HRM 4003 Module 5 Labor Relations, Safety and Employment Law Compliance Analysis Example

Teenagers at the Slicer and a Petition in the Break Room: Labor Relations, Safety and Employment Law at a Grocery Chain

Student Name

American College of Education

HRM4003: Fundamentals of Human Resource Management

Module 5 Assignment

Instructor Name

March 15, 2027

Introduction

This course has followed Allegheny Fresh Markets, a composite nine-store grocery chain near Pittsburgh, through workforce planning, recruiting meat cutter apprentices, a pharmacy pay change and new training and review processes. In the spring of 2027, three problems reached the human resources office in the same month. An internal audit found that 16- and 17-year-old deli clerks at three stores had been cleaning meat slicers at closing. A deli manager told employees that discussing pay was against company policy, while two meat cutters circulated a petition about weekend scheduling. And a meat cutter cleaned a band saw without locking out its power. This paper analyzes each problem under the law that governs it, proposes corrections and sets out a calendar to prevent repeats.

Minors and Power-Driven Slicers

Federal child labor rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act treat certain jobs as too hazardous for workers under 18. Hazardous Occupations Order No. 10 bars minors from operating, feeding, setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling or cleaning power-driven meat-processing machines, and it names meat slicers in retail delicatessens specifically, whatever the product being sliced (Occupations in the Operation of Power-Driven Meat-Processing Machines, 2025). Cleaning a slicer at closing therefore violates the order even if the minor never slices anything. Store managers had assigned the task to whoever was on the late shift, without checking ages. The violation exposes the chain to civil penalties and, more importantly, exposes teenagers to the lacerations the rule exists to prevent.

Correcting the Child Labor Problem

The correction has four parts. First, effective immediately, no employee under 18 may operate or clean any slicer, grinder, saw or patty machine, and closing duties at every store will be reassigned so an adult cleans all such equipment. Second, the scheduling system will flag every employee under 18 and block their assignment to tasks on a restricted list. Third, each deli and meat department will post a sign at every covered machine stating that operators must be 18 or older. Fourth, HR will review the past year's schedules to identify every affected minor, confirm none were injured and consult employment counsel on whether to self-report. Store managers will receive a one-hour session on federal and Pennsylvania rules for minors, including hours limits during the school year.

Pay Talk and the Petition

The second problem involves labor relations. Under Section 7 of federal labor law, workers may act together for collective bargaining or for mutual aid or protection, with or without a union in the picture (National Labor Relations Act, 2018). Discussing wages with coworkers and signing a petition about scheduling are classic concerted activities. A manager's statement that pay discussion is against policy is likely an unlawful interference with those rights, and any discipline of the petition's organizers would be worse. The chain has no written rule against discussing pay; the manager was repeating an old practice. Still, the statement must be corrected, because employees heard it as company policy.

Responding Lawfully

HR will send a written notice to all deli employees at that store stating that they are free to discuss their pay and working conditions, and the manager will receive coaching. The petition itself raises a fair point: weekend schedules for meat cutters are set week to week and fall unevenly on newer cutters. The meat director will meet with the petitioners and any other cutters who wish to attend, and the chain will publish a rotation that spreads weekends evenly. Managers have also reported a union organizer in two parking lots. Employees have the right to organize, and managers will be trained in what they may not do: threaten, question employees about union activity, promise benefits to discourage it or watch union meetings. The chain may share its views honestly, but its best response is to keep fixing the problems employees raise.

Lockout on the Band Saw

The third problem is a safety hazard. OSHA's control of hazardous energy standard requires employers to establish procedures for shutting down and isolating machines and applying locks or tags before employees service or maintain them, where unexpected start-up could cause injury (The Control of Hazardous Energy, 2025). Cleaning a band saw blade and wheels with the machine merely switched off, rather than unplugged or locked out, exposes the cutter to a start-up while hands are near the blade. The cutter involved was experienced, which points to a culture problem rather than a knowledge gap: the step was skipped because it slowed closing and nobody insisted on it. No one was hurt, but a near miss of this kind is exactly the warning the standard is written to act on.

Building a Safety Climate

Christian et al. (2009), pooled safety studies and saw that what workers jointly believe about management's real priority on safety, the safety climate, ranked near the top among workplace conditions shaping safe conduct, acting through what workers know and how much they care to follow it. Rules alone do not create that climate; managers' daily choices do. The chain will therefore add a written lockout procedure for each saw, grinder and slicer, mounted on the machine, provide locks and keys to every cutter and audit lockout weekly during closing. Meat managers will be evaluated partly on audit results. Equally important, the apprenticeship's hands-on safety training from Module 4 will include lockout practice, and closing schedules will allow enough time for the procedure, so speed is not rewarded over safety.

Other Employment Law Checks

The three problems prompted a broader review. Accommodation requests under the Americans with Disabilities Act, such as a cutter asking for a lifting aid after a back injury, will go to HR rather than being decided by store managers, and the chain will document an interactive process for each. Family and Medical Leave Act eligibility requires 1,250 hours of work in the prior year, so many part-time employees are not covered; HR will make sure managers know who is eligible and do not deny leave that is protected. Equal employment opportunity data from the new apprentice hiring will be reviewed after each class, as described in Module 2. Finally, posters required by federal and state law will be checked in every break room, since two stores were found to be displaying outdated versions.

A Compliance Calendar

To keep these issues from resurfacing, HR will maintain a calendar. Each month, schedules will be checked for minors on restricted tasks. Each quarter, lockout audits will be summarized for the operations director, and a store will be selected at random for a full labor and safety walk-through. Each year, all managers will complete refresher training on child labor, concerted activity, lockout, accommodation and leave, and HR will review posted notices and handbook language with counsel. Each problem goes into a log naming the manager who must fix it and the deadline, and that log will be reviewed at the quarterly leadership meeting.

Conclusion

Three spring problems show how quickly ordinary store routines can collide with federal law: teenagers cleaning slicers, a manager discouraging pay talk and a saw cleaned without lockout. Each has a clear legal answer and a practical fix, and each points to the same underlying need, managers who know the rules and a culture that rewards following them. With these corrections and a compliance calendar, the chain can grow to its tenth store with fewer legal and safety risks.

References

Christian, M. S., Bradley, J. C., Wallace, J. C., & Burke, M. J. (2009). Workplace safety: A meta-analysis of the roles of person and situation factors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1103-1127. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016172

National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 157-158 (2018).

Occupations in the Operation of Power-Driven Meat-Processing Machines, 29 C.F.R. § 570.61 (2025).

The Control of Hazardous Energy, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.147 (2025).