MGT213 Employee Benefits Chapter 5

  Unit 5 - Course Paper 

Unit 5 Discussion 

Should everyone have guaranteed retirement income? Why or why not?

I think everyone should considering that we all pay into social security and we put in way more then we will ever withdrawal it should be and equal right opportunity offered to everyone who pays into it. We all spend most of our lives working in order to live and provide for ourselves and families by working we should be given the right to hit a point in our lives where we can enjoy the time we have left especially as we get older and aren't able to work like we once did. My father just hit his retirement last year and 2 months ago he had a brain bleed and stroke he was very lucky that he came away from it without it affecting him too seriously but for many people they don't even make it to retirement age before something serious happens that or they retire and don't live long enough to enjoy most of it. It really showcases that everyone really deserves those kind of benefits and hopefully we live long enough to get to enjoy ourselves some but we never know when our time will come. 

Unit 5 Assignment - Current Events

In today's economic climate, many Americans are suffering. Write a 4-5 page paper arguing for or against the our government reallocating resources used for foreign aid for retirement and healthcare benefits for Americans who currently do not have these benefits. NOTE: This is NOT a political assignment!

Your paper should include:

Cover page

4-5 pages of content

Reference page

Proper formatting per APA 7th edition.

Current Events

 

                        When it comes to the economic climate that we are all dealing with currently we do see some poor use of funds when it comes to the government allocating resources to a war overseas sending 75 Billion in assistance for a war that really shouldn’t be happening one that we have no place being involved in. Meanwhile our president being the genius he is goes to Maui and compare’s a kitchen fire where he almost lost his corvette to the horrible situation that the people of Maui have suffered and only offers the people of Maui $700 per person not to mention that the total amount of aid to Maui will be 5.6 million total to 2,000 households meaning each one only will receive 2,800.

            The bottom line when it comes to the government and the way funds are located its always our own country that gets hurt which is often why people feel the need that they should protect themselves because the government isn’t there to protect them. We can offer foreign countries billions of dollars but when it comes to programs to help better or protect our own country and provide for our future we can’t seem to find money for those purposes. The government cares more about maintaining relations and profiting from all the countries that owe them something back for the aid sent out.

            So if you ask me I would say that we should change the way we allocate funds like this. We should be more focused on fixing our problems providing jobs subsidizing new industries using the money for the benefit of our people create better programs to help the homeless. Help the people that need it when there’s a disaster and do all the things that we used to do that made the U.S. a great place to be and the reason why so many people wanted to migrate here.

            With the amount given to Ukraine we could have used all that funding on improving our own country but instead we are causing our own inflation by giving away our money. As a result, things are becoming harder on the average American. The food and energy prices have seen a large increase as a result and as things get worse it adds to the number of small businesses that will disappear and more people who will end up homeless. It also hurts retirement people and those on social security who might not have much of a retirement when it comes to cost as food keeps inflating and prices keep increasing.

            If we created more industries here to start being less dependent on other countries for products and food as well as different services, we wouldn’t have to send out large amounts of money to keep the world happy. It would help develop services and products that would make other countries need to demand products and services from us instead. It would allow us to help build a more stable infrastructure and provide better healthcare to all individuals better overall insurance and retirement plans and we can take a step in the right direction towards getting out of a situation in which other countries band together such as the BRICS and build a currency that dethrones our current dollar.

            What makes us at risk for that is by constantly spending money and printing more as well as giving it away to different countries we continue to keep devaluing our currency. And while we have taxes and such with the amount taxed we can never get back into the green on the US dollar as a result we keep kicking the can down the road hoping that things will get better. But they won’t unless we act. Every country that ever attempted the same fell at some point in its history. One of the greatest examples of this is that of the romans' empire.

            The Roman empire was one of the greatest in the world at the time but suffered inflation and collapse from the lack of having gold in order to keep the economy going they kept spending funds during the year 200 to 300 and started using fiat currency eventually bankers lost confidence in the coins causing the downfall of the empire. We’ve been on this cycle of fiat currency since 1971 and keep up the bad habit of spending on pointless wars giving out foreign aid to countries and spending on things that doesn’t benefit our own country and as a result just like the romans someday people won’t have faith in the U.S. dollar anymore and some other currency will replace it worldwide.  When that happens we won’t have cheap products and inflation like we see now will be much greater that or we will go into hyperinflation mode in which no matter how much money one has it won’t make a difference because it will take thousands of dollars to buy a simple meal. It really gives us something to think about especially in terms of how far we’ve fallen as a country and what’s to come in the future. If we think of it in terms of time the roman’s lasted 100 years until they saw the end of their nation as a result of bad currency practices. We are already 52 years in on the bad practices of devaluing our own currency the question is how much longer will the rest of the world put up with our devalued money before they stop accepting it.

            The main reason I don’t support the kind of aid that we handed Ukraine is that they are fighting an unwinnable war with no objectives and we go and hand them billions of dollars to keep on fighting. I can understand supporting countries in need such as in terms of natural disasters and education and other things but wars are one of the most pointless things to support. In war no one really wins the people caught in the middle suffer whether they are a winner or a loser of the war it would be a lot simpler if we didn’t have to fight wars but conflict will always exist especially because there’s greedy people. The other thing that hurts too is that the aid of 75 billion most of that won’t really go to the people who are suffering in Ukraine because the war is still being fought it’s only going for weapons, training and intelligence.

