HR Compliance and Employee Relations - D432

What is the type of business that involves two or more individuals who operate a business together for profit?

Partnership

What is an advantage of franchising?

Name and product recognition

Which disadvantage comes with a partnership as a type of business ownership?

Dissolution difficulty

Which form of law has the purpose of allowing consumers to benefit from the promotion of fair competition?

Antitrust law

What is the type of law that pertains to the procedures and policies that govern relationships among nations?

International law

What is the constitutional amendment that ensures that business property can only be searched with a warrant?

Fourth

Which method of international law enforcement involves implementing or removing the trade barriers between two countries?

Reciprocity

A company refused to refund a customer's money for a purchased laptop. The customer claims the product was defective, but there is evidence that the laptop was dropped, and the laptop was purchased several months ago.

What is the appropriate categorization of the company's action described in the scenario?

Ethical and legal

A company sells socks for $20, advertising them as wool socks. The primary buyers are adult males. The socks are 20% wool.

How is this practice classified, according to the Federal Trade Commission?

Misrepresenting a product

A company's chief executive, officer (CEO) is driving an initiative to use the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) to measure company success. What is one of the three components of the Triple Bottom Line?

Planet

Several of a company's goals include expanding market reach, improving reputation, and increasing sales. One leader proposed demonstrating more corporate social responsibility as a step toward achieving these goals.

How can the company demonstrate corporate social responsibility to work toward achieving its goals?

By volunteering for initiatives in the community

A grocery store began implementing more sustainability practices and getting more involved in local charitable initiatives. The public image of the grocery store became more positive because of these things.

What is the benefit of corporate social responsibility that is described in the scenario?

Benevolent halo effect

A company's leader is making several changes to prioritize sustainability, community involvement, and charitable initiatives.

What is a benefit of this strategy?

Better attraction of new employees

Which concept is used to examine the value of corporate social responsibility?

Triple bottom line

A 50-year-old woman was overlooked for a construction supervisor position. The hiring manager reasoned that the predominantly young male workforce was unlikely to respect a female superior.

Which type of discrimination is evident?

Sex

A 42-year-old man was overlooked for a job as a server. The hiring manager reasoned that customers at this particular restaurant leave greater tips when the servers are young.

Which type of discrimination is evident?

Age

Which discrimination is covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

A construction company decided not to hire a religious employee because of expected absences for holy days.

When hiring for the position of an assistant pastor, a church refuses to hire a person who identifies as a member of another religion.

Which statement describes why this is an exception to Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964?

The decision is based on a bona fide occupational qualification.

A person worked as a hotel front desk worker. After a managerial change, the person was terminated. The person believes they were terminated based on the color of their skin.

What must be established to prove color discrimination occurred?

The person was subject to an adverse employment action.

A school compensates teachers based on how long they have been teaching. A female teacher that has been teaching for two years claims that she and other female teachers are being paid less than male teachers. A majority of the teachers that have been teaching for a long time are males.

Does this practice violate the Equal Pay Act?

No, because the decision is based on seniority.

What is one example of an allowable form of sex discrimination?

A theater decides to not consider male applicants for a female character role in a play.

What is an example of an illegal form of religious discrimination?

A person wears a religious head covering and is not hired by a clothing store because head coverings are not allowed in the dress code.

A person was fired from a factory job because they consistently underperformed. The person claims they were fired because of their thin body type, which prevented them from being able to lift as much as the other employees. The employee has no official diagnosis of an underlying medical condition.

Does this represent illegal disability discrimination?

No, because the person's body type is not a physiological disorder.

A manufacturing plant employee worked 50 hours during one week. The employer thanked the employee by giving them an extra day off the following week but still paid the employee their normal $22 per rate for the 50 hours worked.

Did the employer violate the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Yes, because the employee was not paid a sufficient overtime rate.

Large boilers are used to heat chemicals at a manufacturing plant. A new employee burned their hand on the first day after touching an unmarked boiler. No warnings were posted near the boiler. The employee was treated at the hospital and was able to work again the next day.

How did the company fail in regard to the Occupational Safety and Health Act?

The company failed to post a warning about the boiler.

When painting the interior of houses, an employee of a painting company is often exposed to toxic chemicals.

Which standard requirement applies to the employer, based on OSHA regulations?

Personal protective equipment must be provided to the employee.

When walking into an office building, an employee slipped on a patch of ice. The ice patch was on a shoveled sidewalk. The employee sustained injuries that needed to be treated at a hospital. After receiving workers' compensation benefits related to the incident, the employee now wants to sue the employer for damages.

Can the employee sue the employer in this case?

No, because exclusive remedy laws prohibit suing the employer.

As part of a social responsibility initiative, a company sends boxes of material aid to foreign refugees. A community volunteer was working at the company warehousing packing these boxes when they were cut by a sharp tool and needed to be treated at a local hospital.

Is the person entitled to workers' compensation benefits?

No, because the injured person was a volunteer.

A forklift operator arrived to work intoxicated. During a routine job duty, the employee crashed a forklift and sustained injuries.

Is the employer responsible for the injuries?

No, because the injuries resulted from the employee's intoxication.

