Legel evt of business exam 3

Agency

relationship between agent and principal

Agent

does stuff for someone else

principal

who the agent does stuff for

Agency relationships are _____ and ______ in the business environment and exist in a variety of forms.

Common ; essential

legal requirements for creating an agency

The steps you have to take to make an agency relationship

liability of principal for agents conducts

what the agent does could make the principal get sued

Duties and Obligations

the requirements both the agent and pricipal must do

two categories for agents

Employee agents and Independent contractor

employee agents

individual employees who are authorized to transact business on behalf of the employer principal

Employees agents

these are employees who act as agents for their principal

What are principals held liable for?

The actions or omissions of employee agents

How to be classified as an employee agent?

The employee must have some source of authority to represent the employer

independent contractor

This is someone who does work for someone else through a contract and this person works independently

The agent is classified based on the amount of _____ and ______ that the principal has over the agent in terms of setting the agent’s work schedule and pay rate and determined the level of day-to-day supervision required.

Direction and Control

Lots of control

there is an agency relationship

Not much control

There is NO agency relationship; we just have an independent contractor

When do independent contractor usually work?

based on a deadline, but they typically chose their won schedule to accomplish that deadline

How are independent contractors usually paid?

They usually send an invoice monthly for services rendered rather than drawing a weekly or biweekly pay check.

An independent occupation or profession in which the agent has ________ indicates an independent contractor.

more than one customer or client

The primary source of an agent’s power are _____ , ______ and _______

actual authority, apparent authority and ratification

Agent’s power to bind the principal

What the agent does could make the principal pay third parties

Third parties

someone outside the original relationship

Actual authority

the agent has actual power to make the principle liable through express actual authority or implied actual authority

Express Authority

Is the authority given by the principal’s actual words or conduct

Implied Authority

occurs once an agent is given express authority, he also has the implied authority to do certain acts on behalf of the principal.

Two types of implied authority

Usual and customary

Usual authority

Authority that the agent has been allowed to exercise in the past

Customary Authority

the authority agents of that type would normally have

Apparent Authority

it’s based on what the third party believes based on not the agents words or conduct but the principal’s.

How can apparent authority happen?

By the principles words, their actions or the principal has been allowed to enter into activities like that before

Ratification

When the principal affirms a previously unauthorized act

Two types of ratification

express and implied

Express raticification

When the principal through words or behavior, manifests an intent to be bound by the agent’s acts

Implied ratification

When the principal, by silence goes along with it.

A principal may be held liable for _____

An agent’s Tort

respondeat superior

this is a form of vicarious liability because it involves one party’s liability for the act of another party

vicarious liability

is the liability that a supervisory party (like a principal) bears for the actionable conduct of a subordinate (like an agent)

respondeat superior

latin for “let the superior respond”

Vicariously liability and respondeat are

the same thing; just one is in Latin

For the principal to be liable for the agent’s bad acts, the agent have….

done the bad act DURING the agent’s scope of employment

For the principal to be liable, the agent’s tortious conduct must have:

Been related to their duties as an employee of the principal or been motivated, in part, by purpose to serve the principal

1. Been related to their duties as an employee of the principal

2. Been motivated, in part, by a purpose to serve the principle

If the agent’s tortious conduct does NOT have the following requirements, then the principal will not be liable

Been motivated, in part, by a purpose to serve the principal means:

The agents/employee was attempting to serve the principal’s wishes when they did the bad act

If the agent was acting with the scope pf employment and committed a tort, the principal…

can be sued and have to pay for the agent’s bad act.

If the agent was NOT acting within the scope of employment and committed a tort….

the principal will not be sued and will not have to pay for the agent’s bad act

Employment-at-will

You can quit anytime but also be fired at anytime

With or without just cause

you can be fired for a reason or no reason at all

When is the only time employment at will doesn’t apply?

If there’s an employment contract, the employee was fired because of discrimination or the employee was fired because they were a whistle blower.

