Law Chapter 14

During breaks from school

an employee can work 8 hours a day but no more than 40 hours a week, cannot start any earlier than 7am or end later than 9pm

Illegal Job Discrimination

An employee must file a claim with the EEOC within: 180 days after the alleged discriminatory act

Fair Labor Standards Act

Another exception to the minimum-wage requirements applies to employees who routinely receive at least: $30/month in tips Up to: 59% of the minimum wage could be replaced by tips

Illegal Job Discrimination

Before a Title VII action can be brought in federal court, a: discrimination charge: must be filed with the EEOC

Age

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee on the basis of being: 40 years of age or older

To qualify for the professional employee exemption, the employee must satisfy these 2 criteria:

o They are paid on a salary or fee basis at a rate of at least $455/week o Their primary duty is the performance of work requiring: advanced knowledge: in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction

The Equal Pay Act prohibits an employer from practicing: retaliatory discharge:

which is an employer firing or otherwise discriminating against an employee because they complained or commenced a lawsuit against the employer for being paid unfairly

Mandatory Verification of Employment Status

- The Immigration Reform and Control Act requires employers to: verify the employment status of workers they hire with a document called an: I-9 - The employer must keep the employee's I-9 on file for: 3 years following the date of hire or until: 1 year after the employee leaves, whichever is longer - The penalty for hiring an illegal alien is a: cease and desist order, which requires the employer to terminate the employee, and a fine that ranges from $250-$2,000

Comparable worth

- jobs requiring different skills and responsibilities that have equal value to the employer

Illegal Job Discrimination

T/F: an employer cannot require one gender to wear a uniform and not the other where both are doing the same job → True

Illegal Job Discrimination

T/F: an employer could be liable for sexual harassment where a sexually hostile work environment is created by customers → True

Fair Labor Standards Act

The youth minimum wage says that youth must be paid at least: 85% of the federal minimum wage The youth minimum wage only applies to people between the ages of: 16-19 years old and only for the first: 90 days of employment

Protected classes when it comes to employment:

an employer cannot discriminate against worked on the basis of: race, skin color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, disability, age (if they are at least 40 years old), or union membership

Disparate treatment discrimination

intentional discrimination based on considerations of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employers:

involved in interstate commerce: pay employees at least the minimum wage set by Congress

Disparate impact discrimination

involves neutral practices that result, often unintentionally, in unequal treatment

For a plaintiff to win punitive damages, she must prove that the employer acted with:

malice or reckless: indifference to the rights guaranteed under the ADA

At-will employment

means the employment contract between an employer and an employee is indefinite in duration and can be terminated by either party for any reason or no reason at any time without liability

The Fair Labor Standards Act mandates 4 things:

minimum wage time and a half pay for overtime equal pay for equal work restrictions on child labor

The following things are counted as 'time worked':

o Coffee and snack breaks o Meetings to discuss daily operations problems o Rest periods of 20 minutes or less o Travel from job site to job site or to customers o Required training o Clearing a cash register or totaling receipts after regular work hours

The potential liability a defendant faces in a lawsuit includes:

o Compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney's fees, expert witness fees, reinstatement where an employee was wrongly terminated, and back pay

An employee whose rights under the Federal Labor Standards Act have been violated has two options in pursuing the case:

o File a claim with the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor o Commence a lawsuit against the employer seeking damages and attorney fees

Sexual Harassment

o Quid pro quo sexual harassment - unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors in return for job benefits o Hostile environment sexual harassment - verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment o To determine whether a hostile work environment exists, the court will look at the: frequency of the discriminatory conduct, its: severity, its: offensiveness, and whether it interferes with an employee's: work performance

Sexual Harassment

o T/F: In relation to sexual harassment, consent alone does not establish that the conduct is welcome → True

In determining what functions are essential to a job, a court will consider:

o The employer's judgment as to which functions are essential o Written job descriptions o The amount of time on the job allocated to performing that function

Unions

organizations of workers whose mission includes negotiating for higher: wages, better: benefits, greater job: stability, and :safer workplaces

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination not only in hiring and firing but also in:

promotion, access to training, disciplining, work assignments, shift assignments, vacation time, and more

Plaintiffs in cases involving intentional discrimination on the basis of:

race and skin color: can collect unlimited damages

Undue hardship

refers to an accommodation that requires significant: difficulty or: expense on the part of the employer, or: major modifications of the employer's business

Glass Ceiling

refers to artificial barriers that have held women and minorities back from promotion to management and decision-making positions in business

