Transcript Twomey & Jennings BUSINESS LAW

BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Twomey & Jennings
BUSINESS LAW
Chapter 37
Regulation of Employment
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
The Employment Relationship
• The relationship of employer and employee
is created by the agreement of the parties
and is subject to contract principles.
– If the contract states a specific duration, the
employer cannot terminate the contract at an
earlier date unless just cause exists.
• Collective Bargaining Agreements.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Employment Relationship
• If no definite time period is set forth, the
individual is an at-will employee, and the
employer can terminate the contract at any
time.
– Some courts limit this if the discharge violates
public policy or is contrary to good faith and
fair dealing in the employment relationship.
Adams v Uno Restaurants, Inc. (2002)
Pretext at the Pizzeria?
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Duties and Rights of
Employee
• The duties of an employee include:
– Performing the service of the contract.
– Refraining from disclosing trade secrets.
– Allowing the employer to freely use any
inventions created on work time with employer’s
materials (called shop right).
• The rights of an employee include:
– To be paid according to the contract (at least the
federal minimum wage).
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Employment Relationship
Consent
Employer
Pays
Compensation
Employee
(Individual or Collective
Bargaining Agreement)
Performs services/works
under employer’s
direction and control
Independent
Contractor
Perform duties free from
control by other party
Agent
Negotiates contracts on
behalf of an under
control of principal
Differs from:
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Labor Relations Laws
• The Fair Labor Standards Act regulates
minimum wages, overtime hours, and child
labor.
• Under the National Labor Relations Act,
employees have the right to form a union to
obtain a collective bargaining contract or to
refrain from organizational activities.
Lechmere, Inc. v NLRB (1992) The
Supreme Court is always right.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Pension Plans
• The Employees Retirement Income Security
Act (ERISA) protects employees’ pensions
by requiring:
– (1) high standards of those administering the
funds,
– (2) reasonable vesting of benefits,
– (3) adequate funding, and
– (4) an insurance program to guarantee
payments of earned benefits.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Unemployment Benefits
• Unemployment compensation benefits are
paid to persons for a limited period of time
if they are out of work through no fault of
their own.
• Persons receiving unemployment
compensation must be available for
placement in a job similar in duties and
comparable in rate of pay to the job they
lost.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Benefits Provided by Law
• Twelve-week maternity, paternity, and
adoption leaves are available under the
Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Employers and employees pay Social
Security taxes to provide retirement
benefits, disability benefits, life insurance
benefits, and Medicare.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Employees’ Health & Safety
• The Occupational Safety and Health Act provides
for:
– (1) the establishment of safety and health standards and
– (2) the effective enforcement of these standards.
• Many states have enacted “right-to-know” laws,
which require employers to inform their
employees of any hazardous substances present in
the workplace.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Regulation of Working
Conditions
Working Conditions
Wages
and
Hours
Fair Labor
Standards
Act
Privacy
Drug
Testing
Safety
E-Mail
Monitoring
OSHA
Contract
Terms
National Labor
Relations Act
Sweat Shop
Code
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Compensation for
Employee’ Injuries
• Workers’ compensation laws provide for the
prompt payment of compensation and medical
benefits to persons injured in the course of
employment without regard to fault.
– An injured employee’s remedy is generally limited to
the remedy provided by the workers’ compensation
statute.
– Most states also provide compensation to workers for
occupational diseases.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Regulation of
Compensation
Compensation and Benefits
Fair Labor
Standards
Act
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Pensions
ERISA
Unemployment
Social
Security
Family and
Medical
Leave Act
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Employee Privacy
• The Bill of Rights is the source of public sector
employees’ privacy rights.
• Private sector employees may obtain limited
privacy rights from statutes, case law, and
collective bargaining agreements.
• Employers may monitor employee telephone calls,
although once it is determined that the call is
personal, the employer must stop listening or be in
violation of the federal wiretap statute.
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BUSINESS LAW
Twomey • Jennings 1stEd.
Employee Privacy
• The ordinary-course-of-business and consent
exceptions to the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) give private
employers a great deal of latitude to monitor
employee E-mail.
• Notification to employees of employers’ policies
on searching lockers, desks, and offices reduces
employees’ expectations of privacy, and a search
conducted in conformity with a known policy is
generally not an invasion of privacy.
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BUSINESS LAW
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Other Laws
• Drug and alcohol testing is generally
permissible if it is based on reasonable
suspicion; random drug and alcohol testing
may also be permissible in safety-sensitive
positions.
• Immigration laws prohibit the employment
of aliens who have illegally entered the
United States.
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