Tough Love or Bloodthirsty Mentality
The current recession has already made permanent changes in the private sector’s employer-employee relations. Its now beginning to make those changes in the public or government sector. The private sector overreacted by laying off hundreds of thousands of employees but has now discovered that it can operate with fewer employees. The government at all levels is out of money and can no longer afford to pay police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, and a host of other public employees whose work we take for granted.
Enter President Obama’s decision to offer $3.5 billion in “School Improvement Grants” to transform failing public schools. To get a share of the money, schools must extend hours, convert to charter schools, close failing schools, or replace principals, teachers and staff.
School authorities in Central Falls, Rhode Island, have engaged in, depending on who’s evaluating their action, tough love or a bloodthirsty mentality. The school board fired the entire faculty of a poorly performing school in Central Falls (only 7% of 11th graders passed state math tests last fall). President Obama’s support for this action has enraged teachers and their unions.
School boards have complained for decades about the difficulty of firing bad teachers because civil service laws designed to protect teachers from political whims have evolved into impenetrable fortresses that make their firing all but impossible. True or not, most Americans believe bad teachers are transferred from one school to another until they finally end up in an administrative job.
The recession is changing the landscape of employment. As unnecessarily painful as it’s been in some respects, if it results in a commitment by employers, public and private, to seriously evaluate the work of employees and deal with good and bad employees appropriately, we may look back at this difficult time as a watershed in human resources and employment law.
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About Chris Parker
Chris Parker's practice focuses on the representation and counseling of companies in matters pertaining to the workplace and the protection of their intellectual property and trade secrets. In addition to serving as an advocate for clients, Mr. Parker is also trained as a mediator and frequently serves as a third-party neutral.
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About Jimmy Daniel
Jimmy Daniel provides counseling to businesses of all sizes related to the employment relationship. He assists in the drafting of employment agreements, policies, and handbooks, as well as provides guidance related to compliance with federal, state, and local legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
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About Larry Bridgesmith
While serving in an Of Counsel relationship with the firm, Mr. Bridgesmith also serves as the Executive Director at the Institute for Conflict Resolution at Lipscomb University and as an officer and principal in Strategic Resolutions Group, LLC. In these roles, Mr. Bridgesmith brings over 30 years of legal experience in dispute resolution and innovative workplace strategies to clients, students and business entities alike.
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# Gary Says:
At the beginning of the recession (when I actually managed to get the job I now hold), I opined on a blog that this could prove to be “the immaculate recession” in that employers would adopt new approaches to work, such as wider use of telecommuting and flexible schedules and the like. I fear they’ve learned just the opposite lesson and now see employees as the enemy. I now call this the “Gitmo Economy.”
March 8th, 2010 at 10:52 am e
# John Phillips Says:
Gary,
Thanks for your comment.
Sadly, you may be right, though I think it’s too early to know for sure what we’ll end up with.
John
March 9th, 2010 at 8:50 am e