U.S. Employment Law & Regulations Flashcards
Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known as disparate impact.
Adverse Impact
Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known adverse impact
Disparate Impact
Type of discrimination that occurs when an applicant or employee is treated differently because of his or her membership in a protected class.
Disparate Treatment
Principle of employment in the U.S. that employers have the right to hire, fired, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and that employees have the right to quit a job at any time.
Employment At-Will
Type of liability insurance covering an organization against claims by employees, former employees, and employment candidates alleging that their legal rights in the employment relationship have been violated.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)
U.S. act that frees employers who use third parties to conduct workplace investigations from the consent and disclosure requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting act in certain cases.
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act)
U.S. act that protects privacy of background information and ensures that information supplied is accurate.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against job applicants on the basis of national origin or citizenship and establishes penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
People who are covered under a particular federal or state antidiscrimination law
Protected Class
First comprehensive U.S. law making it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Refers to the country (including those that no longer exist) of one’s birth or of one’s ancestors’ birth.
National Origin
Refers to one’s internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or boy or girl), which may or may not be the same as one’s sexual assignment at birth.
Gender Identity
Sexual, romantic, or emotional/spiritual attraction that one feels for persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or both sexes and more than one gender.
Sexual Orientation
Factor (such as religion, gender, national origin, etc.) that is reasonably necessary, in the normal operations of an organization, to carry out a particular job function.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)
U.S. act that amended Title VII and gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission authority to “back up” its administrative findings and conduct its own enforcement litigation.
Equal Employment Opportunity Act
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
Procedural document designed to assist employers in complying with federal regulations prohibiting discrimination.
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures
Amends Executive Orders 11478 and 11246 to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
Executive Order 13672
U.S. case that set the standard for determining whether discrimination based on disparate impact exists.
Griggs v. Duke Power
1971 U.S. case that stated that an employer may not, in the absence of business necessity, refuse to hire women with preschool-aged children while hiring men with such children.
Phillips v Martin Marietta Corporation
Case that established criteria for disparate treatment.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green
U.S. act that expands the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial.
Civil Rights Act of 1991
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against specified categories of veterans; applies to federal government contractors and subcontractors.
Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
U.S. act that amended the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to include all employee benefits; also provided standards that an employee’s waiver of the right to sue for age discrimination must meet in order to be upheld by a court.
Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Primary job duties that a qualified individual must be able to perform, either with or without accommodation.
Essential Functions
Amendments to U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act covering the definition of individuals regarded as having a disability, mitigating measures, and other rules to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA)
Modifying a job application process, a work environment, or the circumstances under which a job is performed to enable a qualified individual with a disability to be considered for the job and perform its essential functions.
Reasonable Accommodation
Type of sexual harassment that occurs when an employee is forced to choose between giving in to a superior’s sexual demands and forfeiting an economic benefit such as a pay increase, a promotion, or continued employment.
Quid Pro Quo Harassment
