Business Law: Labor and Employment Law
Each and every day business throughout the United States are met with challenging situations that are centered around labor and employment law. As the director of human resources for Company X, I have been tasked with analyzing three situations that may or may not violate any federal acts. The federal acts that will be considered are the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Each given situation will be reviewed and analyzed to determine if any violations of these acts have occurred.
Family Medical Leave Act of 1993
In situation A, a two-year veteran of Company X utilized FMLA for 11 weeks of unpaid leave following the premature birth of twins. Upon his return back to work he has requested his withheld salary during the 1l-week period he used FMLA leave. After reviewing the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 there are three provisions that could determine whether or not any violations may have occurred. These provisions are that the employee must have been employed by Company X for a minimum of 12 months, he must have worked at least 1,250 hours in his previous 12 months of employment with Company X, and FMLA leave is unpaid unless the employee chooses to use accrued vacation and/or sick leave during the timeframe that FMLA was used.
After reviewing situation A, it has been determined that the Family Medical Leave Act
Mary McDonald, an 86-year-old woman, was frequently complaining about the high cost of maintenance of her house and high property taxes. She decided to cancel her fire insurance to reduce expenses. Mary’s daughter was aware of her mother’s concern about the property, and she took Mary to the lawyer’s office to sign some papers that would protect her mother. When Mary came to the lawyer’s office, she was advised that the paper she was going to sign was the deed to the property. Mary signed a document. Later on, when the municipal tax bill arrived, Mary McDonald was really surprised to see that the property was in her daughter’s name.
Collective bargaining, as its name implies, is achieved when two or more parties come together to make a decision about something. Specifically, it is achieved when employers and a group of employees work together to decide important terms and conditions regarding employment. These terms and conditions include compensation as well as rights and responsibilities of employees, employers, and unions. They can also include guidelines for resolving problems such as grievances and disputes (Budd, 2010, p. 13).
Over the last several decades, workplace issues have become an area of controversy for most employers. This is because the regulations surrounding what practices are considered to be discriminatory have increased dramatically. To enforce these issues, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) is playing a central role in making employers follow these provisions of the law. A recent example of this occurred, with the case EEOC v. HCS Medical Staffing Inc.
Employment law encompasses remedies that address employee grievances and discrimination that occur in the workplace environment. The foundation of this system is the United States Constitution, which provides two sources of laws and regulations. These two sources are individual state constitutions and the national constitution. Under this system of federalism, there is also the Bill of Rights, which provides the origins of the majority of employment law. The most widely known document is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et.seq.) The judicial, executive, and legislative branches of the government of the United States create and enforce rules and regulations as promulgated by the constitution. Individuals
The balancing act of family and work can be very difficult at times. At some point in everyone’s life, he or she will need to take time off of work to deal with family matters. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 was created to help employees find a balance between the challenging demands of work and home. This Act allows eligible workers that require time off for personal reasons or family emergencies up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave.
An employee took time off due to his wife giving birth prematurely. His requested time off was approved by his original manager as the employee qualified for FMLA since he has been with the company for two years and was for the care of his spouse. Under (1)”FMLA rules certain employees can be provided up to 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave per year. The employee must work for the company at least 12 months, have at least 1250 hours during the 12 months and the where the employee work, the company must employ at least 50 employees within 75 miles”.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and job protection for childbirth, adoption or foster care; to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent; or for an employee’s own serious illness (Cañas & Sondak, 2011). It also requires that their group health benefits remain intact during the unpaid leave of absence. The employee must have worked for the employer for at least a year and must have earned 1,250 hours of service during the previous 12 months ((Cañas & Sondak, 2011, pg. 70).
Employers have legal obligations, when drawing up a job description. The law states that employers must not discriminate against a persons, age, race, sex, religion or disability.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, is “a federal law that provides unpaid, job-protested leave to eligible employees, both male and female, to care for their families or themselves for specified family and medical conditions”, which was passed in 1993 (Seccombe, 2012, p.
The aim of this early conciliation is to encourage as many cases as possible to settle ‘compromising’ the claim through a settlement agreement (previously called a ‘compromise agreement’) an agreement achieved through Acas conciliation (a ‘COT3’). Appendix 3 is an early conciliation Flow Chart (ACAS)
Q1 – Understand the purpose of employment regulation and the way it is enforced in practice.
After the abolition of slavery, the resentment which former slaves felt at their exploitation and the low wages plantation managers were prepared to pay, (which were below what a family could live on), turned the former plantation workers against work in agriculture. This refusal to continue to work on the plantations became, in an industrial relations context, the first "withdrawal of labour" or strike action. Eaton (2002) purports that the industrial relations response by the state, which was coeval with the mercantile class, co-operated in defeating the workers' protest action by
The American employment laws are designed to foster human dignity and in the process provide employees with various tangible benefits. It is therefore expected for employees to be on the forefront in supporting and adhering to them. Likewise if an organization applies effectively these laws, it can benefit massively from dynamic, healthy, motivated, and productive employees. It therefore goes without saying that managers, just like employees, should promote these laws and thus ensures the organization conforms to them. Generally these laws govern the workplace actions of employers and employees. It ensures a fruitful and legally conducive environment and relationship exists between these two parties, and within employees
Accordingly, as with the situation, Tim has sustained injuries from the incident. The person at fault for Tim 's condition is surely Danny, as he had parked his car illegally, which definitely breaking the rules, and he as well forgotten to engage the parking brake. This caused the car to roll back and eventually hits an electric wire and the sparks from the ignition of the electric wire spreads to a nearby car. The car then explodes and a piece of it injures Tim, a pedestrian, like any other, who coincidentally was passing by.
On 15th October 2010 East Midlands Airways (EMA) advertise a second-hand Airbus 321 for sale in an aviation industry trade journal for £12.5m. Later that same day, Colvin, the Chief Executive Officer of Houston Aviation Ltd, phones EMA’s Managing Director Patricia. Colvin says that his firm would very much like to view the Airbus 321 but that he is off on a 5 day business trip to Dallas, Texas and will not be able to view the aircraft until he returns. Patricia says that if another buyer comes forward she will have to sell the Airbus 321 to that buyer. Colvin then says he will pay £100,000 if EMA promises not to sell the Airbus 321 to another buyer for the next 5 days. Patricia agrees to this.