Legal Environ. of Business II Exam 2

MGT-311 - University of South Alabama, MCOB - Summer Semester (online) - Dr. Franks

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

A federal law enacted in 1938 and intended to cover all employees engaged in interstate commerce; mandates payment of a minimum wage, a maximum 40-hour workweek, overtime pay, and restrictions on children working in certain occupations and during certain hours.

Portal-to-Portal Act

Provides guidelines for what constitutes compensable work under the FLSA’s wage and hour requirements.

Overtime compensation

A higher rate of pay for the hours that nonexempt employees work in excess of 40 hours in one seven-day workweek; calculated at one and one-half times the employee’s hourly base rate

Exempt employees

Classification of employees who are not covered by FLSA protections; generally consists of employees whose responsibilities are primarily executive, administrative, or professional.

Nonexempt employees

Employees who are protected by the FLSA and other statutes

Pension

A retirement benefit in which the employer promises to pay a monthly sum to employees who retire from the company after a certain number of years of service. The amount is ordinarily based on the length of service and the employee’s final salary rate.

Tax-deferred retirement savings account

A retirement savings plan in which the employee commits to saving a certain percentage of base pay in an account that is controlled directly by the employee. The funds grow tax-free until they are withdrawn

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

A federal law enacted in 1974 consisting of a comprehensive set of laws and regulations that require employers to make certain disclosures related to investment risk, thus providing transparency for plan beneficiaries.

Social Security Act (SSA) of 1935

A federal law providing a broad set of benefits for workers, including a retirement income; funded by mandatory employment taxes paid into a trust fund by both employer and employee and administered by the federal government.

Workers’ compensation

State statutes that provide an employee who is injured in the course of employment with a partial payment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee’s right to sue the employer for the tort of negligence; funded through employer-paid insurance policies.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

A federal law enacted in 1970 that sets forth workplace rules and regulations to promote the safety of workers and prevent workplace injuries.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

A federal law enacted in 1935 that established a state-administered fund to provide payments to workers who have suffered sudden job loss; funded through employment taxes shared by employer and employee.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

A federal law enacted in 1993 that required certain employers to give time off to employees to take care of their own family member’s illness or to care for a newborn or adopted child.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)

A federal law enacted in 1986 that extends legal protection against wiretapping and other forms of unauthorized interception and explicitly allows employers to monitor employee communications on company equipment as long as this is done in the ordinary course of business or the employee consents to the monitoring.

Employee Polygraph Protection Act

A federal law that prohibits most private sector employers from requiring a polygraph test as a condition of employment.

National Labor Relations ACT (NLRA)

A federal law enacted in 1935 that provides general protections for the rights of workers to organize, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands. Also known as the Wagner Act.

Collective Bargaining

The process of negotiating terms and conditions of employment for employees in the collective bargaining unit.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

An independent federal agency created by the NLRA and charges with administering, implementing, and enforcing NLRA provisions, as well as monitoring union elections for fraud and setting guidelines for employers and unions in regard to fair labor practices.

Labor Management Relations Act

A federal law, enacted in 1947 as an amendment to the NLRA, that prohibits requiring employees to join or continue membership in a union as a condition of employment. Also known as the Taft-Hartley Act.

Right-to-work Laws

A state law prohibiting employers from requiring that employees join a union to continue working and that nonunion employees contribute to certain union costs such as the cost related to collective bargaining

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act

A federal law enacted in 1959 that establishes a system of reporting and checks intended to uncover and prevent fraud and corruption among union officials by regulating internal operating procedures and union matters. Also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act.

Collective Bargaining Unit

An employee group that, on the basis of a mutuality of interests, is an appropriate unit for collective bargaining

Authorization cards

Signed statements by employees indicating that they wish to unionize and/or are electing to be represented by an existing union

Election

A vote by the entire bargaining unit to accept or reject unionization

Certify

In labor law, to recognize a collective bargaining unit as a union. The NLRB’s certification process occurs when a legally sound election reveals a simple majority of pro-union votes

Grievance

In labor law, a complaint filled with or by a union to challenge an employer’s treatment of one or more union members.

Strike

A concerted and sustained refusal by workers to perform some or all of the services for which they are hired in order to induce the employer to conceded certain contract terms during collective bargaining or to engage in fair labor practices.

Picketing

A union’s patrolling alongside the premises of a business to organize the workers, to gain recognition as a bargaining agent, or to publicize a labor dispute with the owner or whomever the owner deals with

Employment discrimination

Workplace-related discrimination in the hiring process and treatment of employees; encompasses everything from promotions and demotions to work scheduled, working conditions, and disciplinary measures.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

A five-member federal administrative agency that administers congressional mandates that ensure adequate protection for victims of discrimination; accepts and investigates worker complaints; and, in certain cases, will sue on behalf of employees.

