HR and Employment Law: A Comprehensive Guide with Definitions and Examples, Exams of Human Resource Management

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flat organizational structure - ANSWER-few or no levels of middle management between staff and executives. functional organizational structure - ANSWER-set up so that each position of the organization is grouped according to its purpose (ie. marketing department, sales department, production department, etc). divisional organizational structure - ANSWER-used in larger companies that operate in a wide geographic area or that have separate smaller organizations within the umbrella group to cover different types of products or market areas. matrix organizational structure - ANSWER-a hybrid of divisional and functional structure, typically used in large multinational companies. This can create power struggles because most areas of the company have dual management (2 or more people to report to) flat organizational structure - ANSWER-this organizational structure elevates the employee's level of responsibility, removes excess levels of management, and encourages an easier decision-making process among employees; employees often lack a specific boss to report to, specific job functions might be unclear, and long-term growth may be limited functional organizational structure - ANSWER-this organizational structure works well for small businesses in which each department can rely on the talent and knowledge of its workers and support itself; however, coordination and communication between departments can be restricted divisional organizational structure - ANSWER-this organizational structure benefits because needs can be met more rapidly and more specifically; however, communication is inhibited because employees in different divisions are not working together. This is also very costly because of its scope and size.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - ANSWER-made it so that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action progressive discipline - ANSWER-generally includes a series of increasingly severe penalties for repeated offenses, typically beginning with counseling or verbal waning. This can cause uniformity and consistency, but also require that the employer follow these policies no matter what; steps include oral warning, written warning, suspension, and termination HR metrics - ANSWER-number of grievances per month, quarter, and year using a constant measure (ie., per 100 employees); cost of grievances (by calculating time spent by all parties involved as well as expenses); root cause of grievances; average close time (grievance resolution); return on investment (ROI - per employee) employee opinion and satisfaction survey - ANSWER-measures employee views, attitudes, and perceptions of their organization (AKA climate surveys) employee culture survey - ANSWER-measures the point of view of employees and is designed to asses whether it aligns with that of the organization or the departments employee engagement survey - ANSWER-measures employees' commitment, motivation, sense of purpose, and passion for their work and organization histogram - ANSWER-also known as Pareto chart, shows the frequency of score occurrences in a continuous data set that has been divided into classes, called bins bar chart - ANSWER-presents grouped data with rectangular bars, comparing things between different groups or tracking changes over time job analysis - ANSWER-a process to identify and determine in detail the particular job duties and requirements and the relative importance of these duties for a given job; a process where judgments are made about data collected on a job exempt - ANSWER-an employee paid on a salary basis at not less than $455/week and meeting certain tests regarding their job duties; these employees are not protected by the FLSA and not entitled to overtime pay nonexempt - ANSWER-most employees fall into this category, are entitled to overtime pay at 1.5x their regular rate of pay when they work more than 40 hours

in a week, and are protected by the FLSA recruiting firm - ANSWER-a type of company that recruits new talent for open positions in the workforce

employee polygraph protection act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; prohibits the use of lie detector tests for job applicants and employees of companies engaged in

interstate commerce. Exceptions are made for certain situations, including law enforcement and national security, but there is a federal poster requirement employee retirement income security act (ERISA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; governs pensions by establishing uniform minimum standards to ensure that employee benefit plans are established and maintained in a fair and financially sound manner; protects employees covered by a pension plan from losses in benefits due to job changes, plant closings, bankruptcies, or mismanagement; and protects plan beneficiaries. It covers most employers engaged in interstate commerce, minus public- sector employees and many churches equal pay act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; enforced by the EEOC, it prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees at a rate less than the rate paid to employees of the opposite sex for equal work on jobs requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions FAA modernization and reform act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; amends the railway labor act and requires the government accountability office initially to evaluate the national mediation board's certification procedures and then audit the NMB's operations every 2 years fair and accurate credit transactions act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; under this act, employers are released from obligations to disclose requirements and obtain employee consent if the investigation involves suspected misconduct, a violation of the law or regulations, or a violation of preexisting written employer policies. A written plan to prevent identity theft is required fair credit reporting act (FCRA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer info, including consumer credit info; requires employers to notify any individual in writing if a credit report may be used in making an employment decision as well as written authorization from the subject individual prior to asking a credit bureau for a credit report fair labor standards act (FLSA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; introduced a maximum 44-hour 7-day workweek, established a national minimum wage, guaranteed "time-and-a-half" for OT in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressed child labor"; applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exception from coverage

ages 14 and 15 - ANSWER-all work must be performed outside school hours, and these workers may not work more than 3 hours any given school day; more than 18 hours per week when school is in session; more than 8 hours a day when school is not in session; more than 40 hours/week when school is not in session; before 7am or after 7pm on any day, except from June 1 - Labor Day (nighttime hours extended to 9pm); work permit is required from school district ages 16 and 17 - ANSWER-work permit required from school district, but no restrictions on work hours per week foreign corrupt practices act (FCPA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; prohibits American companies from making bribery payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business health information technology for economic and clinical health (HITECH) act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; established a federal standard for security breach notifications that requires covered entities, in the even of a breach of any personal health information (PHI), to notify each individual whose PHI has been disclosed without authorization health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; ensures that individuals who leave or lose their jobs can obtain health coverage even if they or someone in their family has a serious illness or injury or is pregnant; provides privacy requirements related to medical records for individuals as young as 12; limits exclusions for preexisting conditions and guarantees renewability of health coverage to employers and employees immigration and nationality act (INA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; addresses employment eligibility and employment verification; defines the conditions for temporary and permanent employment of aliens in the USA immigration reform and control act (IRCA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; requires new employees to prove their identity and their right to work in this country; created the Form I-9; prohibits discrimination against job applicants on basis of national origin whilst also penalizes employers for hiring illegal aliens IRS intermediate sanctions - ANSWER-allows the IRS to impose penalties when it determines that top executive officials have received excessive compensation from their nonprofit organization labor-management relations act (LMRA; Taft-Hartley Act) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; prohibits unfair labor practices by unions and outlaws closed shops,

