Transcript Ch. 15 Employment Laws - Easton Area School District

Ch. 15 Employment Laws
15-1 Employment Agreements
Question
How many of you work?
How many of you have been fired?
Why?
Employment-at-Will
An employer or employee can end an
employment relationship:
 At any time
 For any reason
 For no reason
 With notice
 Without notice
How would an employer or employee
end their employment relationship?
Other Types of Employment
Contracts
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Unionized Employees
Individualized Employees
Protected Classes
Exceptions to Employment-at-Will
Promissory Estoppel - bars employers
from taking back certain promises.
Implied Contracts - employer led you to
believe that you were not E-A-W.
Public Policy Tort - firing the employee
hurts the public at large.
Implied Covenant - employers and
employees will be fair and honest.
Promissory Estoppel
4 elements to prove:
1. Employer made a promise the employee
relied upon
2. Employee actually relied upon the promise
3. Employee wouldn’t have acted a certain way
if it weren’t for the promise
4. Employee was harmed by the employer not
living up to their promise.
Example:
Promissory Estoppel
Jason had an interview with a potential employer
in California. The employer promised him that he
would have a paid position for a trial period of 6
months if he would move to California. He relied
on the promise for a guaranteed 6 month position
if he moved. He quit his old job and moved to
California. The second day there he was fired for
no reason at all.
Implied Contract
Handbooks say otherwise
Fired employee must be the one to
prove they were wrongly fired.
Example of Public Policy
ovosel v. Nationwide Insurance Co.,
721 F.2d 894 (3d Cir. 1983),
a federal appeals court made a public policy
exception for an employee who was
dismissed for refusing to join a company's
Lobbying effort because he privately
opposed the company's stance on the issue.
Example of Implied Covenant
In Khanna v. Microdata Corp., 170 Cal. App. 3d 250,
215 Cal. Rptr. 860 (1985), for example, a California
court of appeals ruled that a company violated an
implied covenant when it fired a leading salesman who
had brought suit against the company for unpaid
commissions. The court found that a breach of an
implied-in-law covenant is established whenever an
employer engages in a bad-faith action outside a
contract and attempts to frustrate an employee's
enjoyment of her or his contract rights.
Unionized Employees
Collective Bargaining (way unions
negotiate their contracts.
What things do you think they will try to
negotiate with the management?
Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932)
1st federal law to support unions.
Outlaw yellow dog contracts (forcing
employees to not join a union)
Prevent federal courts from preventing
labor strikes.
Wagner Act (1935)
Employers must negotiate wages, hours,
and conditions.
Created National Labor Relations Board
 They hear complaints about unfair labor
practices.
Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
Unions must give 60 days notice of a
strike.
Prohibits strikes if they endanger the
public.
President can get court to stop a strike
for 80 days.
Landrum-Griffin Act (1959)
Stopping corruption in unions.
Makes unions have constitutions and
bylaws registered with Sec. of Labor.
Must submit yearly financial reports.
Forming and Dissolving a Union
Contact a national union
Solicit employees (30%)to organize a
vote
Secret ballot, majority must approve.
Ch. 15-2
Employee Rights
What type of rights do you have
as an employee?
-health and safety protection
-Fair wages and benefits
-Privacy
-Equal opportunity
Health and Safety Acts
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Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
 Inspect workplace
 Investigate employee complaints, deaths,
disasters
 Protects employees from being fired for
filing complaints
 Issues fines for rule violations
Health and Safety Acts
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Environmental Policy Act
 Established EPA
 Sets up national policy for fighting
pollution.
 Encourages voluntary compliance from
companies.
Fair Wages and Benefits Acts
Fair Labor Standards Act
 Minimum wage
 Time and a half for 40+ hours
 Regulates employment of minors
 Covers employees who produce goods for
interstate commerce
Wages and Benefits Acts
Equal Pay Act
 Equal Pay Rule - employers in interstate
commerce MUST pay women the same
rate as men in the same job.