Complaint (discrimination)

A form that an aggrieved employee files against his employer with the EEOC that details how the employee was discriminated against.

Conciliation negotiations

The required attempts by the EEOC to settle a discrimination case instead of filling a lawsuit.

Title VII

The section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that serves as the centerpiece of antidiscrimination law; covers a comprehensive set of job-related transactions; and prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of an employee’s race, color, national origin, gender, religion, or pregnancy. The law applies to any private sector employer with 15 or more full-time employees and to unions, employment agencies, state and local governments, and most of the federal government.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967

A federal statute that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of their age once employees have reached age 40.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990

A federal statute that seeks to eliminate discriminatory employment practices against persons with disabilities; requires that employers with 15 or more employees make reasonable accommodations for an employee with disabilities in the workplace as long as the accommodations do not cause the employer to suffer an undue hardship.

Equal Paw Act of 1963

A federal statute that makes it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work

Protected classes

The classification of individuals that are specified in Title VII, including color, race, national origin, religion, gender, and pregnancy.

Disparate treatment

Theory of employment discrimination predicated on overt and intentional discrimination; includes being treated differently because of one’s membership in a protected class

Mixed Motives

Theory of employment discrimination in which the cause of an adverse employment action was motivated by both legitimate and discriminatory motives

Disparate impact

Theory of employment discrimination in which employee evaluation techniques that are not themselves discriminatory have a different and adverse impact on members of a protected class

Burden of proof

The responsibility of producing sufficient evidence in support of a fact or issue and favorably convincing the fact finder of that fact or issue

Pretext

A false reason offered to justify an action

Business necessity test

A defense used to rebut disparate impact claims when a business can prove that a certain skill, ability, or procedure is absolutely necessary to the operation of the business. Discrimination is permitted even if a protected class is adversely affected.

Quid pro quo theory

Theory of sexual harassment whereby the harasser demands sexual favors as a condition of continued employment or as a prerequisite for a promotional or pay raise.

Hostile work environment

Theory of liability under Title VII for sexual harassment that is of such a severe and crude nature or is so pervasive in the workplace that it interferes with the victim’s ability to do the job

Reasonable accommodations

Accommodations required under the Americans with Disabilities Act that allow individuals with disabilities to adequately perform essential job functions

Disability

A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a person’s ability to participate in major life activities

Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)

A provision in certain federal antidiscrimination statutes that allows discrimination based on religion, gender, or national origin when it can be shown that such discrimination is reasonably necessary to the business operation

Affirmative action

An action plan designed to maintain equal employment opportunities and to remedy past employment discrimination against women, persons of color, persons with disabilities, and other underutilized protected classes

Tort

A civil wrong in which one party’s action or inaction causes a loss to be suffered by another party

Tortfeasor

One who commits a civil wrong against another that results in injury to person or property

Tortious conduct

The wrongful action or inaction of a tortfeasor

Restatement of Torts

An influential document issued by the American Law Institute (ALI) summarizing the general principles of U.S. tort law and recognized by the courts as widely applied principles of law. Note that ALI amended the Restatements twice and therefore these sources of law are called the Restatement (Second) of Torts and the Restatement (Third) of Torts

Intentional torts

A category of torts in which the tortfeasor was willful in bringing about a particular event that caused harm to another party

Negligence

A category of torts in which the tortfeasor was without willful intent in bringing about a particular event that caused harm to another party

Strict liability

A category of torts in which the tortfeasor may be held liable for an act regardless of intent or willfulness; applies primarily to cases of defective products and abnormally dangerous activities

Libel

Written defamation in which someone publishes in print (words or pictures), writes, or broadcasts through radio, television, or film an untruth about another that will do harm to that person’s reputation for honesty or subject a party to hate, contempt, or ridicule

Slander

Oral defamation in which someone tells one or more persons an untruth about another that will harm the reputation for honesty of the person defamed or subject a party to hate, contempt, or ridicule

Absolute privilege

A defense to a defamation claim provided to government officials, judicial officers and proceedings, and state legislatures, where the defendants need not proffer any further evidence to assert the defense

Qualified privilege

A defense to a defamation claim provided for the media and employers, where the defendants must offer evidence of good faither and be absent of malice to be shielded from liability

Trade libel

A tort in which a competitor has made a false statement that disparaged a competing product