Ch 24 employment and discrimination law
Americans with Disabilities Act
ADA prohibits discrimination against employees and job applicants with disabilities.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
ADEA prohibits employers from refusing to hire, discharging, or discriminating in terms and conditions of employment on the basis of an employee or applicant being age 40 or older.
Labor Laws and Unions: Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
Also known as the Labor-Management Relations Act, the Taft-Hartley Act was designed to curtail some of the powers the unions had acquired under the Wagner Act. Just as the Wagner Act designated certain employer actions as unfair, the Taft-Hartley Act designated certain union actions as unfair.
When May an Employee Be Fired?
At-will employment means that any employee who is not employed under a contract or a collective bargaining agreement may quit at any time for any reason or no reason at all, with no required notice to the employer. Moreover, the employer may fire the employee at any time, with no notice, for almost any reason.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
COBRA ensures that when employees lose their jobs or have their hours reduced to a level at which they would not be eligible to receive medical, dental, or optical benefits from their employer, the employees will be able to continue receiving benefits under the employer's policy for up to 18 months by paying the premiums for the policy.
Labor Laws and Unions: Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees to determine the conditions of employment.
BOBBY DEAN NICKEL V. STAPLES CONTRACT & COMMERCIAL INC.
Despite defendants' protestations that plaintiff was fired for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason (theft and unethical behavior), the jury had the right, based on the substantial evidence presented at trial, to reject defendants' reasons and determine that the firing was based on age discrimination.
Civil Rights Act-Title VII: Disparate impact
Disparate-impact cases arise when a plaintiff attempts to establish that although an employer's policy or practice appears to apply to everyone equally, its actual effect is that it disproportionately limits employment opportunities for a protected class.
Equal Pay Act of 1963
EPA prohibits an employer from paying workers of one gender less than the wages paid to employees of the opposite gender for work that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Employee Retirement Income Security Act
ERISA sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans.
Employee Privacy in the Workplace: Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
Employers cannot listen to the private telephone conversations of employees or disclose the contents of these conversations. They may, however, ban personal calls and monitor calls for compliance as long as they discontinue listening to any conversation once they determine it is personal. Violators may be subject to fines of up to $10,000.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Fair Labor Standards Act
Employers must follow federal minimum-wage and hour laws. FLSA covers all employers engaged in interstate commerce or the production of goods for interstate commerce and requires a minimum wage of a specified amount to be paid to all employees in covered industries. Congress periodically raises the specified amount to compensate for increases in the cost of living caused by inflation. The current minimum wage is $7.25.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Federal Unemployment Tax Act
FUTA created a state system that provides unemployment compensation to qualified employees who lose their jobs.
Federal Employment Discrimination Laws Governing Employers
Federal law may be described as a minimum level of protection for all workers. State laws may give employees more, but not less, protection than federal laws. Some of the most important federal employment discrimination laws are the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964— Title VII (as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991); Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1987; Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967; Americans with Disabilities Act; and Equal Pay Act of 1963.
Civil Rights Act-Title VII: Disparate treatment
If the employee has been hired, fired, denied a promotion, and so on, based on membership in a protected class under Title VII, this is a form of intentional discrimination and qualifies the employee to sue for disparate-treatment discrimination
Hiring Foreign Workers
In 1986,Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. This act is an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and requires employers to verify the identity and eligibility of all individuals hired in the United States after November 6, 1986. If it is discovered that an employer knowingly employed undocumented immigrant workers, that employer will be in serious legal trouble. Employers who fail to comply with the laws regarding the hiring of foreign workers risk criminal and civil sanctions.
Discrimination Based on Marriage
In 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court held that marriage is a fundamental right for all and struck down state laws forbidding same-sex marriage.
Use of Social Media in Hiring Decisions
May an employer use social media in hiring decisions? The answer is yes—if it's done carefully. Probably the biggest concern is discrimination. A potentially little-known problem with using social media—particularly the most popular sites like Facebook and LinkedIn—is that the subscribers do not represent the U.S. or global job-applicant pools. Recent surveys show that social media sites have lower percentages of Latino and black users than are in the general population. The burden, then, is on the employer to widen their search for new applicants to include job boards, newspapers, magazines, and job fairs.
Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation— Actionable?
No federal legislation currently prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. What does exist are individual state laws that prohibit such discrimination. State laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation exist in 21 states and the District of Columbia.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1987
PDA amended Title VII of CRA, expanding the definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination based on pregnancy.
Employee Privacy in the Workplace
Privacy issues are of increasing importance in the workplace. Privacy policies should cover matters such as employer surveillance policies, control of and access to medical and personnel records, drug testing, and e-mail policies.
Civil Rights Act-Title VII: Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that implicitly or explicitly makes submission a term or condition of employment; makes employment decisions related to the individual dependent on submission to or rejection of such conduct; or has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Two recognized forms are hostile environment and quid pro quo harassment.
May an Employer Discriminate against a Smoker?
Some companies either won't hire smokers or are threatening to fire current employees who will not or are unable to quit smoking. Many states have passed laws preventing companies from engaging in such action.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Workers' compensation laws
State laws provide for financial compensation to employees or their dependents when a covered employee is injured on the job.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The EEOC is the federal agency charged with overseeing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Administrative complaints must be filed with the EEOC (or an equivalent state agency) prior to filing a lawsuit for discrimination or harassment.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Family and Medical Leave Act
The FMLA covers all public employers, as well as private employers with 50 or more employees. It guarantees all eligible employees (those who have worked at least 25 hours a week for each of 12 months prior to the leave) up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for any of the following family-related occurrences: the birth of a child; the adoption of a child; the placement of a foster child in the employee's care; the care of a seriously ill spouse, parent, or child; or a serious health condition that renders the employee unable to perform any of the essential functions of his or her job.
Labor Laws and Unions: Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959
The Landrum-Griffin Act primarily governs the internal operations of labor unions. It requires certain financial disclosures by unions and establishes civil and criminal penalties for financial abuses by union officials. "Labor's Bill of Rights," contained in the act, protects employees from their own unions.
Additional Laws Governing the Employment Relationship: Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responsible for setting safety standards under OSHA and enforcing the act through inspections and levying fines against violators.
TERESA HARRIS V. FORKLIFT SYSTEMS, INC.
The Supreme Court for the first time held that harassment in and of itself is illegal and actionable, regardless of the amount of damage to the victim.
Labor Laws and Unions: National Labor Relations Board
The Wagner Act created the NLRB, an administrative agency, to interpret and enforce the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and to provide for judicial review in designated federal courts of appeal.
Labor Laws and Unions: Wagner Act of 1935
The Wagner Act was the first major piece of federal legislation adopted explicitly to encourage the formation of labor unions and provide for collective bargaining between employers and unions as a means of obtaining the peaceful settlement of labor disputes.
DONALD BALDWIN, COMPLAINANT V. ANTHONY FOXX
This was the first time that the EEOC stated that a claim for sexual orientation discrimination is, by definition, also a claim for sex discrimination.
Civil Rights Act-Title VII
Title VII of CRA (1964, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991) protects employees against discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex. It also prohibits harassment based on the same protected categories. Defenses to a charge of discrimination under Title VII include merit, seniority system, and bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ).
Employee Privacy in the Workplace: Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
Under ECPA, employees' privacy rights were extended to electronic forms of communication, including e-mail and cellular phones. ECPA outlaws the intentional interception of electronic communications and the intentional disclosure or use of the information obtained through such interception.