Business Law - Chapter 29

Employment At Will

employers can always fire their employee for any reason/no reason at all OR employees can leave at any time; UNLESS doing so violates an employee's contractual/legal rights.

Akima LLC Case

a woman rides her bike near Washington D.C. and shows a bad finger to the presidential motorcave. It goes viral, she gets fired and sues for wrongful termination, arguing it was against public policy. Didn't rule in her favor because she wasn't a government employee. Private companies aren't bound to the 1st amendment.

Employment Security Contract Laws

1) Promises Made During Hiring, 2) Employee Handbooks, and 3) Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

Promises Made During Hiring

enforceable promises that exceed employment at will when the employee gets fired wrongly. Ex: Promise that nobody gets fired in 6 months, gets fired in 3 months without reason.

Employee Handbooks

can sometimes create promises. Ex: Violation procedure with 4 violations before getting fired, but you get fired after the 1st violation.

Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

employers must treat employees fairly; can't avoid firing by enforcing hard working conditions to make employees quit themselves.

Employment Security Tort Laws

1) Defamation and 2) Workplace Bullying

Defamation

when an old employer lies to the ex-employee’s new company, spreading lies about their poor performance and falsely ruining their reputation.

Workplace Bullying

show intentional infliction of emotional distress; 1) Proof that something extreme/outrageous happened and 2) It caused serious emotional harm.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

a federal law stating that employers with >50 employees must allow 12 weeks of unpaid time off each year for a qualified reason. On return, employees return to original positions. Violations include damages for lost wages, job reinstatement, or promotion if denied.

Qualified Reason

you have a baby, you adopt a baby, or you/someone in the family (parents, kids, spouse) has a serious condition.

Peterson v. Exide Technologies

Peterson worked for a warehouse, driving a forklift. He was previously cited in forklift accidents multiple times. When he suffered an injury once, he asked FMLA for time off, and they validated it. Then, they fired him. He sued and argued he was legally on FMLA time and was retaliated against, HOWEVER, ruled in favor of the companty because they fired him for his past reckless behavior.

Whistleblowing

an employee reports the illegal behavior of an employer. Ex: Safety violation.

Retaliation

when an employee gets fired as a result of the report. Ensure that reports are made to the right place, otherwise, whistleblowing protections can't cover you.

Off-Duty Activities

1) Lifestyle Laws, 2) Smoking, 3) Alcohol and Drug Use

Lifestyle Laws

anything you do that's LEGAL and OUTSIDE of work, you can't be fired for.

Smoking

29 states protect employees that smoke, TX doesn't.

Free Speech Rights

1) National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and 2) Social Media Policies

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

a federal law that legalizes unions and supports concerted activity.

Concerted Activity

the usage of free speech to communicate with a COWORKER about WORKPLACE CONDITIONS.

BMW Case

BMW hypes up a event with fancy food, but there's only hotdogs. A BMW employee takes a picture and posts it to coworkers. Concerted Activity! Another dealer crashes their range rover, and the same BMW employee takes a picture and posts it to coworkers. NOT concerted activity! Wasn't about WORKPLACE CONDITIONS.

Employment Contracts

being employed for a certain amount of time. In this scenario, employees CAN’T leave.

Violating the Law

an exception to employment at will; when a company tells you to do something illegal, and you say no, so they try to fire you. BUT THEY CAN’T.

Exercising a Legal Right

an exception to employment at will; employers can’t fire employees for exercising legal rights, protecting against the government.

Supports Fundamental Societal Values

an exception to employment at will; employers can’t fire employees if it’s bad for society.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

establishes standards, improves working conditions, and enforces 25 whistleblowing laws.

OSHA Standards

1) Every company posts a notice with OSHA contact info if any violations occur, 2) Every company must keep strict records and report injuries/fatalities, 3) Following reports, OSHA conducts an investigation. 4) OSHA can do announced/unannounced inspections.

OSHA Fines

each fine starts at $8,000. Refusals to fix policies may increase each fine up to $165,000.

Guns

regulated by state law; employers can put up notices i.e. "Guns are prohibited".

Bring Your Gun To Work Law

you can bring your gun and leave it in the car parked on the employers premise so long as it's locked away; some states don't enforce it.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Applies if an employer has employees; manages child labor, minimum wage, tipped workers, and overtime & exemptions policies.

Employee vs. Contractor

depends on how much control the employer has over a person's job. Higher control => employee. When a contractor becomes an employee, labor costs increase by 20% for the company. Hence, some employers try to avoid these costs and mislabel their employees.

Mislabeled as a Contractor

FLSA allows you to recover money if you were mislabeled as a contractor; all the hours you didn't make $7.25, overtime hours missed, and benefits missed.

Child Labor

under FLSA, children who are

Minimum Wage

established federally by FLSA; $7.25 per hour.

Tipped Workers

must make $7.25 per hour through tips under FLSA.

Overtime & Exemptions

every hour worked >40 hours a week entitles you to 1.5x the wage amount. Exception: salary positions (administration), no 1.5x payment.

Workers' Compensation

state based law; employees receive compensation (weekly wage & keep position) if injured on the job. If they refuse the compensation, they can sue the company.

Health Insurance (COBRA)

requires employers to allow employees to keep health insurance after leaving the job for 18 months, but they must pay the full cost of it.

Social Security

federal law provides a financial safety net for retirees. Part of each paycheck is stored away in a bucket. When you reach retirement age, you get a paycheck from the bucket.

Social Security Fears

people fear that we will lose social security because of the shrinking workforce. They added a new policy; that the longer you wait, the more you get.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

requires companies of a certain size to offer health insurance.

Pensions (ERISA)

a federal law that establishes rules for companies/employers that offer pension plans to their employees.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

grants the right to 1) Organize and join a union (legalized unions) 2) Bargain collectively, to band together and gain power. 3) Engage in concerted activities

Concerted Activity

activity related to 1) A coworker and 2) About workplace conditions, so long as the individual 3) isn't a supervisor.