A Judeo-Christian Legal Guide to Human Resource Management
Legal, Practical, and Inspirational Tips for Managers
by
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This book is for employers (managers) who occasionally or often think about God, Jesus, and/or the Bible when managing employees. This book does not try to make managers more religious. It does not try to convert anyone from one religion to another. It is for managers who enjoy reading the Bible, or passages from the Bible, and want to integrate the Bible into their managerial thinking. It provides them some guidance. Not all managers want to read the Bible. Not all managers want to integrate the Bible into their managerial thinking. Many managers are of other faiths. Some managers are atheists. Some managers do not want to hear about religion at all. That is OK. This book is not for every manager. It is for managers who want this book. You might expect a faith-based guide to human resource management to be a touchy-feely, warm-and-fuzzy pontification that favors employees over employers. This guide is not. This guide comes close to worshipping employers. Employers provide jobs. The Golden Rule—“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12)—is important but so is what Paul told the Corinthians: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Those two biblical passages, together, mean this: Employees should be hired, compensated, promoted, disciplined, and terminated based on what their productivity and services are worth, not on their race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or other irrelevant or illegally discriminatory factor. By “worth,” we mean worth to the employer. We wish we could mean “worth” in the eyes of God. In the eyes of God, a little-known employee who works hard and is paid the minimum wage is worth as much, if not more, than the famous ballplayer who is paid $20 million per year. But the $20 million per year ballplayer probably generates much more revenue (ticket sales, broadcast and cable TV revenues, T-shirts, etc.) for his employer than the minimum-wage employee does for his (the minimum-wage employee’s) employer. Unless you are employed by God, you cannot expect your pay to be much more than your economic worth to your employer. According to the Bible, it is possible for an employer to earn a good profit with a clear conscience.
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About the Book
So much of human resource management these days is driven by fear of lawsuits (an employee suing an employer) that many companies and organizations do not achieve as much productivity and profitability as they deserve. They spend large sums on lawyers and strategies to prevent lawsuits. They sometimes retain, rather than terminate, underperforming employees, for fear that a terminated employee will sue. This diverts money from company profits and employee wages. Lawyer David A. Robinson and his wife, human resources professional Esther, have advised employers and thought about this problem for decades. Is there anything employers can do about this problem? Looking for answers, David and Esther found some answers in a place they did not expect: the Bible. They expected the Bible to be on the side of “servants” (employees), not “masters” (employers). They were pleasantly surprised to find the Bible on the side of employees AND employers! This book is written specifically for 2025 and the next few years. In his inaugural address on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump said society should be “colorblind and merit-based.” He added, “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.” Employers, whether they approve or disapprove of Trump, should be mindful of those words.
About the Author
David A. Robinson has advised employers about employment law and human resource management for nearly 50 years. He earned a B.A. in economics from George Washington University, M.S. in psychology from Purdue University Global, and J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He practiced law in Massachusetts from 1977 to 2008 and now practices in Connecticut. He taught legal ethics at Western New England University (WNEU) from 1979 to 1982; business law at WNEU from 2001 to 2005; and business ethics, business law, and human resource management at the University of New Haven from 2005 to 2014. In 2024 he was associate counsel for employment and human resources at Connecticut Business and Industry Association. Esther Robinson earned her B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Southern Connecticut State University and Certificate in Human Resource Management from Cornell University. She is retired after a career in human resource management at Yale New Haven Hospital.