Deck 12: Employment Relationships and Labor Law

Question 1

Social Security provides benefits for workers who become disabled on the job.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: A worker disabled on the job can be entitled to payments from accrued Social Security benefits.

Question 2

Employers are increasingly employing elaborate employee-monitoring measures primarily to limit their risk of ________ liability in areas such as defamation and employment discrimination.

Answer 2

vicarious

Question 3

An employee with a salary in the top 10 percent of the company's payroll is classified as a ________ employee for FLSA purposes.

Answer 3

key

Question 4

A short-term strike called without union authorization is called a ________ strike.

Question 5

Expressly firing someone for whistle-blowing constitutes the act of _____.

Question 6

Employers are not required to offer their employees health care benefits.

Question 7

Leah is a first-year elementary school teacher at a private religious school. The parents and kids love her, and she gets along with everyone. One month after starting, she's called into the headmaster's office and handed an envelope containing spring-break college photos of her topless, guzzling beer and alcohol, while sitting in various men's laps. The headmaster informs her that she is terminated immediately and that she must clean out her desk and remove all personal belongings by the end of the day. She demands to know where the headmaster got these photos, and he tells her that the school monitors social networking sites. These pictures had been posted to a site she no longer uses and had forgotten about. She will be successful if she sues for wrongful termination based on invasion of privacy.

Question 8

COBRA requires that employers provide health care coverage, at the former employee's cost, for up to ________ after the employee leaves the company.

Question 9

An employee group with mutual interests and goals that is an appropriate unit for negotiating union contracts is called a ________ unit.

Question 10

One important aspect of a successful workers' compensation claim is that the employer's fault, negligence, or wrongdoing does not have to be evidenced or proved for the injured employee to be compensated.

Question 11

If an employee in a unionized company believes that the employer is violating the collective bargaining agreement, he or she may file a ________ and the union will arbitrate the matter on behalf of the employee.

Question 12

Generally, regarding employment-at-will, employees may be fired just because the boss doesn't like them.

Question 13

Workers at Kent Corp. are on strike. To increase pressure on Kent Corp., they start picketing Flint Corp., one of Kent's suppliers, with signs urging the boycotting of Flint for supporting unfair labor practices. The picketing at Flint would be considered an illegal ______.

Question 14

Jan has been fired by her employer for poor job performance. Jan is still entitled to apply for and receive employer-provided health care under provisions of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Question 15

The process of having the NLRB certify a union based on 50 percent of the authorization cards indicating the employees want a union without an election is called ______.

Question 16

The Social Security Act is funded through mandatory employment taxes paid by both the employer and the employee.

Question 17

The shift from an agricultural society toward industrial production began almost immediately after the end of the U.S. Revolution.

Question 18

Employers are not bound by the FLSA regarding employees classified as ________ employees.

Question 19

Conditions in American industrial plants have always been safe and humane with regard to the treatment of workers.

Question 20

Employees who are classified as key employees and take leave are not automatically entitled to Family and Medical Leave Act reinstatement protections and guarantees.

Question 21

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that all workers be paid a minimum wage.

Question 22

If a worker dies before retirement, all Social Security benefits are forfeited and no benefits are paid to anyone.

Question 23

Contributory negligence and comparative negligence are generally not valid defenses to workers' compensation claims.

Question 24

The courts have very narrowly defined whether the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that time spent by an employee commuting to work sites when performing work during the commute should be compensated, and no clear standard yet exists.

Question 25

If a union chooses not to bring a grievance to arbitration, the individual union member always has the right to pursue the matter through a lawsuit to enforce union provisions.

Question 26

The Fair Labor Standards Act does not cover all employees.

Question 27

Even though children may legally be employed as actors, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that appropriate educational standards be maintained through tutors and/or home schooling.

Question 28

The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act requires that employers provide health care coverage to employees by 2014.

Question 29

Kathy is a college student who enjoys spending her summers at the beach. For the past four years, starting as a junior in high school, she has worked as a waitress at a local beach resort restaurant from mid-June through mid-August. If Kathy is injured while working in the restaurant, she will be eligible for workers' compensation benefits.

