Topic 10 Flashcards
Three employer defenses that
severely limit the relief an injured worker could obtain.
- Contributory negligence
- Assumption of the risk
- Fellow servant rule
An employer defense that an employee’s errant conduct contributed to a workplace injury.
Contributory Negligence
An employer defense that states an employee knows and accepts the risk of potential injury in a certain position.
Assumption of the Risk
An employer defense that another employee, not the employer, caused a workplace injury.
Fellow Servant Rule
Enacted in 1970, it governs safety in all businesses and created the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
A mandate that all employers comply with all safety and health requirements issued by the Department of Labor.
Compliance Requirement
A mandate that all employers provide training to workers on a periodic basis and whenever an employee is hired or assigned to a new job.
Continual Training Requirement
A form of insurance that provides wage replacement and medical benefits for employees injured while at work in exchange for relinquishment of the right to sue the employer for negligence.
Worker’s Compensation
Any action by an employee that furthers an employer’s business.
Course of Employment
With worker’s compensation, an injured employee receives wage replacements and medical benefits in exchange for relinquishing his/her rights to:
Sue the employer
In most states, worker’s compensation programs are mandatory for:
Employees and employers
Enacted in 1938, it protects workers from unfair wages, limits abusive overtime practices, and prevents child labor.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
An exception to the minimum wage law that applies to employees under twenty years old.
Opportunity Wage
Any consecutive seven-day period.
Workweek
An option for public employers to allow time off for employees instead of payment.
Compensatory Time
Employees who are fully or partially free from FLSA provisions.
Exempted Employee
Which department administers FLSA rules?
Department of labor
Paying for overtime work with compensatory time is:
Not allowed for private employers but is allowed for public employers
What is the youngest permitted working age?
14
Enacted in 1993, this federal law governs leave for employees due to parental and medical necessity.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
An event that entitles an employee to twelve weeks unpaid leave.
Qualifying Event
An incapacitating illness, injury, or impairment that requires overnight care or continuing treatment from a health care provider.
Serious Health Condition
A type of leave in which an employee is absent from work for a continuous length of time.
Continuous Leave
A type of leave in which an employee is intermittently absent from work.
Intermittent Leave
The FMLA governs leave for employees due to ____________ and ____________ necessity.
Parental : medical
Under FMLA provisions, how many weeks of unpaid leave is a qualified employee entitled to?
Twelve weeks
A 2008 amendment to the FMLA allowed for a twenty-six week period of leave for:
Qualifying family members of veterans seriously injured in the line of duty
When an employee desires to take FMLA leave, the employee has a burden to provide:
Health care provider certification of a serious health condition
Enacted in 1974, it protects worker benefits and encourages employer management of retirement funds.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
A document issued from an employer to an employee that contains information about an employee’s benefits.
Summary Plan Document (SPD)
An entity that acts as a guardian or caretaker.
Fiduciaries
An employer’s failure to consider important and relevant facts; acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner.
Abuse of Discretion
A type of pension plan that provides a fixed amount payment upon retirement.
Defined Benefit Pension Plan
A type of pension plan in which an employer sets aside a certain amount each year for the employee, to be distributed upon retirement.
Defined Contribution Pension Plan
The conveying of an employee’s rights to benefits or contributions after a certain amount of time.
Vesting
ERISA, unlike other federal laws,:
Has an expansive preemption of any state law
Enacted in 1986, it allows an employee to extend company health care benefits for up to eighteen months after he or she leaves a job.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
COBRA allows that when an employee leaves a firm he/she may carry the firm’s health care plan – at the employee’s expense – for ____ months?
Eighteen
COBRA applies to firms with ___________ or more employees.
Twenty
An exiting employee must exercise his/her COBRA rights within how many days?
60
The Department of Labor and the _______________ jointly supervise COBRA compliance.
Internal Revenue Service
The effect of the Affordable Care Act on COBRA could save the U.S. employers billions of dollars in expenses that they now pay for exiting workers’ extended coverage. (T/F)
True
Enacted in 1996, it establishes standards in the health industry for gathering, processing, retaining, and disclosing private health information.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
What government agency administers HIPAA?
The Office for Civil Rights in the Health and Human Services Agency
Individuals who willfully disclose private health information may face:
Criminal sanctions
The action of an employee to report the wrongdoings of an employer
Whistleblowing
Enacted in 1863, this federal law imposes liability on entities that defraud governmental programs.
False Claims Act (FCA)
Enacted in 1982, it protects contractor employees from employment discrimination or retaliation for reporting company violations of the law.
Federal Whistleblower Statute
Which two industries are common offenders of the False Claims Act (FCA)?
Defense contractors and the healthcare industry
An FCA provision allows whistleblowers to receive around ______% of any recovered damages.
15- 25
Section 806 of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act extended whistleblowing protection to any employee, or agent, of a/an:
publicly-traded company
Enacted in 1994, it prevents any employer from discriminating against someone who is or has been in military service.
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
A provision of USERRA that requires an employer to place a returning veteran in positions that he or she may have attained, absent the military leave.
Escalator Principle
Process where a third party acts as an intermediary between the parties to a labor dispute, helping them to reach a settlement.
Conciliation
A highly diversified firm that has multiple businesses with no relationships.
Conglomerate
Procedures for gathering facts prior to the time of trial in order to eliminate the element of surprise in litigation.
Discovery
U.S. military defense personnel policy over the last fifty years has seen a shift in emphasis away from a _____________ and towards a ____________.
Large standing army : reservist force
The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act (USERRA) applies to employers with how many employees?
All employers regardless of size
Under USERRA, employers are not required to:
Pay employees while on military leave
For workers, worker’s compensation provides the exclusive remedy for illnesses and injuries which:
Arise out of and in the course of employment
Worker’s compensation benefits are fixed by law and typically include replacement income of how much?
2/3 normal pay
The FLSA requires that an employer pay “time and a half” wages for hours worked beyond __________ in the relevant workweek.
40
Certain employees can be exempt from FLSA standards. What is the most common description of exempt employees?
A white-collar professional who has a high degree of responsibility, works long hours, and receives high pay
The Family Medical and Leave Act (FMLA) applies to all government and private employers with how many employees?
50+
Under FMLA, an employer may require the employee to see a company-paid physician to make an additional assessment if it has concerns about the validity of a health certification provided. (T/F)
True
Under ERISA, how many days from the beginning of benefits coverage does an employer have to provide a summary document plan to the employee?
90
Under ERISA, _________________ are considered fiduciaries.
Persons or entities which manage benefits funds
What are the two different types of pension plans?
Defined benefit and defined contribution
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was passed in 1996 as an amendment to which act?
ERISA
HIPAA restricts employers’ use of an employee’s __________________________ to exclude coverage or charge more for medical benefits.
Pre-existing medical condition