Affirmative action

refers to employment programs designed to remedy discriminatory practices in hiring

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification

says that it is okay for an employer to discriminate where selection of an employee based on gender, religion, age, or national origin is reasonably necessary for the normal operation of the employer's business....for example, hiring only women to model women's makeup is acceptable

Back pay

the difference between the amount of money the plaintiff would have earned in the absence of discrimination and the amount of money the plaintiff earned as the victim of discrimination

To be eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave

the employee must have been employed for at least: 12 months and have worked at least: 1,250 hours

Collective bargaining

the process whereby representatives of the union negotiate with representatives of management on terms of employment

Under hostile environment sexual harassment, the employer can escape liability if it satisfies 3 elements constituting the defense:

• No adverse employment action was taken against the employee • The employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior • The plaintiff unreasonably failed to take advantage of preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer to avoid harm

Emerging Issues in Employment Law

T/F: negligent hiring may apply even when the rogue employee is acting outside of his job description → True

Americans with Disabilities Act

- The Americans with Disabilities Act became effective in what year? 1992 - To qualify for ADA protection, the disability must be: permanent or: long term - The ADA applies to employers with: 15 employees or mores

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows employees to take up to

12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for childbirth, adoption, foster placement, or to care for themselves, a child, spouse, or parent who has a serious health condition

Title VII covers employers with:

15 or more employees

During the school year, an employee who is 14 or 15 cannot work more than:

18 hours a week, not more than: 3 hours on a school day, and cannot being work earlier than: 7am or end later than: 7pm

Unions

T/F: union membership is a protected class for purposes of discrimination → True

Who is minimum wage set by?

Congress

Fair Labor Standards Act

T/F: Courts have rejected the argument that comparable worth requires equal pay → True

What did Title VII create

EEOC which is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal government agency that is charged with enforcing Title VII's mandates

Fair Labor Standards Act

Employers with less than: $500,000 in annual sales do not have to meet the minimum wage requirement

Fair Labor Standards Act

T/F: No federal law restricts the number of hours 16 or 17 year olds can work → True

Fair Labor Standards Act

For employees to contest their classification as exempt from overtime, two general rules apply: 1) an employee must pass a salary test and a duties test, and 2) employees paid an hourly wage are nonexempt regardless of their duties (AKA all hourly employees are eligible for overtime)

Fair Labor Standards Act

T/F: States may set their minimum wage higher than the one set by Congress and employers in that state must follow the state minimum wage → True

- Who oversees enforcement of laws that protect employees?

The Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor

Fair Labor Standards Act

The test to see if two jobs really are the same for equal pay for equal work is whether they have a: "common core" of tasks...AKA much of the work involved is very similar

For quid pro quo sexual harassment, is the harasser's employer liable?

Yes

Collective bargaining agreement

a contract between workers and management that is a result of collective bargaining

Business necessity

a criteria for job applicants that has an obvious relationship to the job, i.e. like you must speak fluent English for a job as an English teacher in America

For an employer to be liable for sexual harassment administered by nonsupervisory co-workers, the employers must

be aware of the harassment

To be covered by the FMLA

employers must have: 50 or more employees on their payroll for each working day for each of 20 or more weeks in the year

Fair Labor Standards Act

federal law adopted in 1938 to eliminate unfair methods of compensation and labor conditions injurious to the health and efficiency of workers.

- The National Labor Relations Act protects employees' right to:

form, join, or assist a union

To qualify as an executive employee for the purpose of being exempt from overtime, the employee must satisfy these 4 criteria:

o They must be paid on a salary basis at a rate of at least: $455/week o Their primary duty must be: managing the business or a department or other business subdivision o They must regularly direct the work of at least: two full-time employees or their equivalent (i.e. 4 half-time employees) o They must have the authority to: hire or fire other employees or have significant input in those decisions In addition to executive employees, :administrative and :professional employees are also exempt from the overtime and minimum-wage requirements of the FLSA

To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, the employee must satisfy these 3 criteria:

o They must be paid on a salary or fee basis at a rate of at least $455/week o They must have as a primary duty the performance of: office or: nonmanual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employers or the employer's customers o Their primary duties must include the exercise of: discretion and independent: judgment with respect to matters of importance

3 things to consider when deciding if two operations are one business or two:

o Whether the units share a common business purpose o Operational autonomy (i.e. do they have separate records and bookkeeping?) o Whether each unit has dedicated employees not shared by the other