where union membership is required in order to get and keep a job

reporting system designed to enhance enforcement of child support payments portal-to-portal act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; provides that minimum wages and overtime are not required for "traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity or activities which such employee is to perform" or

for "activities which are preliminary to or postliminary to said principal activity or activities," unless there is a custom or contract to the contrary. railway labor act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; allows railway and airline employees to form labor unions rehabilitation act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; replaced the Vocational Rehabilitation act and created support for states to create vocational rehabilitation programs; applies only to federal contractors and subcontractors with $10000 or more in contracts retirement equity act (REA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; prohibits changes to retirement plan elections, spousal beneficiary designations, or in-service withdrawals without consent of a spouse revenue act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; added two important sections to the Internal Revenue Tax Code relevant to employee benefits: Section 125, Cafeteria Benefit Plans, and Section 401(k), originally known as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) sarbanes-oxley act (SOX) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; addresses the need for oversight and disclosure of information by publicly traded companies securities and exchange act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; provides for governance in the "secondary market", which is all trading after the initial public offering service contract act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; calls for payment of prevailing wages and benefit requirements to all employees providing service under the agreement. All contractors and subcontractors, other than construction services, with contract services in excess of $2500 are covered sherman anti-trust act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; created as a measure to combat monopolies and cartels small business job protection act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; increased federal minimum wage levels and provided some tax incentives to small business owners to protect jobs and increase take-home pay social security act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; designed to help senior citizens senior citizens (funded through payroll tax contributions) tax reform act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; reduced tax brackets and all

taxpayer relief act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; created new savings programs called Roth IRAs and Education IRAs. trademark act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; created federal protections for trademarks ad service marks unemployment compensation amendments (UCA) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; established 20% as the amount to be withheld from payment of employee savings accounts when leaving an employer and not placing the funds into another tax- approved IRA or 401(k) uniformed services employment and reemployment rights act (USERRA) - ANSWER- ONE or MORE employees; protects the employment, reemployment, and retention rights of anyone who voluntarily or involuntarily serves or has served in the uniformed services. It requires that employers continue paying for the employee's benefits to the extent they paid for those benefits before the call of duty vietnam era veterans readjustment assistance act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; covered veterans participating in active duty as well as those that were disabled as a result. Requires that all employers subject to the law to post their job openings with their local state employment service. Applies to all federal contractors with contracts valued at $25000 or more wagner-peyser act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; created a nationwide system of employment offices that provided job seekers with assistance in searching jobs for unemployment insurance recipients, and recruitment services for employers walsh-healey act (public contracts act) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; designed to assure the government paid a fair wage to manufacturers and suppliers of goods for federal government contracts in excess of $ work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; provides federal income tax credits to employers who hire from certain targeted groups of job seekers who face employment barriers labor management reporting and disclosure act - ANSWER-ONE or MORE employees; provides for the reporting and disclosure of certain financial transactions and administrative practices of labor organizations and employers to prevent standards with respect to the election of officers of labor organizations americans with disabilities act (ADA) - ANSWER-FIFTEEN or MORE employees;

states that employers may not discriminate against a physically or mentally disabled individual in recruitment, hiring, promotions, training, pay, social activities, and other privileges of employment

older workers benefit protection act (OWBPA) - ANSWER-TWENTY or MORE employees; prohibits employers from using an employee's age as basis for

discrimination in benefits; targeting older workers during staff reductions or downsizing; or requiring older workers to waive their rights without the opportunity for review with their legal advisor family and medical leave act (FMLA) - ANSWER-FIFTY to ONE HUNDRED or MORE employees; leaves lasting up to 12 weeks in a 12-month period (usually unpaid, but can be paid depending on the employer) for when the employee, employee's spouse, or other family member requires medical attention and the employee must take off to care for the circumstance mental health parity act (MHPA) - ANSWER-FIFTY to ONE HUNDRED or MORE employees; requires health insurance issuers and group health plans to adopt the same annual and lifetime dollar limits for mental health benefits as for other medical benefits mental health parity and addiction equity act (MHPAEA) - ANSWER-FIFTY to ONE HUNDRED or MORE employees; requires that plans offer both medical/surgical benefits and mental health and/or substance abuse treatment benefits provide parity between both types of benefits national defense authorization act - ANSWER-FIFTY to ONE HUNDRED or MORE employees; benefit provisions under FMLA as it pertains to military reasons (up to 26 weeks/year) patient protection and affordable care act (PPACA) - ANSWER-FIFTY to ONE HUNDRED or MORE employees; created health insurance trading centers in each state where employees and those who are unemployed can shop for health insurance coverage worker adjustment and retraining notification (WARN) act - ANSWER-ONE HUNDRED or MORE employees; requires 60 days' advance notice to employees of plant closing or mass layoffs plant closing - ANSWER-the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees excluding any part- time employees mass layoffs - ANSWER-refers to a reduction in force that is not the result of a plant closing and results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for at least 500 employees or when at least 33% of the workforce (excluding any part-time employees) are going to be removed from the payroll in a layoff where there are a total of 50 - 499 workers before the layoff