Compliance Flashcards
Knowledge of New York state laws and regulations.
ADEA
Age Discrimination in Employment Act
applies to public employers only if they have 20 or more employees—which is the threshold that is applied to private employers—or if the act protects all public-sector state and local workers regardless of employer size.
It applies to all.
Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido U.S., No. 17-587
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and ruled that the ADEA applies to all state political subdivisions, regardless of size.
Supreme Court
In the federal court system’s present form, 94 district level trial courts and 13 courts of appeals sit below the Supreme Court.
Courts of Appeals
13 appellate courts that sit below the U.S. Supreme Court, and they are called the U.S. Courts of Appeals. The 94 federal judicial districts are organized into 12 regional circuits, each of which has a court of appeals. The appellate court’s task is to determine whether or not the law was applied correctly in the trial court. Appeals courts consist of three judges and do not use a jury.
(EEOC)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Federal Antidiscrimination Laws
Legal Compliance simple means to comply with all the necessary laws and regulations applicable.
The legal compliance department within the company ensures that the company comply with all the requirements specified in the applicable laws and regulations.
Legal Compliance
The essential elements of legal compliance for employers to meet their obligations under employment law are:
- being informed sufficiently to know their responsibilities, rights and obligations;
- allocating responsibility to nominated personnel within their business so that the relevant responsibilities etc are addressed and ‘driven’;
- Preparing and maintaining the appropriate documents (contracts, awards, agreements, policies and letters) that illustrate the genuine attempts of management to meet these responsibilities etc — a fundamental requirement of due diligence;
- actually implementing the requirements of the law as reflected in the documents you have created/adapted as the ‘compliance portfolio’ of the business.
(FLSA)
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
businesses must pay employees at least the minimum wage unless their job duties fall under one of several exceptions to the rule. That means businesses can lawfully hire unpaid interns only if the internship meets certain criteria.
Employment discrimination laws
The laws make it unlawful to refuse to hire, terminate, fail to promote, pay less, or otherwise treat employees or job applicants differently because of their race, national origin, gender, religion, disability and other protected categories.
What type of discrimination is unlawful?
New York State Human Rights Law
Arrest & Conviction Records
Reasonable Accommodations for Persons with a Disability
Religious Accommodations
Compulsory Retirement
Filing a Complaint
Arrest & Conviction Records
NYSL
It is unlawful for an employer to deny a person a job based on a criminal record or conviction unless the conviction is directly related to the job duty or poses an unreasonable risk to persons or property.
Employers can ask about criminal convictions including misdemeanors and felonies.
Employers cannot ask about arrests that were resolved in favor of the individual (dismissed, declined to prosecuted, voided, etc.), cases resolved by a Youthful Offender adjudication, or violations (convictions or pleas) that were sealed.
Reasonable Accommodations for Persons with a Disability
NYSL
It is a discriminatory practice for an employer, licensing agency, employment agency or labor organization to refuse to provide reasonable accommodations to the known disabilities of an employee, applicant or member in its policies, procedures or facilities unless an employer can show that such steps would fundamentally alter the nature of the facility or cause an undue burden. Undue burden means it would cause significant difficulty or expense.
Religious Accommodations
NYSL
It is unlawful for an employer to require a person to violate or forego a sincerely held religious practice as a condition to obtain or retain employment, or for a promotion unless, after engaging in a bona fide effort, the employer cannot reasonably accommodate the employee’s religious practice without undue hardship on the business.
Compulsory Retirement
NYSL
No employee can be terminated or forcibly retired on the basis of age, unless age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of a particular business, or the retirement falls under a narrow exception in the law. Generally, state and local governments are exempt from this prohibition.
Filing a Complaint
NYSL
Complaints are filed with the NYS Division of Human Rights. You must file with the Division within one year of the most recent discriminatory act. You may also file directly in state court within three years of the most recent act of discrimination. You cannot file both in state court AND the Division of Human Rights. If you file with the Division of Human Rights, it will investigate the alleged discrimination. If the Division finds probable cause of unlawful discrimination, the case will proceed to an administrative hearing, similar to a trial, and an administrative law judge will make a determination in the case.
