Your rights as an employee
To better identify any possible problem, it is essential to be aware of employees' rights. Whatever their profession, every employee has the same rights. The rights described below are shared by a large number of countries.
The right to fair treatment
The employer must not discriminate against you. All employees must be treated fairly, regardless of gender, geographic or social origin, religion, or sexual orientation. The right to fair treatment also includes people with disabilities. If you are a disabled person, your employer is required to make any necessary adjustments to ensure that you are able to work in good conditions. The right to fair treatment extends to the recruitment process. An exception, however, is age discrimination, which may be justified in specific cases, for example, when employing young people for very physical jobs that are potentially dangerous for older ones.
The right to a fair salary
All work deserves a salary, a fair wage, which corresponds to the work done. The salary must be the same for two people doing the same job. In fact, fair payment is far from being respected. Women bear the brunt of this, as they are still very often paid less than men, despite performing the same duties. The right to be paid fairly also includes the right to a living wage. The employer must guarantee you a minimum wage that you can live on. In practice, this right is far from always being followed as well.
The right to protest against unfair working conditions
As an employee, you have the right to demonstrate your disagreement with your company when you feel that your working conditions are unfair or unsafe. The right to protest is enshrined in the International Labor Organization's Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention of 1948. But sometimes state laws are at odds with international law and even fail to protect striking employees.
Other employee rights
As a new area of life, the company remains divided into various sectors, in which your rights must continue to be respected. Thus, you have the right to privacy and family life. Your employer or colleagues cannot interfere in your private life. However, your office is not your home. All the devices you use at work belong to the company. The employer can therefore monitor your communications (internet browsing, emails, phone calls, images, data). However, such monitoring is only possible after you have been informed.
Other rights ensure the proper execution of the employment contract. For example, you have the right to paid vacations, to the limit of working hours, to safety in the workplace and in the course of your duties, to training, to health insurance, and to the respect of individual and collective freedom.
