Laws Relating to Employment Conditions and Benefits

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Section 21.1
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Employment Protection and Equal Opportunity
Chapter
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Section 21.1 Laws Relating to Employment
Conditions and Benefits Section 21.2 Laws
Regulating Employment Discrimination
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What Youll Learn

• How to recognize the role that OSHA plays in
  ensuring workplace safety
• (p. 454)
• How to identify employers legal requirements
  with regard to wages and hours (p. 456)

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What Youll Learn

• How to identify the statutes designed to protect
  employee privacy rights (p. 458)
• How to distinguish between unemployment
  compensation and workers compensation (pp.
  460-462)

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Why Its Important
Understanding the rights that are legally due to
employees will help you determine your rights.
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Legal Terms

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  (OSHA) (p. 454)
• equal pay rule (p. 456)
• pension plan (p. 456)

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Legal Terms

• social security (p. 460)
• unemployment compensation (p. 461)
• workers compensation (p. 462)

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Section Outline
Employment Conditions
Health and Safety Inspections
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Section Outline
Wages, Hours, and Benefits
Fair Labor Standards Act Equal Pay Act Employment
Retirement Income Security Act Family and Medical
Leave Act
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Section Outline
Employee Privacy Rights
Federal Privacy Act Drug-Free Workplace
Act Employee Polygraph Protection Act
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Section Outline
Laws Providing Worker Benefits
Social Security Act Unemployment Compensation
Laws Workers Compensation Laws Work Opportunity
Laws
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Pre-Learning Question
Which employment conditions do you think are most
important?
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Employment Conditions
Employment conditions can be divided into three
areas

• Health and safety
• Right to fair wages and benefits
• Privacy rights

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Health and Safety
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1970 was enacted by Congress to ensure that
employees are protected in the workplace.
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Health and Safety
The act established the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA), the agency within
the federal government that sets safety and
health standards for many companies within the
United States.
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Health and Safety
Businesses with 11 or more employees that engage
in interstate commerce must meet OSHAs health
and safety standards.
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Health and Safety
OSHA uses two approaches to accomplish its
mission.

1. Imposes upon employers the affirmative duty to
   maintain a safe and healthy work environment.

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Health and Safety

1. Creates rules that outline the safety steps that
   businesses must maintain.

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Inspections
To make certain that employers adhere to OSHA
regulations, the agency randomly inspects
workplaces. OSHA also endeavors to inspect a
business when a death or a disaster has occurred,
or after an employee files a complaint.
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Inspections

• The law protects employees who file OSHA
  complaints.
• Employers may be fined for each violation
  reported by an employee or discovered during an
  inspection.

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Pre-Learning Question
How does the government regulate employee wages,
hours, and benefits?
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Wages, Hours, and Benefits
In order to regulate wages, hours, and benefits,
the government has passed several laws that set
standards for employment in American business.
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Wages, Hours, and Benefits
These laws include

• Fair Labor Standards Act
• Equal Pay Act
• Employment Retirement Income Security Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act

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Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires certain
employers to pay their workers a legal minimum
hourly wage rate, plus time-and-a-half for all
work over 40 hours per week. It also regulates
the employment of minors.
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Equal Pay Act
In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act as an
amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The
amendment established the equal pay rule.
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Equal Pay Act
The equal pay rule states that employers engaged
in interstate commerce must pay women the same
rate of pay as men holding the same type of job.
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Equal Pay Act
The equal pay rule covers

• Hourly workers
• Executives
• Administrators
• Professional employees
• Outside salespeople who receive salaries and/or
  commission

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Employment Retirement Income Security Act
A pension plan is a program established by an
employer or a union that is designed to provide
income to employees after they retire.
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Employment Retirement Income Security Act
Previously, funds in some employee pension plans
were poorly invested or used for other business
expenses. These practices resulted in losses of
retirement benefits to workers and severe
economic hardship for them.
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Employment Retirement Income Security Act
The Employment Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA) was passed to prevent such abuse.
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Employment Retirement Income Security Act
One requirement of the act is that employers must
place employee contributions to pension plans in
a trust fund that is independent of the
employers control.
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Family and Medical Leave Act
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, an
employee of a company with at least 50 employees
is entitled to 12 weeks of leave during any
12-month period
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Family and Medical Leave Act
because of the birth or adoption of a child, or
to care for a spouse, child, or parent who has a
serious medical condition.
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Pre-Learning Question
What types of privacy rights do you think affect
employees?
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Employee Privacy Rights
Three areas of primary concern include

• Privacy for government employees.
• Testing employees for drug use.
• Using polygraph (lie detector) test results in
  the hiring and firing of employees.

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Employee Privacy Rights
Three laws that relate to these areas of concern
are

• Federal Privacy Act
• Drug-Free Workplace Act
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act

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Federal Privacy Act
Because of our general aversion to governmental
interference in personal rights, the privacy of
government employees is often given greater
emphasis than the privacy of employees in the
private sector.
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Federal Privacy Act
Under the Federal Privacy Act government
employees are given the right to

• Restrict inspection of their employment files.
• Be informed of their employment files.

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Federal Privacy Act

• Be informed of the contents of their employment
  files.
• Fix any mistake that they might find in those
  files.

