Labor Law

Question 1

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act)

Answer 1

Requires an employer must provide affected employees with 60-days notice of an impending layoff of more than 50 employees.

Question 2

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) - bargaining exclusion

Answer 2

Supervisors are to be excluded from bargaining units under NLRA if they have independent judgment to make personnel decisions such as hiring, terminating, or promoting.

Question 3

Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) - exemptions

Answer 3

Exemptions apply only to white collar-type employees who fall under the salary and duties test that include executive, administrative, professional (learned and creative), computer, outside sales, and highly compensated employees.

Question 4

Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) - break requirements

Answer 4

There is no federal law requiring lunch or rest periods for employees; however, many states do have these provisions.

Question 5

Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) - “engaged to wait”

Answer 5

An employee who is “engaged to wait” is one who must stay at the workplace until his/her work assignment is given. Therefore, he/she must be paid for that time as he/she is effectively on duty.

Question 6

Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) - “waiting to be engaged”

Answer 6

An employee who is “waiting to be engaged” is relieved of his/her work duties, and can use his/her time freely, but must return to the workplace if a work assignment requires his/her presence.

Question 7

Affirmative Action Program (AAP) - requirements

Answer 7

Federal contractors and subcontractors are required by the OFCCP to annually review and update their AAPs, which include a report and documentation of affirmative actions such as outreach efforts and training programs.

Question 8

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) - look back

Answer 8

The look-back measurement period is a method of determining eligibility for coverage. The employer looks at a defined period of time that the employee has worked and averages the weekly hours. If the average is 30 hours or more per week, the employee would likely be eligible for coverage.

Question 9

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) - Stability Period

Answer 9

The time in which an employer must offer coverage to those employees who are considered full time. This period of time must be at least 6 months and not less than the defined measurement period.

Question 10

Occupational safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - Job hazard analysis

Answer 10

When performing a job hazard analysis, it is most important to consult with the employees who are performing the work as they will have the best familiarity with the potential hazards of their everyday responsibilities.

Question 11

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - rights of new mothers and fathers

Answer 11

12 weeks of job and benefit protection following the birth or adoption of a child. This includes bonding time, physical incapacity from the delivery, and/or care for the spouse who is still recovering.

Question 12

FMLA - intermittent

Answer 12

Not mandated for baby bonding time, however an employer may allow it as long as it doesn’t present hardship.

Question 13

4/5 rule (or 80% rule)

Answer 13

Commonly used phrases that describe the ideal selection rate for protected classes as defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The selection rate of minorities should be at least 80% of the selection rate of nonminorities.

Question 14

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) - severance

Answer 14

Requires an employee over 40 to receive 21 days to review a severance agreement before signing. Once the employee signs the agreement, he/she has 7 days from the date of signature to change his/her mind and revoke the agreement.

Question 15

Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)

Answer 15

Federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans.

Question 16

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) - overview

Answer 16

Establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.

Question 17

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Answer 17

Prohibits employers from paying different wages to men and women who work under similar conditions and whose jobs require the same level of skill, effort, and responsibility.

Question 18

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

Answer 18

Requires employers to redouble their efforts to ensure that their pay practices are non-discriminatory and to make certain that they keep the records needed to prove the fairness of pay decisions. (Example: an employee hired 10 years ago may now challenge her starting pay on the ground that each current paycheck is tainted by that 10-year old discriminatory decision). Overturned SCOTUS ruling Ledbetter v. Goodyear (2007) - ruled plaintiff did not file a charge of pay bias within the statutory 180/300-day time limit.

Question 19

Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Act)

Answer 19

Amendment to the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. Restricts the activities and power of labor unions - prohibiting unions from engaging in several unfair labor practices (jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, secondary and mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns).

Question 20

Jurisdictional strike

Answer 20

Refusal to work undertaken by a union to assert its members’ right to particular job assignments and to protest the assignment of disputed work to members of another union or to unorganized workers. Most common in the construction industry.

Question 21

Wildcat strike

Answer 21

A strike undertaken by unionized workers without union leadership’s authorization, support, or approval.

Question 22

Closed shop

Answer 22

A form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed.

Question 23

National Labor Relations act of 1935 (NLRA) (also the Wagner Act)

Answer 23

Enacted to protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the US economy. Mainly guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions.

Question 24

Weingarten Rights

Answer 24

The right of union-represented employees, upon request, to have their representative present during an interview that the employee reasonably believes could lead to discipline (NLRB v. Weingarten (1975)).

Question 25

Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB (1992)

Answer 25

Forbids nonemployee union organizers from soliciting support on private property unless no reasonable alternatives exist.

Question 26

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) - overview

Answer 26

Protects certain applicants and employees 40 years of age and older from discrimination on the basis of age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, or terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

Question 27

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

Answer 27

Guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life – to enjoy employment opportunities, to purchase goods and services, and to participate in State and local government programs and services.

Question 28

ADA Amendments Act of 2008

Answer 28

ADAAA changed the definition of the term “disability” by clarifying and broadening it - which, in turn, increased the number and types of persons protected under the ADA and other federal nondiscrimination laws. The ADAAA was designed to strike a balance between employer and employee interests, as it was felt that employer interests had been favored too much previous to the amendments.

Question 29

Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972

Answer 29

Amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to address employment discrimination against minorities. EEOA empowered the EEOC to take enforcement action against individuals, employers, and labor unions which violated the employment provisions of the 1964 Act, and expanded the jurisdiction of the commission as well. It also required employers to make reasonable accommodation for the religious practices of employees.

Question 30

Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)

Answer 30

Supreme Court case that unanimously decided that Duke Power Co was in violation of Title VII of the EEOA. The court held that Duke’s standardized testing requirement prevented a disproportionate number of African-American employees from being hired by, and advancing to higher-paying departments within the company. Neither the HS graduation requirement nor the two aptitude tests was directed or intended to measure an employee’s ability to learn or perform a particular job or category of jobs within the company.

Question 31

Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp. (1971)

Answer 31

SCOTUS case where Ida Phillips sued Martin Marietta Corp. on the grounds that she was discriminated against based on sex in the hiring process. Was told that they weren’t hiring women with preschool-age children, however Martin employed men with preschool-aged children.

In the absence of evidence that having preschool-age children is demonstrably more relevant to female job performance than to male job performance, refusal to hire women with preschool-age children violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Question 32

Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988

Answer 32

Requires some federal contractors and all federal grantees to agree that they will provide drug-free workplaces as a precondition of receiving a contract or grant from a Federal Agency.

Question 33

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA)

Answer 33

Its main goal is to ensure that employers provide employees with an environment free from recognized hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions.

Question 34

Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (EPPA)

Answer 34

Prohibits most private employers from using lie detector tests, either for pre-employment screening or during the course of employment.

Question 35

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)

Answer 35

An employer may never use genetic information to make an employment decision because genetic information doesn’t tell the employer anything about an individual’s current ability to work.