Chapter 3: Hr And The Law: The HR Practitioner’s Point of View

Human resources professionals may be involved in many legal situations that occur within the conduct of the business day. The majority of these professionals are not lawyers by education, yet they are expected to provide guidance and subject-matter expertise with regard to the applicability of the laws to their organizations—in other words “put on your lawyer hat.” What the organization is seeking is the legal opinion of the HR professional.

Managers manage risk. Throughout the daily business operation, managers are confronted by decisions in which they must select from a range of options. Each of the options, to some extent, presents the manager with a risk versus gain scenario. In order to make the right decision—or more correctly, in order to avoid making the wrong decision—the manager needs information. When the HR practitioner is the source of that information, more times than not, the manager wants to know the legal risks associated with the various options that are available. Under these auspices, management is engaging in a basic and proven technique of decision making in seeking the opinion of the subject-matter expert. According to Paul and Elder (2009), information is one of the elements of thought. It is one of the underpinnings of critical thinking and hence is an essential component in the making of sound decisions.