Ch. 15 – Employment, Immigration, and Labor Law

employment at will: A common law doctrine under which either party may terminate an employment relationship at any time for any reason, unless it would violate a contract or statute

Whistleblowing: An employee’s disclosure to government authorities, upper-level managers, or the media that the employer is engaged in unsafe or illegal activities

wrongful discharge: An employer’s termination of an employee’s employment in violation of the law or an employment contract

The Davis-Bacon Act: requires contractors and subcontractors working on federal government construction projects to pay “prevailing wages” to their employees

The Walsh-Healey Act: applies to U.S. government contracts. It requires that a minimum wage, as well as overtime pay at 1.5 times regular pay rates, be paid to employees of manufacturers or suppliers entering into contracts with agencies of the federal government

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): extended wage-hour requirements to cover all employers engaged in interstate commerce or in producing goods for interstate commerce. Certain other types of businesses are included as well. The FLSA, as amended, provides the most comprehensive federal regulation of wages and hours today.

minimum wage: The lowest wage, either by government regulation or by union contract, that an employer may pay covered, nonexempt hourly workers

Overtime: employees who work more than forty hours per work week normally must be paid 1.5 times their regular pay for all hours over forty

Occupational Safety and Health Act: primary legislation protecting employees’ health and safety

workers’ compensation laws: State statutes that establish an administrative process for compensating workers for injuries that arise in the course of their employment, regardless of fault

Social Security Act: provides for old-age (retirement), survivors’, and disability insurance, eligible to receive monthly payments from the Social Security Administration, which administers the Social Security Act, benefits are fixed by statute but increase automatically with increases in the cost of living

Medicare: federal government health insurance program that is administered by the Social Security Administration for people sixty-five years of age and older and for some under the age of sixty-five who are disabled

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA): empowers a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce its provisions governing employers that have private pension funds for their employees, specifies standards for its management, including establishing rules on how funds must be invested and records kept

Vesting: The creation of an absolute or unconditional right or power, gives an employee a legal right to receive pension benefits at some future date when the employee stops working

I-9 verification: The process of verifying the employment eligibility and identity of a new worker. It must be completed within three days after the worker commences employment, includes contractors or day workers

I-551 Permanent Resident Card: A document, known as a “green card,” that shows that a foreign-born individual can legally work in the United States, obtained only for a person who is being hired for a permanent, full-time position, must show that no U.S. worker is qualified, willing, and able to take the job

H-1B visa system: employee must be qualified in a “specialty occupation,” meaning that the individual has highly specialized knowledge and has attained a bachelor’s or higher degree or its equivalent. Individuals with H-1B visas can stay in the United States for three to six years and can work only for the sponsoring employer, must first file a Labor Condition Application on a form known as ETA 9035, employer must agree to provide a wage level at least equal to the wages offered to other individuals with similar experience and qualifications

H-2A visas: provide for workers performing agricultural labor of a seasonal nature

H-2B visas: used for workers in nonagricultural positions

O visas: provide entry for persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics which has been demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim

L visas: allow a company’s foreign managers or executives to work inside the United States

E visas: permit the entry of certain foreign investors and entrepreneurs

Norris-LaGuardia Act: protected peaceful strikes, picketing, and boycotts, restricted the power of federal courts to issue injunctions against unions engaged in peaceful strikes, established a national policy permitting employees to organize

closed shop: A firm that requires union membership as a condition of employment

union shop: A firm that requires all workers, once employed, to become union members within a specified period of time as a condition of their continued employment

right-to-work laws: State laws providing that employees may not be required to join a union as a condition of retaining employment

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA): established an employee bill of rights and reporting requirements for union activities, strictly regulates unions’ internal business procedures, including union elections

hot-cargo agreement: An illegal agreement in which employers voluntarily agree with unions not to handle, use, or deal in the nonunion-produced goods of other employers

authorization card: A card signed by an employee that gives a union permission to act on the employee’s behalf in negotiations with management

Collective bargaining: The process by which labor and management negotiate the terms and conditions of employment, including working hours and workplace conditions

Strike: An action undertaken by unionized workers when collective bargaining fails. The workers leave their jobs, refuse to work, and (typically) picket the employer’s workplace. Guaranteed by NLRA within limits