This document provides an overview of various employment law topics organized under different categories. It includes summaries of laws related to termination and discrimination, employee benefits, labor management relations, corporations, and other miscellaneous topics. For each topic, it lists key aspects of the laws such as exceptions to at-will employment, requirements of FMLA and OSHA, protections provided by anti-discrimination acts, and rights afforded by laws governing unions and collective bargaining.

1. Employment Law
Donna M. Kesot, CPCU
©March 26, 2013

2. Termination & Labor Mgmt
Discrimination Corporations Misc
Welfare Relations
10 10 10 10 10
20 20 20 20 20
30 30 30 30 30
40 40 40 40 40
50 50 50 50 50

3. Category 1 questions follow

4. Question
Employment at Will Exceptions

5. Answer What are
• Public policy exception
• Implied contract exception
• Covenant of good-faith exception
• Statutory exception

6. Question
Main aspects of the
Occupational Health & Safety Act of 1970 (OHSA)

7. Answer What are
• Employers must provide a safe place to work by
setting standards of safety.
• Enforced by inspection and investigations
• Penalties imposed for violations

8. Question
Main aspects of Family Medical Leave Act (FLMA)

9. Answer What are
• Requires employers to provide unpaid leave for
circumstances covered under the Act.
• Employers with 50 or more employees
• Employees must have worked at least 12 months
and 1,250 hours

10. Question
3 Employee Benefit Laws

11. Answer What are
1. Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA, 1974) for pensions
2. Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
(COBRA, 1986) for health benefits
~exempts fed employees and religious groups
3. Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of
2010 for expansion of the availability and
affordability of health care. AKA Affordable Care
Act, e.g. Obamacare

12. Question
Privacy Protections

13. Answer What are
•
•
•
Common Law allows suits for invasion of privacy
Drug-Free Workplace Act 1988
Employee Polygraph Protection Act 1988
• Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
• Electronics Communications Privacy Act 1986 (allows
privacy to be invaded if employee consent given for
‘monitoring’)
• Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows
background checks
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA, 1996)

14. Category 2 questions follow

15. Question
2 Age Discrimination Laws

16. Answer What are
• Age Discrimination Act (ADEA) 1967
~bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) is
the minimum qualification needed to perform
the duties of a particular job
• Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA of 1990)
~prohibit age discrimination in offering benefits

17. Question
Five Laws regarding Sex, Race, Religion, or National
Origin

18. Answer What are
•
•
•
Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Race, making contracts)
Civil Rights Act of 1871 (Right to Sue)
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII added Gender & Religion)
~Disparate Treatment Theory (Intentionally treating individuals
differently)
• Quid pro quo Sexual Harassment (1980)
• Hostile Work Environment
~severe & persuasive
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
~Disparate Impact Theory (Intention is not focus)
• Executive Order 11246 (Equal Opportunity Employment)
• Affirmative Action Plan
• Equal Pay Act of 1963 (& new Lily Ledbetter Act)

19. Question
2 Disability Laws

20. Answer What are
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination
based on disability as long as essential functions of
the job can be completed
American with Disabilities Act strengthens the
prohibition and requires equal access to
buildings/facilities
Daily Double: What compliance issues arise?

21. Question
Laws for service men and women

22. Answer What are
• Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance
Act of 1974
• Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act of 1994

23. Question
What agency oversees Title VII protections?

24. Answer
EEOC overseas complaints, 180 days w/ no
settlement --> right to sue letter
• Claimant must sue within 90 days

25. Category 3 questions follow

26. Question
3 Types of Corporations

27. Answer What are
1. Government corporations (cities, counties, states)
2. Charitable or not-for-profit corporations (colleges,
universities, hospitals, religious organizations)
3. Business for Profit corporations
A corporation is a separate legally recognized business
entity organized under state law and entitled to the same
rights as a person, distinct from its owners.
• Regulated by both Fed & State laws

28. Question
Advantages of incorporation

29. Answer What are
• Limit liability (courts may pierce the corporate
veil for wrongful acts)
• Tax advantage
• Easier to sell/transfer ownership
• Easier to raise capital
• Perpetuity beyond the death of owners

30. Question
What is included in corporate bylaws

31. Answer What are
• Stockholders meetings (date, place, conduct of elections,
order of business)
• Directors (term of office, compensation, meetings, loans,
authority to elect officers)
• Indemnification of Directors, officers and agents
• Shares of stock (issue, transfer, record date)
• Corporate seal and officers signatures
• Procedures for transfer or dissolution
• Future amendment of bylaws

32. Question
4 stock purchase rights

33. Answer What are
• Short-term options
• Stock Warrants (usually preferred stock, bonds)
• Stock Options (deferred compensation)
• Pre-emptive Rights for existing stockholders

34. Question
Ownership currency of corporations

35. Answer What are
• Bonds-long term debt instrument with annual
rate of return
• Common stock (voting)
• Preferred stock (nonvoting but higher priority if
corporation is dissolved)
• Par value – arbitrary dollar value that the
corporation assigned to stock shares
• Treasury stock – stock repurchased by the
company and not retired

36. Category 4 questions follow

37. Question
3 main areas of law governing labor-management
relations

38. Answer
What are
Collective Bargaining
Collective Bargaining Process
Economic Pressure

39. Question
Purpose of collective-bargaining relationships

40. Answer
What is give employees more influence as a group
when negotiating with the employer, versus
negotiating alone?

41. Question
Types of issues requiring collective bargaining?

42. Answer
What are
Wages
Hours
Other Terms of Employment (Benefits, etc.)

43. Question
Happens when parties don’t reach agreement

44. Answer
What aare mediation, then arbitration, possibly
strike

45. Question
Tactics acceptable for employer to use in lieu of
firing for strike and which two acts govern collective
bargaining

46. Answer What are employment of replacement workers
Under certain conditions, a lock-out
Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932 (prohibited federal
court injunctions in labor disputes until all efforts
exhausted in negotiation
National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (recognized
Labor Unions)

47. Category 5 questions follow

48. Question
Ultra Vires

49. Answer
What is an act of a corporation that exceeds its
powers

50. Question
Derivative suit

51. Answer What is a suit brought by one of more shareholders
Other remedies include class action suits and direct
laws suits

52. Question
Limited partnership

53. Answer A form of partnership made up of one or more
general partners who have unlimited liability, and
one or more limited partners whose liability is
limited to the amount of capital they have
contributed to the partnership

54. Question
Limited Liability Company (LLC)

55. Answer
A form of business entity that provides its owners
with limited liability of a corporation and the tax
advantages of a partnership

56. Question
This entity arises by people’s actions, oral
agreement, written agreement

57. Answer What is how partnerships arise?
The Uniform Partnership Act (UPA), partnership
agreement, and general principles of contract and
agency law govern the relationship between
partners