MGT 430 – Spring 2016
Class 4 – Chapter 3
Welcome back
IMPORTANT LABOR LAWS
1963 – Equal Pay Act
1967 - Age Discrimination in Employment Act
1971 – Occupational Safety & Health Act
1974 – Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act
1978 – Pregnancy Discrimination Act
1990 – Americans With Disabilities Act
IMPORTANT LABOR LAWS
1993 – Family Medical Leave Act
1994 - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act
1996 - Immigration Reform and Control Act
2009 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Equal Pay Act of 1963 - Kennedy
• Amendment to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
• Gender cannot be factor in paying employees
• Must pay males and females equally if performing jobs substantially equal
in terms of skill, effort, responsibility, working conditions
• Pay differences allowed for merit, seniority, quality or quantity of
production or other non-gender related factors
• Employer must prove stated reason for pay differences as a justifiable
defense
Age Discrimination in Employment Act – 1967
(Johnson)
Prohibits discrimination in employment against individuals 40 years
of age and older. The ADEA includes a broad ban against age
discrimination and also specifically prohibits:
• Discrimination in hiring, promotions, wages, or termination of
employment and layoffs.
• Statements or specifications in job notices or advertisements of
age preference and limitations.
• Denial of benefits to older employees.
• Since 1986 it has prohibited mandatory retirement in most
sectors.
ADEA & HRM CONSIDERATIONS
- Older workers tend to be paid higher than younger workers
- Older workers may not be able to keep up with technology
- Older workers may not be as flexible
+ Older workers reflect a tremendous pool of talent and resources
+ Older workers present valuable strengths, e.g. work ethic,
interpersonal skills, deep knowledge of the business and industry,
mentoring
Occupational Safety & Health Act of 1971
- Nixon
• OSHA’s mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and occupational
fatality by issuing and enforcing standards for workplace safety and health
• HRM promotes safety
• HRM Reinforces safe practices
• HRM helps identify job hazards
• HRM vigorously communicates safety policies
OSHA EXAMPLES
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Permissible exposure limits – chemicals & dust
Personal protective equipment
Confined spaces – tanks, manholes, buddy system
Hazardous communication
Exposure to asbestos
Mandatory safety training
Back up aural warnings on construction vehicles
Blocking off aisles at Lowes/HD when using forklifts
Cables and plumbing lines
OSHA CONTROVERSIES
• Cost of regulation and enforcement vs. benefit of reduced worker injury, illness
& death;
• Ineffectiveness of penalties
• Accused of being more devoted to the numbers of inspections than to actual
safety
• A typical bureaucracy?
Silly Safety Rules
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DANGER: Do not hold the cutting end of the chainsaw
Do not use hair dryer while showering
Do not iron clothes while wearing them
Ignite lighter away from face
Hair coloring: Warning: Do not use as an ice cream topping
Caution: Do not touch exposed wires. Death may result: $200 fine
More Stupid Safety Warnings
Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Act of 1973
(Nixon)
Requires federal contractors and sub contractors to take affirmative
action toward employing veterans of the Vietnam War.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
(Carter)
• Prohibits discrimination because of pregnancy, childbirth, or
related medical condition
• Employer must treat pregnancy same as any other medicalrelated condition or temporary disability
• Company health plans cannot exclude pregnancy
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
(G.H.W.Bush)
• Prohibits employers from using disability as basis for discriminating
against qualified individuals
• Requires reasonable accommodation unless doing so causes undue
hardship
• Disability – physical or mental impairment that substantially limits
one or more major life activities
• Reasonable accommodation – making modifications to work
environment so person otherwise qualified can perform essential
functions
• Essential function – job task, duty, or responsibility that must be
done by person in a job
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993
Clinton
Employers with 50 or more employees in 75-mile radius must grant up to 12-weeks
unpaid leave for
• Employee’s own illness
• Birth, adoption, or foster care of child
• Care of sick member of immediate family
DISCUSSION: Should this be a paid leave?
DISCUSSION: If this act requires paid leave, how will companies pay for this new
entitlement?
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994
(Clinton)
Purpose:
Protect the civilian employment of non-full-time military
personnel in the United States called to active duty. The
law applies to all United States uniformed services and
their respective reserve components.
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1996
(Clinton)
• Attempt to control unauthorized immigration
• Must verify all employees hired have legal right to work in U.S.
• Employees complete INS Form I-9
• Employers who violate are fined
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
(Obama)
The act states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equalpay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck
affected by that discriminatory action.
The law directly addressed a U.S. Supreme Court decision that the
statute of limitations for presenting an equal-pay lawsuit begins on the
date that the employer makes the initial discriminatory wage decision,
not at the date of the most recent paycheck.
EEO and Multinational Employers
• Must follow U.S. EEO laws unless doing so violates law of country in
which employees are located (foreign law defense)
• Non-U.S. companies doing business in U.S. must abide by U.S. EEO laws
absent binding international agreement or treaty in effect that does not
require practice
Reverse Discrimination
Type of discrimination in which members of protected group receive
preference in employment decisions, resulting in discrimination
against non-protected group
Employment-at-Will
• Provides employers right to terminate (or hire or transfer)
employees at any time as long as doing so is not illegal
• Allows employees to quit their jobs at any time or for any reason
• At-will employment disclaimers are a staple of employee handbooks
in the United States