Topic 10: Employment Benefits and Protections Flashcards
Abuse of Discretion
An employer’s failure to consider important and relevant facts; acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner.
Assumption of the Risk
An employer defense that states an employee knows and accepts the risk of potential injury in a certain position.
Compensatory Time
An option for public employers to allow time off for employees instead of payment.
Compliance Requirement
A mandate that all employers comply with all safety and health requirements issued by the Department of Labor.
Conciliation
Process where a third party acts as an intermediary between the parties to a labor dispute, helping them to reach a settlement.
Conglomerate
A highly diversified firm that has multiple businesses with no relationships.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
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.
Continual Training 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.
Continuous Leave
A type of leave in which an employee is absent from work for a continuous length of time.
Contributory Negligence
An employer defense that an employee’s errant conduct contributed to a workplace injury.
Course of Employment
Any action by an employee that furthers an employer’s business.
Defined Benefit Pension Plan
A type of pension plan that provides a fixed amount payment upon retirement.
Defined Contribution 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.
Discovery
Procedures for gathering facts prior to the time of trial in order to eliminate the element of surprise in litigation.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
Enacted in 1974, it protects worker benefits and encourages employer management of retirement funds.
Escalator Principle
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.
Exempted Employee
Employees who are fully or partially free from FLSA provisions.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Enacted in 1938, it protects workers from unfair wages, limits abusive overtime practices, and prevents child labor.
False Claims Act (FCA)
Enacted in 1863, this federal law imposes liability on entities that defraud governmental programs.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Enacted in 1993, this federal law governs leave for employees due to parental and medical necessity.
Federal Whistleblower Statute
Enacted in 1982, it protects contractor employees from employment discrimination or retaliation for reporting company violations of the law.
Fellow Servant Rule
An employer defense that another employee, not the employer, caused a workplace injury.
Fiduciaries
An entity that acts as a guardian or caretaker.
General Duty Clause
Requires employers to provide their employees with a safe and hazard-free place of employment.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Enacted in 1996, it establishes standards in the health industry for gathering, processing, retaining, and disclosing private health information.
Intermittent Leave
A type of leave in which an employee is intermittently absent from work.
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
Enacted in 1970, it governs safety in all businesses and created the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Opportunity Wage
An exception to the minimum wage law that applies to employees under twenty years old.
Qualifying Event
An event that entitles an employee to twelve weeks unpaid leave.
Serious Health Condition
An incapacitating illness, injury, or impairment that requires overnight care or continuing treatment from a health care provider.
Summary Plan Document (SPD)
A document issued from an employer to an employee that contains information about an employee’s benefits.
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
Enacted in 1994, it prevents any employer from discriminating against someone who is or has been in military service.
Vesting
The conveying of an employee’s rights to benefits or contributions after a certain amount of time.
Whistleblower
Individual who reports real or perceived wrongs committed by the employer.
Whistleblowing
The action of an employee to report the wrongdoings of an employer.
Worker’s Compensation
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.
Workweek
Any consecutive seven-day period.
