FAIRER EMPLOYMENT ACT
PREAMBLE:
To fix the Fair Employment Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STATE OF FIRESTONE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION 1: All citizens of Firestone presently and/or previously employed by a lawfully established and recognized government department, hereafter referred to as “employees” or another reasonable variant thereof, excluding those in departments under the rank of “Enlist”, “Trainee”, “Cadet”, “Candidate”, or any other reasonable variant of one who is still in training, of the Firestone government shall enjoy the protections of the rights enumerated later in sections and subsections of this bill.
a. It shall be the responsibility of each government department head, hereafter referred to as “employer” or another reasonable variant thereof, to make a reasonable effort to ensure the rights of their employees are justly upheld.
b. Citizens of Firestone presently and/or previously employed in a Department of Commerce-licensed business shall enjoy the rights specifically mentioned in sections 2 and 3 and their respective subsections.
SECTION 2: Any citizen of Firestone so currently and/or previously employed, whether employed in an officially recognized government department(s) or a private business(s) officially licensed by the Department of Commerce, including those in departments under the rank of “Enlist”, “Trainee”, “Cadet”, “Candidate”, or any other reasonable variant of one who is still in training, shall have the unquestionable right against and protection from discrimination and/or bias by their employer on the basis of race, gender, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, religion or lack thereof, age (except where age should be limited by standing Terms of Service for any platforms commonly used in the State of Firestone, i.e. Discord, and/or affect employment, i.e. through ROBLOX’s “safechat” system), unrelated personal matters, and/or any other arbitrary measures judged to be unfairly discriminatory.
a. No employee or citizen presently and/or previously employed in a Department of Commerce-licensed business shall, through contractual means or otherwise, waive their right to the protections detailed in Section 2 of this bill. Any sections of an already-signed contract in conflict with this section shall have their conflicting sections voided, with the remainder of the contract remaining in effect.
SECTION 3: For all businesses recognized by the Department of Commerce, the Secretary of Commerce shall be responsible for producing, maintaining, and enforcing a standard set of employee protections, bearing in mind the resources each business may or may not have available to it and planning fairly and accordingly.
a. The Secretary of Commerce, in their set of employee protections, shall include a means for disgruntled business employees to challenge action taken against them if it should violate a policy(ies) as detailed in the Secretary of Commerce’s employee protections.
b. Breaches of the Secretary of Commerce’s regulations shall not be pursued in a court of law; rather, violations will be handled as the Commerce Secretary deems fit with punishment or rectifying action being assigned at their discretion, unless while during said handling of violations the Department of Commerce or its employees should violate the law or Department of Commerce policy, in which case the appellant shall retain the right to pursue redress from the Department of Commerce in civil court.
c. Breaches of the non-discrimination protections by private business employers detailed in section 2 may be pursued in civil court.
SECTION 4: Each department head of each government department shall be responsible for producing and maintaining a fair and just set of rules and regulations, including a standard disciplinary system for violations as well as a method to appeal disciplinary action, which shall first be approved by the Governor or, for the Stapleton County Sheriff’s Office and Stapleton County Fire Department, the County Executive, and, upon approval, be made known and readily available to the department’s employees. Any alterations or changes to these rules and regulations shall be announced to all department employees, but do not need to be approved by the Governor or County Executive.
a. It shall be within the authority of the department heads, as well as any lesser employees authorized by the department head to make or influence decisions regarding punitive or disciplinary measures such as terminations, strikes, suspensions, administrative leaves, or any other measures against an employee intended as punishment, who shall hereafter referred to as “administration” or another reasonable variant thereof, to enact punitive or disciplinary measures on those employees who violate one or more policies. Such measures shall adhere to the given standard disciplinary system detailed in the set of rules and regulations.
b. Administration must, at minimum, be able to prove it is more likely than not that the given employee being disciplined is the one who was involved in the specified incident(s) or violation(s) before issuing disciplinary action. Employees shall be informed of the accusations against them prior to official enactment of disciplinary measures.
c. By agreeing to initial employment and by pursuing continued employment, it is assumed that the department’s employees agree to abide by their department(s)’s set of rules and regulations.
d. Employees who believe they have been wrongly terminated, falsely identified and subsequently punished for the actions of another, their actions resulting in punishment were not in violation of their department head(s)’s regulations, or that such punishment was not adherent to the standard disciplinary system, and were not punished or disciplined by the administration of the Department of Public Safety or by its administration’s orders, shall first appeal their punishment through the method detailed in the rules and regulations. Should an employee’s appeal be denied by their department, they shall retain the right to pursue redress from the department in question in the civil courts of Firestone if the department has breached the law during the disciplinary, punitive, or appellate process.
e. Employees who believe they have been wrongly terminated, falsely identified and subsequently punished for the actions of another, their actions resulting in punishment were not in violation of their department head(s)’s regulations, or that such punishment was not adherent to the standard disciplinary system, and were punished or disciplined by the administration of the Department of Public Safety or by its administration’s orders, shall first appeal their punishment through the method detailed in the rules and regulations of the Department of Public Safety. Should an employee’s appeal be denied by the Department of Public Safety, they shall retain the right to pursue redress from the Department of Public Safety in the civil courts of Firestone if the Department of Public Safety has breached the law during the disciplinary, punitive, or appellate process.
f. Should an employee’s civil court case be successful, it shall be the responsibility of the department head to rectify the damage(s) done to the employee and the employee’s rapport as well as can reasonably be expected.
SECTION 5: Employees shall retain the right to peacefully express or to not express their personal opinion(s), publicly or privately, positively or negatively (so long as any criticism is not deliberately inflammatory or mean-spirited in nature), of the executive branch, its administration, government departments, and any other matters or entities without fear of disciplinary action from their department(s), except where their conduct or speech violates relevant law(s) or terms of service.
SECTION 6: The Governor of the State of Firestone shall be responsible for the primary enforcement of this Act. The County Executive shall be responsible for the enforcement of this Act in matters regarding the Stapleton County Fire Department and/or the Stapleton County Sheriff’s Office. Where indicated, the Secretary of Commerce shall be responsible for enforcing the relevant sections of this Act. The Courts of the State of Firestone shall be responsible for interpreting any alleged violations of this Act.
SECTION 7: An Act to Reform the General Employment Rights, the Fair Employment Act ®, An Act to Correct Disciplinary Restrictions, and An Amendment to An Act to Correct Disciplinary Restrictions shall be declared null and void.
SECTION 8: Should any clause, subclause, or other section of this legislation be declared null and void or unconstitutional, the remainder of the bill not declared null and void or unconstitutional shall remain in effect.
SECTION 9: Upon passing the required Constitutional procedure, this legislation shall be brought into law.
Chief Sponsor:
Representative SurrealReality