Human Resources and Labor Relations Practice Flashcards

This flashcard set covers key vocabulary and concepts from HR management, labor relations, employment law, and workplace health and safety as presented in the lecture materials.

Hazardous Products Act

The legislation that specifically establishes employees' right to know about workplace hazards and safety risks.

Public Sector Labor Legislation

A feature that distinguishes this from private sector legislation is the restriction of strikes by public sector workers.

Dismissal Legislation

The legal framework covering obligations relating to notice periods and compensation when terminating an employee without just cause.

Effective training program

The highest priority initiative for an organization whose employees need a stronger understanding of hazards, procedures, and safe work practices.

Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA)

The legislation that provided federal civil servants with the right to participate in strike actions.

Overexertion

An injury category often linked to poor hazard recognition and risk awareness that occurs disproportionately among younger workers.

Union Power

The factor having the strongest effect on prevailing wage rates in a labor market dominated by unionized skilled trades.

Organizational Justice Dimensions

The three forms of justice employees use to evaluate workplace decisions: Distributive, Procedural, and Interactional.

Financial Incentives Advantage

A benefit where better performance is regularly reinforced by providing awards closer to the time the performance occurs.

Insubordination

Misconduct involving refusing directions, disobeying company policies, disrespectful behavior, inappropriate social media conduct, bypassing authority, and encouraging others to resist management.

Conciliation

The dispute resolution step that must normally occur before a strike can legally take place.

Benefit Audit

An HR tool used to identify duplication, underutilization, and inefficiency within an organization's benefit offering.

Stay, Say, and Strive

The three behaviors exhibited by an employee who demonstrates a strong emotional connection and extra effort toward their organization.

Medina Study Trend

A research finding that suggested turnover increased as tenure increased for the studied group of Canadian employees.

Flexible Benefit Programs

An approach, also known as cafeteria benefit programs, where employees select from a menu of options using a set dollar amount.

Temporary Assignments

A developmental approach where employees are placed into unfamiliar roles and functions to gain broader business knowledge.

Constructive Dismissal

A legal concept where a substantial reduction in responsibilities, authority, or compensation is treated as effectively ending the employment relationship.

Wage Survey Data Reliability

The period after which market salary information generally becomes unreliable for current compensation decisions, which is $2$ years.

Profit-sharing Plans

A compensation approach that links employee rewards to overall organization success rather than individual output.

Job Description

A document outlining the duties, responsibilities, reporting relations, and working conditions of a role.

Job Specification

A document identifying the knowledge, skills, abilities, and qualifications required to perform a role successfully.

Reviewing the Job Analysis

The phase of compensation management performed before pricing jobs or determining salary ranges.

Knowledge Management

A system designed to capture, store, and share employee expertise across the workforce to prevent loss of knowledge when employees leave.

Depth Orientation Competency System

A system where employees are rewarded for gaining greater experience on existing skills.

Bargaining in Bad Faith

Behavior during negotiations where a party refuses meaningful discussion, withholds information, or rejects proposals without consideration.

External Equity

A comparison of pay fairness relative to the salaries paid by competing organizations in the labor market.

Caregiver Programs

Benefits that help employees balance responsibilities associated with children, elderly parents, and dependent family members.

Arbitration

The normally final stage of the grievance procedure where a neutral third party settles the matter.

Occupational Injury Count

The estimated number of Canadian workers experiencing job-related injury or illness on a typical day is around $14$ workers.

Compensable Factors

Elements such as skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions used to evaluate and compare jobs.

Rand Formula

A compromise form of union security where bargaining unit employees must pay union dues even if membership is not required.

Downsizing

A strategy aimed at reducing operating costs and streamlining reporting relationships through the redesign of work processes.

Job Ranking

A job evaluation method where positions are placed in order from highest to lowest based on their overall value to the organization.

Skill-based Pay

A system that rewards employees for increased skill depth, expanded skill breadth, and enhanced self-management abilities.

Closed Shop

A union security arrangement requiring applicants to belong to the union before they can be considered for employment.

Pre-retirement Counseling

Professional assistance provided by an organization to help employees navigate lifestyle and identity changes during the transition to retirement.

Internal Equity

An analysis of whether jobs within an organization are compensated fairly relative to one another.

Assessing Training Needs

The critical first step in the training process that must occur before establishing objectives or selecting content.

Job Insecurity

The stressor responsible for increased anxiety and absenteeism when rumors of restructuring circulate despite no planned layoffs.

Bad Faith Damages

Extraordinary damages awarded when an employer terminates an employee in a deliberately misleading, insensitive, or dishonest manner.

Interactional Justice

The dimension of organizational justice involved when an employee is upset by the disrespectful or humiliating communication of a decision.

Red-circled Rate

A wage situation where an employee's pay is higher than the established maximum for her position, resulting in a temporary freeze on increases.

Employment Power Imbalance

The perspective that workplace conflicts over wages and authority reflect a deeper reality inherent in the employer-employee relationship.

Career Planning

Initiatives intended to tap into employee potential and contribute greater value to the organization.

Compensation Philosophy

The overall framework that guides decisions regarding labor market conditions, employee expectations, and internal fairness.

Time Loss Injuries

Occupational injury claims that involve time away from work, accounting for over one-third ($1/3$) of approved claims.

Cost-benefit Analysis

An approach used to determine if the financial benefits of training justify the resources invested.

Organizational Level Safety Climate

A component of safety climate originating at the management level, specifically management commitment to safety.

Organizational Socialization

The process by which new employees adjust successfully through realistic information, guidance, and clear performance expectations.

Due Diligence

The legal requirement for employers to take every reasonable precaution to ensure workplace safety.

Employability Skills Profile

A profile created by the Conference Board of Canada to identify skills valued across all jobs and industries.

Stress-related Absences

These absences keep employees away from work for an average duration of $33$ days.

Mediation

A dispute resolution technique where a neutral third party facilitates discussion and identifies areas of agreement without imposing a binding solution.

Societal Goals

Benefit program objectives based on the expectation that employers support broader social well-being and public objectives.

Ergonomics

The process of matching equipment and work methods to employee capabilities to improve safety and increase productivity.