Features of Employment Contract

               The Contract of Employment between the employer and the employee must comply with the laws for employment. What is included in the contract shall depend on the job being offered and under what terms. The employer should carefully outline to the employee the job description so that the employee will exercise flexibility in the job.

            There are several basic features of an employment contract that must be included and explained in details to the employee. The law requires the employer to brake down in details and explain the terms and conditions of employment to the employee. Thus, it is better for the employer to make a brief outline of the terms and conditions of employment within one document. Next the employer should make a second document which outlines the contract in a more detailed manner.

             The basic features of the contract of employment between employer and employee are: parties of the contract, date of the contract, scale or rate of pay, intervals of payment, work hours, job title, job description, where the employee will be working, terms regarding injury, sickness and sick-pay, provisions for sick pay, pension policy, holiday entitlement, code of conduct, work patterns, length of termination notice, collective agreements (if any) and the particulars of outside the country assignment (if any). 

             The parties of the contract are the name and address of the company and the name and address of the employee. The date is when the contract is in effect. The rate of pay is the method of calculating pay and the intervals are whether the employee will be paid weekly, monthly or other specified basis. The work hour is whether the employee is expected or not to work normal hours, overtime and out of hours work. The job title is the designation of the employee while the job description is the description of what the employee is expected to do. The address of the company or where the employee will be working should also be included. The terms regarding injury and sickness should be covered while the provisions for sick pay will define what the employee is entitled to in case of sickness. The pension policy is the pension scheme benefit the employee is also entitled to. Holiday entitlement is the terms and conditions regarding holidays. The code of conduct is the brief disciplinary summary of the company. The employee should also be provided with the company manual. The work patterns are whether the employee will work as a part-time employee or temporary or contractual. The length of termination of the contract shall state the require length of notice before the contract can be terminated. The particulars of outside the country assignment shall include the coverage time period, the currency if payment, the benefits attached to working outside the country and all the other terms and conditions which is related to the return of the

Changes in the Workplace with significant Human Resource Management Implications

            There are several changes in the workplace with significant human resource management implications. These changes are all new in management since historically, they have not been issues.

            First, with the rate of increase in the number of obese in the United States, the work place is slowly being affected by the increase. At present, obesity is becoming an issue in many companies and organizations.  Obesity is not a simple matter for these companies. This is because obesity can be caused by a disease and the company cannot simply penalize an employee for being overweight. However, there are other companies which are more proactive. These proactive companies have their human resource management create financial penalties or rewards based on weight or other screenings such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, body mass index and others. The employees then will have to pay their own insurance plans or will be rewarded financially, depending on whether they pass the screenings or not.

Another change in the workplace which has significant human resources management implications are the increasing number of older employees. These employees, called “Eldercare Generation”, have returned to work not as regular employees but under different status, such as part-time workers, consultants, etc. Some companies had their human resources management made provisions for these older employees. These provisions or benefits cater specifically to their needs. Some examples of these benefits include on-site medical and wellness center, on-site education program for college credits, fitness and recreation programs, paid sabbaticals or “seasonal work” , comprehensive financial benefits, “float” options, flexible work schedules, temporary assignments, job rotations and part time work policy. Many companies now realize that providing these benefits is good business since for every $1 they spend on eldercare benefits around $3 to $14 is the return to the company.

Lastly, changes in marriage and childbirth are now redefining the workplace and the human resources management must again face to the new challenges brought about by these changes. The trend of individuals postponing marriage has made the workplace an opportunity for men and women to meet and develop a relationships. Office romance is becoming more common and the company must now face a different set of questions about workplace standards. The human resource management must now have a new formal policy regarding romance between co-workers.  As employees stay single longer and as these single employees generally do not have children, the workplace has become a combination of home and workplace. And, as the workplace has more singles, the office is no longer just a place to do business. Because of these changes, the human resource management now has made the workplace less formal and more comfortable. Well designed lounges and kitchen are just some of the new features added to the workplace.

Challenges Related to Ensuring the Privacy of Patient Medical Information

            Psychiatrist is a physician with a medical degree or osteopathic degree and at least four years of specialized training or study in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are licensed to practice medicine by individual states. A psychiatrist who is “Board Certified” has passed the national examination given by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

The duty of a psychiatrist is to: “provide medical and psychiatric evaluations, treat psychiatric disorders, provide psychotherapy, and prescribe and monitor medications” to the mental health patient (Types of Mental, 2008). A psychiatrist may have a private practice or may work in a hospital or health care institution.