Question 30

When an employee suffers a job-related injury, the employee always has a choice of suing the employer in court or seeking workers' compensation.

Question 31

If an employee has a retirement savings account, the employer promises to pay a monthly sum to the account, ordinarily based on the employee's length of service and final salary at the date of retirement.

Question 32

Sally works an hourly office job from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with an hour each day for lunch. Lunch is unpaid, so her weekly hours total 37½. One Friday, her boss Harry asks her to stay an extra hour to complete a project. If she stays the extra hour, she will be entitled to overtime pay for that hour.

Question 33

Leon works in an office environment and, during lunch, closes his office door and uses his personal laptop computer to search the Internet for porn, accessing the company's server via an ethernet cable connection. The company may monitor his computer usage even though he is using a personally owned computer.

Question 34

Ben has applied for a job at a restaurant. As a condition of employment, he may be required to take a polygraph test.

Question 35

The Federal Unemployment Tax Act covers the costs of administering state unemployment insurance and state job service programs.

Question 36

Except for children working in family agricultural jobs or as actors, the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits the employment of 13-year-olds.

Question 37

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, individuals not covered under a health care plan by 2014 are required to purchase a plan through a health care exchange.

Question 38

Employees making complaints to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are protected under the Occupational Safety and Health Act's whistle-blowing provisions.

Question 39

In NLRB v. Midwestern Personnel Services Inc., the court agreed with the NLRB position, saying that unfair labor practice strikes do not lose their character when economic motives contribute to their cause and that they remain unfair labor practice strikes as long as employees are motivated in part by unfair labor practices.

Question 40

When an employee takes leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act, seniority continues to accrue and will be applied as if the employee were not on leave.

Question 41

Which of the following is also called the Taft-Hartley Act?

A) National Labor Relations Act
B) Labor Management Relations Act
C) Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
D) Fair Labor Practices Act

Question 42

Once the union organizers obtain authorization cards from at least ________ of the members of a bargaining unit, an election will be scheduled by the NLRB.

A) 20 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 30 percent
D) 35 percent

Question 43

Morris is a nonexempt employee with a salary of $400 a week based on a 40-hour week. If he works 50 hours in a particular week, his paycheck should be for:

A) $450.
B) $500.
C) $550.
D) $600.

Question 44

Which of the following is a tactic used by employers?

A) wildcat strikes
B) lockouts
C) secondary boycotts
D) grievances

Question 45

Right-to-work laws:

A) require that all persons applying for jobs be treated equally and without discrimination.
B) make it illegal for employers to agree with unions that union membership be required for continuing employment.
C) make it illegal for employers to agree with unions that union membership be required as a condition of employment.
D) make it illegal for an employer to terminate an employee for joining a union.

Question 46

Which of the following literary works, although fictional, has been extremely influential in affecting American statutory law and often been cited in legislative histories regarding employment law?

A) Paradise Lost by John Milton
B) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
C) What is to be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement by Vladimir Lenin
D) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Question 47

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act applies to situations in which entire plants are to be shut down or a layoff is to occur. WARN applies to:

A) all employers of any size business.
B) employers of 50 or more full-time workers with a layoff of 20 or more to occur.
C) employers of 75 or more full-time workers with a layoff of 35 or more to occur.
D) employers of 100 or more full-time workers with a layoff of 50 or more to occur.

Question 48

The Family and Medical Leave Act applies to employers with a minimum of:

A) 10 full-time employees.
B) 15 full-time employees.
C) 25 full-time employees.
D) 50 full-time employees.

Question 49

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibits employers from monitoring each of the following, unless consent to monitor is granted, except:

A) employee incoming personal phone calls.
B) employee outgoing personal phone calls.
C) employee e-mail.
D) employee voice mail.

Question 50

If an employee is killed on the job, OSHA requires that the employer notify the administration as soon as possible but no later than ________ after the accident.