Wages and Benefits Acts
Employment Retirement Income
Security Act (ERISA)
 Prevents abuse of employee pension plans
 Pension Plans - program for retirees.
 Requires employers to put employee
pension contributions into an outside trust
fund
Wages and Benefits Acts
Family and Medical Leave Act
 Company with 50+ employees guarantees
employees 12 weeks unpaid leave to care
for a newborn child or a sick relative.
 Employee can return to same job or
equivalent with same pay and benefits.
Wages and Benefits Acts
Social Security Act
 Program that pays employees (family)
when their earnings stop.
 Why would earnings stop?
 Retirement, disability, death
 Employees and employers both contribute.
Wages and Benefits Act
 Unemployment Compensation
 Payments to people who are out of work and
looking for a job.
 Employers pay payroll taxes to the program
 Can be disqualified if:




Refuse to accept a suitable job.
Unemployment due to Labor strike
Fired for misconduct
Voluntarily quit without good cause
Wages and Benefits Acts
Workers’ Compensation
 Provides income for workers who were
injured/disabled/diseased on the job.
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Employee Privacy Rights
3 areas of Privacy law:
Guarantee privacy for governmental
employees
Testing employees for Drug use
Using polygraph tests for hiring and
firing employees.
Employee Privacy Rights
Federal Privacy Act
 Protects governmental employees NOT
private sector.
 Know what is in their employee files
 Restrict access to their files
 Fix any mistakes in their files
Employee Privacy Rights
The Drug-Free Workplace Act
 Companies that have contracts
with Federal Government
creates drug free workplace.
 Drug test not required
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Employee Privacy Rights
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Employee Polygraph Protection Act
 Employers can not use lie detector tests to
screen employees
 Prohibits random testing of employees.
 Exceptions:
 Not to businesses involved in
security/handling of controlled
substances.
 Drug firms and private investigation
companies.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Six acts that ensure:
 fairness
 ethical behavior
 Prevent discrimination
Discrimination - unequal treatment of
individuals based on sex, age, race,
nationality, or religion.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Civil Rights Act (1964)
 Title VII
 Prohibits discrimination based on race,
creed, color, national origin
 Affirmative Action - recruiting employees
based on those characteristics.
 If you feel discriminated upon file
complaint with EEOC (Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission)
Civil Rights Act (cont.)
Disparate Treatment - employer
intentionally discriminates against
protected class.
 Example: Hiring only female nurses
Disparate Impact - employer has a policy
that seems neutral but is unfair to
members of the protected class
 Example: hire people over 6 feet tall
Disparate Treatment Defenses
Bona fide occupational qualification
 A job requirement that might seem
discriminatory but is actually done in good
faith
 Model for female clothing should be a
female!
Disparate Impact Defenses
Business necessity
 Job requirement based on actual skills
needed by an employee to perform a
specific job.
 Ex: surgeons have medical degrees.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Civil Rights Act of 1991
 Strengthen doctrine of disparate impact.
 Employers must prove business necessity
 Plaintiffs can recover back pay as well as
compensatory and punitive damages.
Equal Employment Opportunity
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
 You can not discriminate against a woman
because she is pregnant of gave birth
Equal Employment Opportunity
The Immigration Reform Act
 Employers must verify identity and
employment eligibility of all employees
 Must provide original documents
 Must sign a verification form
Equal Employment Opportunity
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
 Applies only to:
 employment agencies
 Employers with 20 + employees
 Labor unions with 25 + members
 Forbids discriminating against people 40 +
 Unless it is a job qualification (model children’s
clothes)
Equal Employment Opportunity
Americans with Disabilities Act
 Forbids discrimination on basis of a
disability
 As long as the individual can do essential
job function
Equal Employment Opportunity
 Sexual Harassment
 2 types:
1. Quid pro quo - one worker demands
sexual favors from another in exchange
for something employment related (raise)
2. Hostile work environment - made the
workplace distressing, humiliating, hostile
(sexual jokes, photos)
International Employment Law
Do the United States employment laws
remain?