manage in Human Resources. There are several laws that protect employees such as the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action laws. This is often the most discussed law in the workplace and in the courts over the last several decades. Equal employment opportunity is a law that ensures employers not discriminate against employees due to characteristics such as race, sex, disability, age, or religion. There is a lot of existing case law on several law suits regarding this law (SHRM, 2016).
The American Health Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act, is law that has generated recent changes in the United States. Various mandates for individuals and employers were removed and cuts to Medicaid were included in the American Health Care Act (SHRM, 2017). From the beginning of the Affordable Care Act until the current version of the American Health Care Act, Human Resource professionals had to follow the potential changes and final changes carefully to keep executive leadership and boards abreast of changes and effects to budgets.
Another growing legal issue in Human Resources is the use of social media in human resources search for talent acquisition. Through research, SHRM (2017) has discovered that 84% of organizations use social media for recruitment and 9% plan to use it in the future for employee recruitment purposes. Seventy-one percent of human resource departments surveyed indicated that social media reduces the time to recruit qualified applicants. With the growing use of social media in hiring practices, the legal implications, and issues are also growing. The main legal issues are directly related to concerns regarding discrimination during the screening process (SHRM, 2017).
SHRM (August 30, 2016), EEO: What is the difference between EEO, 
affirmative action, and diversity?, 
SHRM (May 4, 2017), SHRM Summary American Health Care Act
SHRM (September 20, 2017), Using Social Media for Talent 
Acquisition: Recruitment and Screening, 
Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.
All resources for this week:

Articles

Bologna, M. (2014). Social Media Strategies in Recruiting, Hiring Pose Legal
Risks for Employers. (cover story). HR Focus, 91(5), 1-4.
The reference studies the legal implications with using social
media in the hiring process. This relates to the assignment that
explores implications of using social media with hiring.
Drouin, M., O’Connor, K. W., Schmidt, G. B., & Miller, D. A. (2015).
Facebook fired: Legal perspectives and young adults’ opinions on the use of social media in hiring and firing decisions. Computers In Human Behavior, 46123-128. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.011
The reference is significant because it studies the opinions related to hiring and use of social media, which is the purpose of the assignment.
Assignment Title
Week 2 – Assignment: Assess the Ethical and Legal Implications of Social Media and Hiring
Assignment Points
10 Points
Assignment Instructions
Conduct a simple poll (using social media, email, in-person, or via telephone) with the intent to assess the ethical and legal implications of social media and hiring.
These are the questions you should ask:
Should employers research potential hires on social media during the hiring process? Ask respondents why or why not as well.
After you collect the data, prepare an analysis of academic research related to social media and hiring practices and outline the legal issues you could face regarding this topic. Share examples provided that could or did have legal implications for the hiring agency. Compare your findings of the poll results to the academic research and assess recommendations and findings.
Length: 5-7 pages, not including title and reference pages
References: Include a minimum of five scholarly resources.
Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect graduate-level writing and APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
Course Learning Outcomes associated with this assignment: 
1, 2
· Explore current issues affecting work environments and human resource functions in organizations.