CHAPTER 12 – EMPLOYMENT LAW I: EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Part One - Selection

Job Classification
› Employment-related legal rights and responsibilities depend on the type of relationship the employer decides to build with the worker.
› Contingent workers, along with independent contractors, who are increasingly relied on to perform specific, short-term, nonrecurring jobs, permit employers to rapidly & inexpensively inflate or shrink workforces as competitive & regulatory conditions change.

Employee or Independent Contractor?
• Employee (long-term or contingent) or an independent contractor: worker under contract to organization to do specific task, not legally part of organization.
• Where a worker’s performance is controlled by an employer or where employer has right or ability to control that work, worker likely to be considered employee.
• Business that hires independent contractor generally is not required to comply with wide range of employment & labor law standards that would apply where worker is employee. Thus, business must provide unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation coverage, minimum wages, and so on to employees, but generally would not need to do so for independent contractors. Employers not liable for discrimination claims by independent contractors.

Classification Problems
• Employees, unlike independent contractors, are protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires, among other things, the payment of the federal minimum wage & overtime pay.

Hiring & the Law
Potential legal problems in hiring:
• Resume Fraud
• Background Checks
• Inappropriate Questions – questions about political views, age, etc, are lawful but discrimination based on answers to those questions would be illegal.
• Noncompete Clauses – (emp quits calls clients to come to new job). Employers sometimes require employees to sign agreements providing