A) 8 business hours
B) 12 business hours
C) 24 hours regardless of business hours
D) 48 hours regardless of business hours

Question 51

Unsafe workplace conditions are monitored and regulated under:

A) ERISA.
B) COBRA.
C) HIPAA.
D) OSHA.

Question 52

With regard to polygraph tests:

A) public and private employers may require that employees take no more than one test per year as a condition of employment.
B) an employer may require mandatory tests only if every employee, both management and nonmanagement, is required to be tested.
C) government employees may be required to take tests only if the tests are a part of an investigation for theft or economic loss.
D) a privately owned drug company may require tests of its employees.

Question 53

The Labor Management Relations Act gives the president of the United States the right to suspend a strike for up to ________ in times of national emergency.

A) 80 days
B) 90 days
C) 120 days
D) 180 days

Question 54

The Fair Labor Standards Act was originally intended to cover employers engaged in:

A) intrastate commerce only.
B) interstate commerce only.
C) both intrastate and interstate commerce.
D) any and all commerce, including foreign commerce.

Question 55

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act establishes rules regarding each of the following except:

A) how much company stock may be held in a pension plan.
B) minimum interest rate returns on investments by pension and retirement savings plans.
C) record keeping.
D) maintenance of standardized vesting rules.

Question 56

Employee protection from the use of regular or random drug or alcohol tests in the workplace is governed by:

A) common law.
B) state law.
C) federal law.
D) constitutional law.

Question 57

In Haynes v. Zoological Society of Cincinnati, Haynes was demoted and then fired after reporting dangerous conditions at the defendant zoo and then testifying for Stober, a co-worker injured at the zoo. Haynes sued based on retaliation. The court found:

A) for the zoo because Haynes was not a zoologist and therefore was not qualified to judge whether conditions were safe or not regarding wild animals.
B) for the zoo because the injury to Stober, Haynes's co-worker, resulted from her assumption of risk and contributory acts in trying to feed a grape to a bear.
C) for Haynes because the federal Whistle-blower Protection Act expressly provides protections for employees of institutions that deal directly with the public and the zoo could not justify the demotion and firing independent of retaliation.
D) for Haynes because she reported safety violations that could harm members of the public as covered under Ohio law and the zoo could not justify the demotion and firing independent of retaliation.

Question 58

Disability benefits are provided to eligible workers pursuant to the:

A) National Labor Relations Act.
B) Family Medical Leave Act.
C) Social Security Act.
D) Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Question 59

Protection of employee medical information is addressed by the:

A) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
B) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
C) Social Security Act.
D) Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.

Question 60

Under the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, employers offering high-end health care policies in 2018 will be required to pay additional taxes to help fund the act's plan. A high-end health care policy is defined as one costing more than:

A) $12,500 per year.
B) $18,500 per year.
C) $23,500 per year.
D) $27,500 per year.

Question 61

Explain how the Electronic Communications Privacy Act applies to employee privacy and protections.

Question 62

The Fair Labor Standards Act imposes restrictions on hiring workers under:

A) 18 years old.
B) 17 years old.
C) 16 years old.
D) 15 years old.

Question 63

Most state workers' compensation statutes exempt each of the following except:

A) a maid who injures her back while vacuuming a rug.
B) a full-time custodial worker employed at a local store.
C) a college student who regularly works part-time for a florist after classes and is injured while making a delivery to a customer.
D) a college student who works two months a year during his summer vacation as a lifeguard at a pool and is injured while saving a woman.

Question 64

In Falcon et al. v. Starbucks Corporation, after Starbucks reclassified the assistant store managers (ASMs) from exempt to nonexempt for FLSA purposes, changing their job duties but not their labor budgets and discouraging overtime, the court found that:

A) reclassifying an employee after the employee has begun work violates the FLSA.
B) maintaining a policy of discouraging overtime is unlawful and could, along with other factors, lead to a consistent pattern of FLSA violations.
C) maintaining a policy of discouraging overtime, while not unlawful, could, along with other factors, lead to a consistent pattern of FLSA violations.
D) reclassifying the ASMs from exempt to nonexempt was an improper reclassification and the ASMs should indeed be exempt and not qualified for overtime compensation.

