1. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 1 Chapter 21: Employment Relationships

2. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 2 IntroductionIntroduction Historically, employment law was governed by the common law doctrine of “employment at will” where either employer or employee could terminate the relationship at any time, for any reason. Today employment law is heavily regulated by state and federal statutes.

3. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 3 §1: Wage-Hour Laws Hours and Wage Laws. –Davis-Bacon Act -- the prevailing wage act. –Walsh-Healey Act -- the beginning of minimum wages. –Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) -- an extension of wage and hour regulation to workers in interstate commerce. Child Labor. –FLSA prohibits oppressive child labor practices.

4. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 4 §2: Worker Health and Safety The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA):The Occupational Safety and Health Act –The fundamental federal law aimed toward safety in the workplace. –Enforcement is by OSHA, NIOSH, and the OSHRC.

5. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 5 Worker Health and Safety [2] State Workers’ Compensation Laws. –These laws reduce employer liability to employees for workplace injuries, and provide a measure of assurance that workplace injuries will be compensated, regardless of the solvency of the employer. –Requires injured employees make a claim against the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy, instead of suing the employer. –Requires most employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Case 21.1: Rogers v. Pacesetter Corp. (1998).

6. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 6 §3: Income Security The primary income security laws are: –Social Security and Welfare. –Private Pension Plans. »Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) gives employee a vested right to receive pension benefits at a future date when she stops working. –Unemployment Compensation.

7. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 7 §4: COBRA COBRA prohibits the discontinuance of insurance benefits of workers who have voluntarily or involuntarily been separated from work, unless the involuntary separation was on the basis of gross misconduct. Employers must comply if they have more than 20 employees.

8. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 8 §5: Family and Medical Leave Act The FMLA requires employers with over 50 employees to provide unpaid leave to employees who need to care for a spouse, child, or parent suffering with a serious medical condition. The employee cannot be terminated for taking leave under the policy, and has the right to restoration to the same or a similar position upon return to work.

9. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 9 Remedies for FMLA Violations Employee can recover: –Damages for unpaid wages (or salary), lost benefits, denied compensation and actual monetary losses; –Job re-instatement; and –Promotion. Successful Plaintiff can also recover attorney and court costs.

10. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 10 §6: Employee Privacy Rights Lie Detector Tests. –Prohibited, except under the ongoing investigation exception. Drug Testing. –Most government employees are subject to testing and the rights of private employees vary from state to state. AIDS Testing. –Some state statutes restrict AIDS testing.

11. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 11 Employee Privacy [2] Electronic Performance Surveillance: –Most limitations can be avoided if the employer informs employees that surveillance will occur. Screening Procedures: –Application questions must have some reasonable connection to the job sought. Emerging Trends: Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace.Emerging Trends: Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace

12. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 12 §7: Immigration Laws The Immigration Reform and Control Act prohibits the hiring of illegal aliens. The Immigration Act of 1990 limits the number of legal immigrants into the U.S.

13. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 13 §8: Wrongful Discharge The doctrine of employment-at-will allows the employer and the employee to terminate employment at any time, for any reason, without liability. Some states however recognize one or more judicial exceptions to this rule, while some states recognize none. 

14. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 14 Wrongful Discharge –There are three such exceptions to the doctrine of employment at will: »Contract (implied covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing). »Torts: fraud, emotional distress. »Public Policy. –Case 21.2: Lins v. Children’s Discovery Centers (1999).Lins v. Children’s Discovery Centers

15. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 15 §9: Whistleblower Protections A whistleblower is one who reports illegal employer activities to the proper authorities. Whistleblowers are frequently subjected to retaliation for such activities. There are a number of state and federal (Whistleblower Protection Act) whistle- blower protection statutes, offering a wide variation in protections.Whistleblower Protection Act

16. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 16 Law on the Web Benefitslink.com for FMLA, COBRA and other benefits information.Benefitslink.com AFL-CIO.com.AFL-CIO.com OSHA.OSHA Bureau of Labor and Statistics.Bureau of Labor and Statistics NLRB.NLRB Legal Research Exercises on the Web

17. ©2001 West Legal Studies in Business. All Rights Reserved. 17 Emerging Trends Workers return e-mail April 26, 2000 Office rebels are digging into the past to use labor laws as a defense in high-tech invasion of privacy claims. © 2000 www.zdnet.com. Used by Permission.Workers return e-mail www.zdnet.com Electronic Communications Privacy Act Survey by American Management AssociationSurvey by American Management Association Return