Chapter 13 Flashcards
Employee Rights
Guarantees of fair treatment that become rights when they are granted to employees by the courts, legislatures, or employers.
Negligence
The failure to provide reasonable care when such failure results in injury to consumers or other employees.
Psychological Contract
Expectations of a fair exchange of employment obligations between an employee and an employer.
Employment-At-Will Relationship
The right of an employer to fire an employee without giving a reason and the right of an employee to quit when he or she chooses.
Wrongful Discharge
A discharge, or termination, of an employee that is illegal.
Whistle-Blowing
Complaints to governmental agencies by employees about their employers’ illegal or immoral acts or practices.
Constructive Discharge
An employee’s voluntary termination of his or her employment because of harsh, unreasonable employment conditions placed on the individual by the employer.
Impairment Testing
Also called fitness-for-duty or performance-based testing, it measures whether an employee is alter enough to work.
Discipline
A tool, used to correct and mold the practices of employees to help the perform better so they conform to acceptable standards.
Progressive Discipline
The application of corrective measures by increasing degrees.
Positive, or nonpunitive, discipline
A system of discipline that focuses on early correction of employee misconduct, with the employee taking total responsibility for correcting the problem.
Due Process
Procedures that constitute fair treatment, such as allowing an employee to tell his or her story about an alleged infraction and defend against it.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
A term applied to different employee complaint or dispute resolution methods that do not involve going to court.
Step-Review System
A system for reviewing employee complaints and disputes by successively higher levels of management.
Peer-Review System
A system for reviewing employee complaints that utilizes a group composed of equal numbers of employee representatives and management appointees. The group weights evidence, considers arguments, and, after deliberation, votes to render a final decision.
Open-Door Policy
A policy of settling grievances that identifies various levels of management above the immediate supervisor for employee contact.
Ombudsman
A designated individual from whom employees may seek counsel for resolution of their complaints.
Mediation
The use of an impartial neutral to reach a compromise decision in employment disputes.
Mediator
A third party in an employment dispute who meets with one party and then the other to suggest compromise solutions or to recommend concessions from each side that will lead to an agreement.
Ethics
A set of standards of conduct and moral judgments that help to determine right and wrong behavior.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986)
Prohibits the interception, recording, or disclosure of wire, electronic, and aural communications through any electronic, mechanical or other device. An interception takes place when an employer monitors a telephone call while it is occurring. Permits employer monitoring for legitimate business reasons.
Privacy Act (1974)
Applies to federal agencies and to organizations supplying goods or services to the federal government; gives individuals the right to examine their personnel records for accuracy. Employers who willfully violate the act are subject to civil suits.
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act — The Buckley Amendment (1974)
Prohibits educational institutions from supplying information about students without prior consent. Students have the right to inspect their educational records.
Fair Credit Reporting Act
Permits job applicants and employees to know of the existence and context of any credit files maintained on them. Employees have the right to know of the existence and nature of an investigative consumer report compiled by the employer.