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Drug-Free Workplace Act
The Drug-Free Workplace Act applies to companies
that have contracts with the federal government
and aims to create a drug-free work environment.
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Drug-Free Workplace Act
Under this act, firms must initiate a plan to
make sure that employees do not use drugs on the
job however, it does not order companies to
include drug testing in their plans.
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Drug-Free Workplace Act
If a drug test is performed improperly, it can
violate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable search
and seizure.
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Employee Polygraph Protection Act
As with drug testing, polygraph or lie detector
testing can violate the privacy rights of
employees. Congress passed the Employee Polygraph
Protection Act to regulate such testing
procedures.
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Employee Polygraph Protection Act
This act prohibits employers from using lie
detector tests either for screening of employment
applicants or for random testing of employees.
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Pre-Learning Question
What laws provide worker benefits?
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Laws Providing Worker Benefits
The law attempts to protect workers who have left
the job because of retirement, injury, or
disability. The law also provides assistance to
workers who have been laid off or discharged.
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Laws Providing Worker Benefits
Government initiatives to protect workers
include

• Social security
• Unemployment insurance
• Workers compensation
• Work opportunity

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Social Security Act
Social security is a government program that
provides continuing but limited income to workers
and their dependents.
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Social Security Act
It provides benefits to employees and their
families when their earnings stop or are reduced
because of retirement, disability, or death.
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Unemployment Compensation Laws
Unemployment compensation is a system of
government payments to people who are out of work
and looking for a job.
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Unemployment Compensation Laws
Payments are made from an unemployment insurance
fund financed by payroll taxes on employers or
unemployment insurance premiums paid by employers.
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Workers Compensation Laws
Workers compensation is an insurance program
that provides income for workers who are injured
or develop a disability or disease as a result of
their job.
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Workers Compensation Laws
Employers bear the cost of workers compensation.
In most states, employers must pay a tax on their
payrolls to fund the states workers
compensation insurance fund.
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Work Opportunity Laws
Welfare, a government system to provide
assistance to poor Americans with dependent
children, was criticized for many reasons. As a
result, in 1996, Congress passed the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.
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Work Opportunity Laws
This act instituted a new program entitled
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).
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Work Opportunity Laws
Under TANF, a majority of all welfare recipients
must hold a job, enter career programs, or face a
loss of payments. This requirement becomes
effective after a recipient has received benefits
during a two-year period.
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1. What does the Family and Medical Leave Act
   provide for an employee who works for a company
   that has at least 50 employees?

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ANSWER
Up to 12 weeks of leave during any 12-month
period due to the birth or adoption of a child,
or to care for a spouse, child, or parent who has
a serious medical condition.
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1. What is TANF?

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ANSWER
It stands for Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families and is a program designed to counter the
problems with the old welfare system.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned

1. What must employers do to provide for the safety
   of their employees?

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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned
Answer
To provide for the safety of their employees,
employers must follow the regulations established
by OSHA.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned

1. What legal requirements are placed upon employers
   with regard to wages and hours?

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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned
Answer
The Wage and Hours Law, or Fair Labor Standards
Act, requires certain employers to pay their
employees a legal minimum hourly wage rate, plus
time-and-a-half for all work in excess of 40
hours per week.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned

1. What federal statues are designed to protect
   employee privacy rights?

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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned
Answer
The Federal Privacy Act, the Drug-Free Workplace
Act, and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned

1. What is the difference between unemployment
   compensation and workers compensation?

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Section 21.1 Assessment
Reviewing What You Learned
Answer
Unemployment compensation is paid to workers who
lose their jobs. Workers compensation is paid to
workers who are injured on the job.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Critical Thinking Activity Right to Privacy
What justification can be given for the fact that
the privacy rights of government workers are
often given more attention than the privacy
rights of employees in the private sector?
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Critical Thinking Activity Answer Right to
Privacy
Because of our general aversion to governmental
interference in the rights of the people,
government employees frequently see their right
to privacy given greater emphasis than the rights
of employees in the private sector.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Legal Skills in Action Workplace Heath and Safety
While working on a summer job at a local
manufacturing firm, you learn that one of your
fellow employees has made a complaint to OSHA
about certain unsafe practices at the plant.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Legal Skills in Action Workplace Heath and Safety
You overhear a discussion in the lunchroom that
reveals that the worker who filed the complaint
will likely be discharged.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Legal Skills in Action Workplace Heath and Safety
Organize a role-playing session in which one
participant is the worker who filed the complaint
and another person represents a coworker.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Legal Skills in Action Workplace Heath and Safety
In the course of the discussion, explain the
nature of OSHA and the safeguards given to
employees who file complaints. Also explain the
consequences that result if a violation of an
OSHA regulation is discovered at the plant.
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Legal Skills in Action Answer Workplace Heath and
Safety
Role-plays will vary, but should include that
OSHA imposes upon employers the affirmative duty
to maintain a safe and healthy work environment
for their employees and,
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Section 21.1 Assessment
Legal Skills in Action Answer Workplace Heath and
Safety
that an employer may be fined for each violation
reported by an employee or discovered during an
OSHA inspection.
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End of Section 21.1