            As a result, Ukraine isn’t going to use it to support its own people and after all the dust settles and the war is over all the people who were hurt by the war will be on their own to pick up the pieces themselves. As for preventing a global war giving aid to Ukraine might not prevent a global war anyhow if that’s Russia’s agenda since Russia can still choose at any time to use nuclear weapons. But regardless of any factors we should be more focused on caring for our own first before giving aid to others. And I think it’s horrible the low amount of aid that Maui is getting from the U.S. but it really shows how the government feels about its people.  

            If my paper could fix the problems of the world, it would make me happy but the reality is things will only change if people change them. As a result, we will continue see more aid going out to other countries and our own people will continue to suffer until we get to the point there’s only two classes of people the rich and the poor. The poor will continue to be trampled over while the rich make laws to keep getting more rich. Giving aid to other places instead of helping our own people.  

             Course Paper 

As a student in an upper level (200) management class, this assignment draws upon your prior classes and experience to help EGCC improve our Business Management Program. This course assesses Program Learning Outcome #5 - Demonstrate awareness of the importance of ethical conduct, a diverse workforce and social responsibility. 

Course Paper:

Explain the laws that assure that all employees receive same access to employee benefits. 

Your paper should include:

Cover page

2-3 pages of content

Reference page

Proper formatting per APA 7th edition.

You may use course resources, but outside resources should also be included.

Course Paper

 

            Work can be a complex situation with many different individuals of different age, race, religion, sex, orientation as a result individuals don’t always get along people have a habit of treating others with a different level of respect based on these different characteristics that a person might have. That treatment isn’t always good. As a result, over the years the need for different laws to protect individuals of poor treatment and the ability to make sure that everyone receives equal rights was started. Today I will explain some of those laws and the individuals they protect. 

When it comes to any company they all are required to follow the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which was created to protect employees and job applications from employment discrimination based on color, race, religion, sex and national origin. As a result, all employees should have access to benefits and rights because of the protection of this act. And of course any company that violates Title VII can be ordered to pay attorney fees, lost wages, and court cases as well as fines.

            The Equal Pay Act of 1963 protects the pay of men and women and makes sure that there isn’t a gender based wage disparity among men and women at the workplace. If found in violation employees can file a lawsuit against the company allowing them to receive any back pay, reimbursement of any legal fees and a pay adjustment to an equal level of what they should be. Prior to that law being past women’s earnings could be anywhere from $8 to $20 less per week then men according to an article published by The New York Times.

            Another important employee protection is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act also known as ADEA of 1967 which was created to protect individuals of 40 years of age or older from employee discrimination. It protects employees from things like limiting compensation, outright firing, preventing hiring individuals based on age. It also protects individuals from harassment or making them feel isolated or left out.

            The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects individuals with various disabilities in all public areas of life as well as employment. As a result, if an individual requires assistance the employer needs to provide it of course with reasonable accommodations to insure equal benefits for each employee. When you apply for jobs they often include the information from the act and allow employees to state disabilities if they want to.  And when it comes to work if you have a disability you are often required to submit documentation supporting it as well as any accommodations you might require during the performing of your duties. I have a learning disability myself which qualifies me for certain accommodations if I choose to have them.

            The Family and Medical Leave Act or FMLA of 1993 protects employees allowing them to take unpaid job protected leave when it comes to medical reasons or families that need aid. It protects employees from loss of job when caring for themselves and others as long as the reasoning is a qualified one. Documentation is required in order to apply for FMLA leave and there’s certain restrictions on the amount of leave that can be used but FMLA leave can be equally obtained by anyone completing the necessary documentation. 

            The Affordable Care Act of 2010 provides provisions that prevent any discrimination when it comes to health benefits based on pre-existing conditions allowing individuals equal rights to access health care benefits regardless of any pre-existing problems. It also provides affordable health care insurance to individuals on a lower income basis lower than the federal poverty level and provides tax credits to individuals based on qualification. Of course the type of insurance coverage and company will differ based on the state since not all health care programs are the same state to state.

            The Employee Retirement Income Security Act which we went over in class sets the standards for employer sponsored retirement, pension and welfare benefits plans while ensuring that employees have equal opportunity to these benefits and that they are properly handled for the employee. It protects employees’ rights and ensures that their retirement is handled in the correct way and holds companies accountable if any foul play happens to pensions or retirement.

            Each one of these protections helps protect employees from possible wrongdoing or unfair treatment and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC is set up as a federal agency in the U.S. to enforce all of the anti-discrimination laws that I mentioned above. Any employee has the right to contact the EEOC to help a vary of different situations and they are there for everything from harassment claims to any mistreatment of the employee by worker or employer. The EEOC helps uphold the laws and is designated to promote fairness and help prevent discrimination in the workplace as well as hold any parties that violate the law accountable for wrongdoing. Without the laws above we would have lack of diversity and inclusion. Of course that doesn’t mean that there will never be any cases either since diversity and inclusion is still lacking in many areas’ but with the help of the laws and the agency we are moving in a positive way towards equal treatment and inclusion of everyone. But also each country has different labor laws and regulations so places outside of the U.S. might have different rules when it comes to these situations.