Question 65

Discuss the differences between an economic strike and an unfair labor practice strike. What are the possible implications and consequences for union employees after each?

Question 66

Stella has asked her employer for leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act. What must she evidence to be eligible for leave?

Question 67

In what ways does OSHA (the act and the agency) work to establish and maintain workplace safety?

Question 68

Workers at Jones Corporation have been on strike for three months due to an impasse based on salary and benefits. When the strike is concluded:

A) the workers must all be rehired but they are not entitled to back pay.
B) the workers must be rehired and they are entitled to back pay.
C) the employer is not required to rehire the employees as long as back pay is paid as severance.
D) the employer is not required to rehire the employees and no back pay is required to be paid.

Question 69

Name and define three forms of illegal work stoppages that may be conducted by employees.

Question 70

The Family and Medical Leave Act provides that eligible employees be permitted:

A) 6 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period.
B) 6 weeks of paid leave during any 12-month period.
C) 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period.
D) 12 weeks of paid leave during any 12-month period.

Question 71

Management is permitted to voice objections to the formation of a union under the:

A) National Labor Relations Act.
B) Labor Management Relations Act.
C) Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
D) Fair Labor Practices Act.

Question 72

Explain how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 have affected the U.S. health care system since their provisions took effect?

Question 73

Employers must provide continuous coverage to any employee, even if terminated, under the:

A) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
B) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
C) Social Security Act.
D) Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.

Question 74

Which of the following is not covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

A) overtime
B) working conditions
C) child labor
D) minimum wage

Question 75

The following act was passed specifically to monitor and prevent corruption in major trade unions:

A) National Labor Relations Act.
B) Labor Management Relations Act.
C) Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
D) Fair Labor Practices Act.

Question 76

In Sisco v. Quicker Recovery Inc., Sisco, enroute to tow an impounded truck, was stopped by police for speeding. He refused to provide identification and was arrested pursuant to state statute. He was injured while resisting arrest and filed a workers' compensation claim. How did the courts decide the issue of his eligibility for benefits, and what was their reasoning? How was Sisco's conduct evaluated?

Question 77

When an employee is being classified as exempt or nonexempt regarding Fair Labor Standards Act coverage, what factors are evaluated to arrive at a determination?

Question 78

Eligible workers who take leave under the Family Medical Leave Act:

A) must be paid their regular salary and medical benefits must be continued by the employer.
B) are not entitled to be paid their salary but the employer must continue providing medical benefits.
C) are guaranteed their same position on their return at their same salary.
D) are not guaranteed the same position but must be offered, at a minimum, a similar position; however, their salary pay may be adjusted if the new position is at a different pay grade.

Question 79

Olivia works as an advertising executive for a large public relations firm in New York. Her boss gives her tickets to attend a formal event in Washington,
D.C., that will be attended by many of the firm's clients. He expects her to represent the firm and generally solidify client relations through her attendance. While mingling with the attendees, she slips on a spilled drink and is severely injured in the fall. If Olivia files for workers' compensation, will she be eligible for benefits?
Yes, Olivia will be entitled to workers' compensation benefits. Eligibility is based on whether the injury resulted from an accident and whether she was hurt in the course of her employment. Certainly, slipping on a spilled drink is accidental. Although she was not in her New York office and was perhaps only indirectly performing advertising-executive-related duties, she was in attendance at the formal affair at the direction of her employer and she was performing company-related goodwill tasks. Courts will determine that she was acting in the course of her employment when injured and will award her workers' compensation benefits.

Question 80

Let us assume that you have just graduated and you're employed doing the job you have trained for and hoped and expected to have. State what that job is (if you're undecided, choose one), and explain whether the position makes you exempt or nonexempt from standards and regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and how the FLSA does or does not apply to you.