A manufacturing company has denied the request of a worker that has been employed as part of a temporary staffing agreement to join the company's qualified retirement savings plan.

Is this decision legal?

Yes, because the person is not a qualified employee.

After recently switching jobs because their previous employer closed down, an employee wants to join a new employer-sponsored healthcare plan. The employee had chronic back issues that were covered under the previous employer's sponsored healthcare plan.

How does the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) apply to this situation?

It prevents discrimination based on the existing health condition.

After several accusations of intentional inaccuracies being included in reports, an executive decided to review and revise the company's code of conduct, hold a training session for employees, and implement regular audits.

Which risk do these changes address?

Occupational fraud

A company has revised its code of conduct to emphasize the expectation that employees interact calmly and professionally. Any physical conflict is addressed with a zero-tolerance policy.

Which risk does this change address?

Catastrophic events

How should a company reduce risk when framing a job opportunity?

Ensure that requirements are substantially related to job performance.

When advertising an open position for a girls tennis coach for a private high school, the school lists a requirement to be female. The coach is expected to plan workouts, manage practices, and organize team activities and events. The members of the team prefer a female coach instead of a male coach.

Is the requirement to be female a bona fide occupational qualification?

No, because the requirement is not essential for job performance.

A company uses a performance test that accurately predicts how well job functions will be performed, based on statistical significance.

Which type of validity should be used to defend the use of this test?

Criterion-related

Which interview question should a manager avoid when conducting interviews?

Which prescription or non-prescription medications are you taking?

A company needs to hire a new software engineer. Before considering candidates for the job, the company is ensuring that an accurate job description is being written, based on a thorough job analysis.

Which area of risk is addressed by this strategy?

Employee turnover

An individual has illegally immigrated and applies to work for a transportation company. Despite knowing that the individual has illegally entered the country, the recruiter hires the individual.

Which law is being violated by the recruiter?

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

A company hires a third party to conduct a series of focus groups involving its employees. One of the questions is, "Do you feel valued as a team member?"

What is this question trying to determine about employee engagement?

Attitudes

A human resources department is conducting a survey to examine employee engagement. As part of this survey, they collect data on the number of employees who arrive late to work.

What is the department trying to determine with this particular piece of data?

Actions

What is one result that high employee engagement leads to?

Employee attendance

Who is primarily responsible for showing a commitment to policies and procedures as part of improving employee engagement?

Managers

In order to properly train its employees in ethical behavior, the human resources department is training them in the six ethical danger zones.

What is meant by the zone of fear of retaliation?

Ethical violations are unlikely to be reported if employees perceive the possibility of punishment.

A team member confides in her supervisor that the president of the company has been harassing her. The supervisor takes this complaint to the human resources department.

Which of the three Fs of workplace culture is being demonstrated in this scenario?

Fearlessness

A business wants to be able to monitor employee performance on tasks allocated to them, identify gaps, and promote teamwork and collaboration.

Which technological advancement will help the company in this scenario?

Project management software

A Spanish-speaking worker just started a job as a machine operator.

Which right does the employee have, based on the OSH Act?

To be trained in Spanish for how to use the machine

A company is developing a safety and health program. The core of the program centers on a systematic approach for identifying and controlling workplace hazards.

Which component is essential for this systematic approach?

Investigating root causes and potential solutions

Which scenario is an example of a hostile workplace environment?

A manager regularly asks each female employee in their charge on a date.

Which step should a manager take to ensure they stay within the boundaries of acceptable workplace behavior?

Adhere to acceptable company culture

An employer was required to give an employee time off when they were admitted to the hospital.

Which legislation is responsible for the required action in the scenario?

Family Medical Leave Act

An employer was required to install an entrance ramp to accommodate employees with physical impairments.

Which legislation is responsible for the required action in the scenario?

Americans with Disabilities Act

An employer was required to post warnings around dangerous equipment at a factory. What is the law that requires the action in the scenario?

Occupational Safety and Health Act

A restaurant refused to hire a qualified man because the manager prefers to hire women. The employer was required to pay damages.

What is the law that requires the action in the scenario?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

An employer was required to increase the wages of an employee to ensure meeting the minimum wage.

Which law forms the basis of the required action in the scenario?

Fair Labor Standards Act

What is one best practice a company should follow as part of limiting liability for unofficial complaints?

Interview relevant parties separately and privately.

What is one standard principle a company should abide by to limit liability for itself and individuals concerning official misconduct complaints?

Involve relevant management, even if there is potential bias.

Two employees involved in a workplace conflict have chosen to use mediation to resolve the dispute.

What describes this process?

A neutral third party to conduct a negotiation process

Which type of bias is it if a person associates others' failures with internal factors but their own failures with external factors?

Attribution

A manager has positive feelings towards a subordinate who likes the same professional sports team.

Which type of unconscious bias is being exhibited in this scenario?

Affinity

Which step should be taken when assessing the scope of a misconduct complaint in the workplace?

Clarifying who is party to the alleged infraction

What is the purpose of an investigation strategy worksheet as a supporting document during a workplace investigation?

It provides a way of keeping track of investigation steps.