Chapter 20 : Employment Law

Extended wage-hour requirements to cover all employers engaged in interstate commerce or in producing goods for interstate commerce.

Fair Labor Standards Act

Created a state-administered system that provides unemployment compensation to eligible individuals who have lost their jobs.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act

_____ - Employers with fifty employees must provide insurance, and those failing to do so will be fined for each employee after the first thirty.

50/30 rule

AKA Obama Care : Requires employers with fifty or more full-time employees to offer health-insurance benefits. May be eligible for tax credits of up to 35 percent.

Affordable Care Act

Violation of FMLA, if the plaintiff shows that the employer acted in ___, the plaintiff can receive two times the amount of damages awarded.

Bad faith

Few examples of ____ - Discharge of an employee may give rise to an action for wrongful discharge. Abusive discharge > lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress or defamation. Fraud

Tort theory

Under FMLA an eligible employee may take up to ____ of leave within a twelve-month period for certain reasons listed.

Twelve weeks

The employment laws that will be discussed apply only to the _____ relationship. They do NOT apply to independent contractors.

Employer-employee

_____ - Under this doctrine, either party may terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason, unless doing so violates an employee's statutory or contractual rights.

Employment at will

Allows employees to take time off from work for family or medical reasons or in certain situations that arise from military service. Unpaid leave.

FMLA Act

An employer may not fire an employee if doing so would violate a ____, such as a law prohibiting employment discrimination

Federal or state statute

Under the FLSA, an employee who works more than ____ hours per week must be paid no less than 1.5 times their regular pay for all hours worked over ____ hours.

Forty hours

Children under ___ years of age are only allowed to do certain types of work.

Fourteen

An example under tort theory- Might be alleged when an employer made false promises to a prospective employee.

Fraud

Restricts the manner in which employers collect, use, and disclose the health information of employees and their families. Employers must designate privacy officials, train employees to ensure info is not disclosed to wrong person.

HIPAA

Children aged fourteen and fifteen are allowed to work, but not in ____. Also restrictions in how many hours they can work.

Hazardous occupations

____ - An employer's oral promises to employees regarding discharge policy. If an employer has fired an employee contrary to what was promised, a court may hold employer liable.

Implied contract

The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits oppressive ____

Child labor

Employment relationships have traditionally been governed by the ____ doctrine of employment at will

Common law

Social Security benefits are fixed by statute but increase automatically with increases in the ____.

Cost of living

Under OSHA an employer cannot ___ an employee who files a complaint or who, in good faith, refuses to work in a high-risk area if bodily harm or death might result.

Discharge

A worker may sue an employer who ____ injures the worker

Intentionally

An important exception allows the employer to avoid reinstating a ____ - an employee whose pay falls within the top 10 percent of the firm's workforce.

Key employee

A federal government health-insurance program administered by the Social Security Administration for people sixty-five years of age and older. Two parts: Hospital costs and nonhospital costs Additional coverage cost for medication

Medicare

The FLSA provides a ____ of $7.25 per hour must be paid to covered nonexempt employees.

Minimum wage

Retired workers who are covered by Social Security receive ____ from the Administration.

Monthly payments

If an employee accepts workers' compensation benefits, he or she may not sue for injuries caused by the employer's ___.

Negligence

If employees are ___ that certain communications are being monitored, th employer may be held liable for invading their privacy.

Not informed

The act imposes on employers a general duty to keep the workplace safe.

OSHA

Once employee has returned from FMLA leave they must be restored to their ____.

Original postion

The Fourth Amendment does not apply to drug testing conducted by ____

Private employers

Determining whether an employer should be held liable for violating an employee's privacy rights, the courts generally weigh the employer's interests against the _____

Reasonable expectation of privacy

1. Existence of an employment relationship 2. An accidental injury that occurred on the job or in the course of employment, regardless of fault. Must tell employer promptly

Requirements for workers comp

Employers that show an ability to pay claims do not need to buy insurance.

Self-insured

Working times and hours are not restricted for persons between the ages of _____ but this age group cannot be employed in hazardous jobs.

Sixteen and eighteen

Provides for old-age (retirement), survivors', and disability insurance.

Social Security Act

____ has affected the application of the employment-at-will doctrine. The courts have made exceptions to the doctrine based on contract theory, tort theory, and public policy

Statutory law

Eligible for ____ : A worker must be willing and able to work. Workers who have left their job voluntarily or have been fired for misconduct are not eligible.

Unemployment Compensation

Gives an employee a legal right to receive pension benefits when she or he stops working.

Vesting

_____ - applies to employers with at least one hundred full-time employees. The act requires these employers to provide SIXTY DAYS notice before implementing mass layoffs or closing a plant.

WARN Act

Whistleblowers seek protection from retaliatory discharge under statutes, such as the _____

Whistleblower Protection Act

The public-policy exception may apply to an employee discharged for ___ - that is, telling government authorities, upper-level managers, or media that the employer is engaged in some unsafe or illegal activity.

Whistleblowing

Establish an administrative procedure for compensating workers injured on the job. Instead, of suing, an injured worker files a claim with the state agency or board.

Workers' compensation laws

Whenever an employer discharges an employee in violation of an employment contract or statutory law protecting employees, the employee may bring an action for ____

Wrongful discharge

IF an employee's tips and direct wages do not equal the _____, the employer must make up the difference.

federal minimum wage

The most common exception to the employment-at-will doctrine is made on the basis that the employer's reason for firing the employee violates a ____ of the jurisdiction.

fundamental public policy

Whenever a work-related ____ occurs, employers must make reports directly to OSHA.

injury or disease