BU315 - Ch. 11 Employment Relationships and Labor Law

Employment-at-will

Deep-seated common law principle that employers have the right to terminate an employee with or without advance notice and with or without just cause, subject to certain exceptions.

At-will employee

Any employee who is not a contractual employee; may be terminated at any time and for any reason— except in cases where public policy is violated or the termination is illegally discriminatory or is prohibited by statutory or common law exceptions.

Express Contracts

Labor Contracts

Contractual Employee

An employee who works under an agreement that defines when the employee begins employment and when the employment ends.

Whistleblower

An employee or agent who reports illegal misconduct or a statutory violation by their employer to the authorities.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

A federal law intended to cover all employers engaged in interstate commerce; mandates

1. payment of a minimum wage

2. a maximum 40-hour workweek

3. overtime pay

4. restrictions on children working in certain occupations/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.

This is opposed to Covered Employees

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 The funds grow tax-free until they are withdrawn.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, comprehensive set of laws and regulations that requires employers to make certain disclosures related to investment risk, thus providing transparency for plan beneficiaries.

Social Security Act (SSA)

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.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

A federal law 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.

Workers’ Comp.

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 that sets forth workplace rules and regulations to promote the safety of workers and prevent workplace injuries.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

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

Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA)

A federal law 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 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 charged 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 and 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 that established 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 to elect or reject unionization by the entire bargaining unit.

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 filed 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 were hired in order to induce the employer to concede 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.

Lockout

The shutdown of a business by the employer to prevent employees from working, thus depriving them of their employment and putting economic pressure on the union’s members before the union can do the same to the employer through a strike.

Replacement Workers

Nonunion employees hired by a company in order to continue its operations during a strike.