Chapter 24 (new Ch 42) Employment and Labor Law

Implied-Contract Exception

An exception that allows an employee to sue for wrongful discharge. An implied employment contract may arise from statements the employer makes in an employment handbook, length of service, statements by the employer indicating long-term employment, or materials advertising the position

Signal Picketing

An illegal form of picketing which prevents deliveries or services to the employer, is unprotected behavior.

Secondary Boycotts

An illegal labor action where employees have a labor dispute with their employer and boycott another company to force it to cease doing business with the employer.

Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing Exception

The least common of all exceptions, this exception assumes that every employment contract contains an implicit understanding that the parties will deal fairly with one another. Because there is no clear agreement on what constitutes fair treatment of an employee, most states do not use this exception.

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.

Public Policy Exception

Prohibits employers from firing employees engaged in activities that further the public interest. Protected activities vary among states and include, but are not limited to, serving on jury duty, doing military service, filing for or testifying at hearings for workers' compensation claims, and whistle-blowing

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Requires that a minimum wage of a specified amount be paid to all employees in covered industries. The specified amount is periodically raised by Congress to compensate for increases in the cost of living caused by inflation; covers all employers engaged in interstate commerce or the production of goods for interstate commerce. mandates that employees who work more than 40 hours in a week be paid no less than one and one half times their regular wage for all the hours they work beyond 40 during a given week.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

This act created a state system to provide unemployment compensation to qualified employees who lose their jobs. Under this law, employers pay taxes to the states, which deposit the money into the federal government's Unemployment Insurance Fund.

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.

Boycott

To refuse to deal with, purchase goods from or work for a business

Primary Boycotts

A boycott against an employer with whom the union is directly engaged in a labor dispute; they are lawful

Landrum-Griffin Act

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.

Wagner Act

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

Taft-Hartley Act

Amended the Wagner Act and was designed to curtail some of the powers the unions had acquired under the Wagner Act. Also known as the Labor-Management Relations Act, designed to curtail some of the powers the unions had acquired under the Wagner Act.

Strike

Atemporary, concerted withdrawal of labor. It is the most powerful weapon employees use to secure recognition and improve their working conditions, but it is also potentially the most dangerous.

Collective Bargaining

Consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees so as to determine the conditions of employment.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Created by the Wagner Act. Interprets and enforces the NLRA. Its three primary functions are to: 1.Monitor the conduct of the employer and the union during an election to determine whether workers want to be represented by a union. 2.Prevent and remedy unfair labor practices by employers or unions. 3.Establish rules interpreting the act.

Employment-At-Will Doctrine (and wrongful discharge)

Doctrine under which an employer can fire an employee for any reason at all. The three exceptions are implied contract, violations of public policy, and implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. In states that have adopted any of these three exceptions, employees may be able to sue for wrongful discharge.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Federal act requiring that certain employers establish a policy that provides all eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of leave during any 12-month period for several family-related occurrences (e.g., birth of a child or care of a sick spouse). 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 before the leave) up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

Federal law ensuring 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, they can continue receiving benefits under the employer's policy for up to 18 months by paying the premiums for the policy.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry. employers must provide participants with all the following: 1.Plan information (features and funding). 2.Assurances that those in charge of managing plan assets have fiduciary responsibility. 3.grievance and appeals process for participants to get benefits from their plans. 4.The right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986

Outlaws the intentional interception of electronic communications and intentional disclosure or use of the information so obtained. Protects individuals' communications against government surveillance conducted without a court order, from third parties without legitimate authorization to access the messages, and from carriers such as Internet service providers

Picketing

Patrolling of a business site by workers who may or may not be on strike

Informational Picketing

Picketing designed to truthfully inform the public of a labor dispute between an employer and the employees and is protected by law.

Workers' Compensation Laws

State laws that provide for financial compensation to employees or their dependents when the covered employee is injured on the job. Purely State law.

Unemployment Compensations

State system, created by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), that provides unemployment compensation to qualified employees who lose their jobs. Each state has an account from which it can access money in accordance with state eligibility rules. States have different minimum standards for qualifying for unemployment compensation, although most require that the applicant did not voluntarily quit or get fired for cause.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

The Health and Safety Act of 1970. Federal law that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for setting safety standards under the act, as well as enforcing the act through inspections and the levying of fines against violators.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

The Wagner Act and the Taft-Hartley Act

Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE)

The federal agency responsible for immigration worksite enforcement. Employers are required to make a good faith effort to verify the eligibility of foreign workers.

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

the objective standard developed by courts for determining whether an employer intrusion into an employee's person or property when using company email or telephone