As a mental health care provider, there are several problems commonly encountered whether in private practice or in health care institutions. One of the most common problems is ensuring the privacy of patient medical information. This issue has always been the importance of protecting the right of the patient over addressing any other societal goals.

This became very apparent in the recent issue of National Health Information Network. In 2005, Russ Newman, Ph.D, J.D., executive director for professional practice, on behalf of the American Psychological Association, discussed concerns about the need to maintain high level of privacy of mental health records. Dr. Newman acknowledged the potential of the National Health Information Network in improving the quality of care however he pointed out that it raised several concerns on the issue of privacy and confidentially of mental health records (Bossolo & Wilson, 2005).

He emphasized that in mental health records are particularly sensitive since they contain the innermost thoughts, emotions and personal information of the patients. There is also the stigma attached to mental illness and mental health treatments that will make any breach of privacy particularly devastating to the patient.

Based on these premises, mental health records are quite different from other mental health records. Moreover, disclosure of records may also interfere with the treatment of the patient. Any established open communication of the psychiatrist with the patient will be damaged and will hinder the development of the treatment.

Another part of concern for confidentiality of medical records is the communication between the patient and the psychiatrist. In the controversial case of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, the court declared, “We conclude that the public policy favoring protection of the confidential character of patient-psychotherapist communications must yield to the extent to which disclosure is essential to avert danger to others. The protective privilege ends where the public peril begins (Herbert, 2004)”. This puts the psychotherapist in danger of being sued for not disclosing information about the patient in case the patient harms himself or a third party.

Though initially intended to prevent any harm form occurring, Tarassoff has now evolved quite differently since it was first ruled in 1976. What was otherwise confidential communication between the patient and the psychotherapist is now being used to convict psychiatric patients of criminal offenses.

More than that, what constitutes an otherwise patient seeking psychiatric help for feelings of anger and violent ideation can now lead to the patient being incarcerated. This was seen in the following case:

“Upon leaving the courthouse [she] began thinking about stabbing the judge in the throat. She did not have a weapon. [She] was concerned about the violent thoughts, so she took a bus to a local hospital and asked to be seen in psychiatric emergency services. At the hospital [she] continued to express thoughts of harming the judge. The staff placed her on an involuntary hold and in accordance with Tarasoff, notified the police and warned the judge. Later that night she was arrested and transferred to the county jail, charged with making criminal threats. [She] eventually agreed to plead no contest to a misdemeanor and was released on probation after several months in jail (Herbert, 2004)”.

There is another ruling though, which puts the issue even more confusing for the psychiatrists and the patients. In 1996, the United States Supreme Court established a special privilege for the communications between the patient and the psychotherapist or psychiatrist but states that there are certain exceptions to the ruling.

Moreover, the Supreme Court ruling of the Jaffe v Redmond Case of 1996 recognized the psychotherapist-patient privilege (Mosher & Swire, 2002) and yet “stated in a footnote that an exception to the privilege would exist if a serious threat of harm to the patient could be averted only by means of disclosure by the therapist (Weinstock, Leong & Silva, 2001).

The issue of patient-psychotherapy confidentiality and determining the balance between public interest and the right of the individual to privacy is not merely limited to the violation of rights of the individual. The issue involves the gradual collapse of psychotherapy as treatment for mental health patient. Supposing the same is applied to lawyer-client confidentiality, the whole legal system will collapse.  

As it is, medical treatment for mental health patient is being compromised; and so, as final project, I shall address the problem of confidentiality of communication between the patient and the psychotherapist.

Works Cited

Bossolo, Luana & Wilson, Peter 2005. APA Raises Privacy Concerns on Mental Health Records.

American Psychology Association. Retrieve 17 January 2008 from

http://www.apa.org/releases/patientprivacy.html

Herbert, Paul B., M.D., J.D. 2004 Psychotherapy as Law Enforcement. The Journal of the

American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Retrieve 17 January 2008 from

http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/reprint/32/1/91

Mosher, PW & Swire, PP. 2002. The ethical and legal implications of Jaffee v Redmond and the

HIPAA medical privacy rule for psychotherapy and general psychiatry. Pubmed.

Retrieve 17 January 2008 from

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12232971

Types of Mental Health Professionals. 2008. National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Retrieve 17 January 2008 from

http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Mental_Health_Professionals_Who_They_Are_and_How_to_Find_One.htm

Weinstock, R, Leong, GB & Silva, JA. 2001. Potential erosion of psychotherapist-patient

privilege beyond California: dangers of "criminalizing" Tarasoff.

Retrieve 17 January 2008 from

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11443702?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus