Family and Medical Leave Act, Employee Privacy Rights

Family and Medical Leave Act

The FMLA requires employers with over 50 employees to provide unpaid leave to employees who need to care for a spouse, child, or parent suffering with a serious medical condition.

The employee cannot be terminated for taking leave under the policy, and has the right to restoration to the same or a similar position upon return to work.

Employee Privacy Rights

More than 2/3 employers use some sort of electronic monitoring of employees.

Laws Protecting Employee Privacy Rights.

§ Constitutional and Tort law.

§ ECPA

Privacy and Email Systems.

§ Smith v. Pillsbury (1996).

Other Types of Monitoring

Lie Detector Tests.

§ Prohibited, except under the ongoing investigation exception.

Drug Testing.

§ Most government employees are subject to testing and the rights of private employees vary from state to state.

AIDS Testing.

§ Some state statutes restrict AIDS testing.

Electronic Performance Surveillance.

§ Most limitations can be avoided if the employer informs employees that surveillance will occur.

Screening Procedures.

§ Application question must have some reasonable connection to the job sought.

Employment-Related Immigration Laws

The Immigration Reform and Control Act prohibit the hiring of illegal aliens.

The Immigration Act of 1990 limits the number of legal immigrants into the U.S.

Income Security and COBRA

The primary income security laws are:

Social Security and Welfare. 

Case 33.3: U.S. v. Cleveland Indians Baseball (2001).

Private Pension Plans.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) gives employee a vested right to receive pension benefits at a future date when she stops working.

Unemployment Compensation.

COBRA

COBRA prohibits the discontinuance of insurance benefits of workers who have voluntarily or involuntarily been separated from work, unless the involuntary separation was on the basis of gross misconduct.

Employers must comply if they have more than 20 employees.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act and State Workers’ Compensation Laws

Worker Health and Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Act. (OSHA).

The fundamental federal law aimed toward safety in the workplace.

Enforcement is by OSHA, NIOSH, and the OSHRC.

State Workers’ Compensation Laws

Reduce employer liability to employees for workplace injuries, and provide a measure of assurance that workplace injuries will be compensated, regardless of the solvency of the employer, by:

§ Requiring that injured employees make a claim against the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy, instead of suing the employer.

§ Requiring most employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Collective Bargaining and Strikes

Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is the process by which management and labor negotiate the terms and conditions of employment.

§  The NLRB will certify an exclusive bargaining agent for labor.

§  Both labor and management must bargain in good faith, but the law does not require that they reach an agreement.

Strikes

There are two basic forms of strikes:

Economic Strikes.

These are strikes over wages.

Workers can be replaced by permanent replacements.

Unfair Labor Practice Strikes.

These are strikes alleging that the employer has committed an unfair labor practice.