Express contractual relationship

The employer and employee had a contract

Contractual Employee

When an employee signs a contract with their employer

A contractual employee can still be fired but…

it has to be for a very specific reasons like you didn’t come to work or you committed a crime work

But an at-will-employee can be fired for…

any reason at any time

Antidiscrimination Laws

prohibit termination based on certain discriminatory motivations such as race or gender

Whistleblower

an employee that tells the authorities that their employer is doing something illegal

Whistleblower Protection Act 1989

Federal employees that are whistleblowers are also protected

Fair labor Standards Act (FLSA)

established minimum wage to be paid to every employee covered under the act

The FLSA sets a standard workweek at __ hours in a seven day period

40

Any hours worked by an employee over the standard workweek are entitled to…

overtime compensation

The FLSA child labor laws:

If you’re under 18, you can only do certain jobs for only a certain amount of time

Worker’s Compensation Statutes

If a worker is injured on the job, they can be compensated

Occupational Safety and health Act

Makes employees follow certain rules to make sure workers are safe

Family Medical leave Act

Mandates employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employee for purposed related to family medical matters

Who can you take off work for according to FMLA?

A new born baby, your spouse, your child, or your parents etc

Employment discrimination encompasses work-place related discrimination that includes:

The hiring process, disciplinary actions and promotions, demotions ,work schedules, working conditions and assignments.

Equal employment opportunity commission

The EEOC is the government agency that investigates and handles workplace discrimination

What is the first step for a party claiming unlawful discrimination?

You MUST file with the EEOC first

In certain cases the EEOC will….

sue on behalf or will give you a right to sue letter to tell you to hire an attorney to file a lawsuit.

Protected Class

refers to groups of people who are legally protected from being harmed by discrimination due to shared characteristics

Title 7 of the civil rights Act

The law prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on an employee’s race, color national origin, gender or religion

Disparate treatment

is overt and intentional discrimination

What must a litigant establish to claim discrimination for disparate treatment?

1. Protected class

2. plaintiff applied for and was qualified for the job/promotion

3. plaintiff was rejected by employer

4. the employer continued to seek applicants or filled the position with a person outside the protected class

Disparate impact

discrimination impacts an ENTIRE protected class (discrimination is sneaky)

Age Discrimination in Employment (ADEA)

This law protects older employees. This law only protects people who are 40 years or OLDER. Plaintiff must prove that they were replaced by someone at least 10 years younger than them.

What are the reasonable accommodations the ADA requires employers to make?

1. Making existing facilities readily available to individuals with disabilities

2. Job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to vacant positions, and the provision of readers or interpreters

Undue hardship

the employers don’t have to do reasonable accommodations if it’s an _______ on them. (i.e redoing the building to add an elevator would bankrupt the business)

Civil Laws

designed to compensate parties for damages from another’s conduct

Criminal law

not about money or suing

Penalty

it’s about penalizing the criminal defendant

Tenet

a principle or belief

Proscribed

to forbid

Crimes to be specifically proscribed

for something to be a crime, there must be a law out there specifically proscribing/forbidding a certain action

By law in advance of the conduct

and that law out there forbidding certain conduct/action must have been in place in advance/before the conduct/action happened

EX POST FACTO

Latin for “from a thing done afterward”

EX POST FACTO LAWS

you can’t be convicted of a crime if there was no law saying what you did was a crime when you did that particular act

The principle of punishment is based on the following

1. deterrence

2. removal

3. rehabilitation

Deterrence

the act of making someone not to do something

removal

one of the reasons for placing criminals in prison is to REMOVE them so they won’t endanger the public

Rehabilitation

Another reason why criminals are placed in prison is to REHABILATATE/restore them so they will be law abiding citizens when they are released

Public order crimes

crimes that involve offensive or disorderly conduct in a public area (narcotics, prostitution etc)

Property crimes

Crimes that involve damage to stealing of property

White-collar crimes

When crimes take place in the business environment

From a legal perspective a crime has two parts:

1. A physical part

2. A mental part

Actus reus (Act Requirement)

The requirement that he government/prosecutor must prove that the defendants actions objectively satisfied the elements of a particular offense.

What is the act of requirements based on?

The fundamental criminal law tenet that evil thoughts alone do not constitute a criminal act-instead there must be overt conduct

mens rea

guilty mind

Culpability

The quality pf being blameworthy in criminal law; it is used to assess the acused’s guilt and determine whether they committed the crime purposefully, knowingly, recklessly or negligently

Self defense is an example of what?

A certain case that requires the use of deadly force to protect yourself or your family.

Fraud

lying to get money

Conspiracy

is an agreement by two or more persons to commit a criminal act

Bribery

generally involves a scheme to pay a government official to obtain favorable treatment for a personal or business transaction