7 Employment Law

Scope of employment law

Employment law governs the relationship between workers and employers, including hiring, pay, working conditions, and separation. This guide describes general U.S. law: federal protections often set a minimum, while state and local laws may provide broader rights or impose additional duties. The rules that apply depend on the jurisdiction, worker, employer, and facts.

Worker classification and responsibilities

A worker may be an employee or an independent contractor, but a contract or paycheck label alone does not settle the classification. Classification depends on the particular law and the real working relationship, and different laws can use different tests. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), for example, the analysis focuses on economic realities. Misclassification can deprive workers of protections such as minimum wage and overtime.

Employer responsibilities may include paying required wages, keeping accurate time and payroll records, preventing unlawful discrimination, and providing a safe workplace. Employees generally must follow lawful workplace rules and accurately report their work time. They also have legal protections when they raise certain workplace concerns or act together with coworkers.

Safety, collective action, and retaliation

The Occupational Safety and Health Act generally requires covered employers to provide a workplace free from recognized serious hazards. The National Labor Relations Act protects many private-sector employees who act together to improve wages or working conditions, even when they are not in a union. These protections have limits and do not cover every worker or every kind of conduct.

Anti-retaliation rules generally prohibit an employer from punishing a worker for legally protected activity. Examples include reporting discrimination, participating in an investigation, and raising certain safety concerns. Whether a complaint or action is protected depends on the applicable law and circumstances.

Discrimination and harassment

Federal equal-employment laws prohibit covered employers from making certain job decisions because of protected characteristics. These include race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and transgender status), national origin, disability, and genetic information. Federal age-discrimination law protects people age 40 and older. Covered decisions include hiring, pay, assignments, promotion, and firing.

Coverage rules, including employer-size thresholds, vary by statute. State or local laws may protect additional workers or characteristics.

Harassment based on a protected characteristic is unlawful when, for example, enduring the conduct becomes a condition of employment or the conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a hostile work environment. A single offensive remark does not automatically meet that legal standard, although it may violate workplace policy or contribute to a pattern. Depending on the facts, employers can be responsible for harassment by supervisors or coworkers.

Reasonable accommodations

Some laws require reasonable accommodations: workplace changes that let a qualified person meet job requirements, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. Possible examples include adjusting a schedule or equipment for a disability, accommodating a sincerely held religious practice, or modifying work for pregnancy-related limitations. The worker and employer may need to discuss possible options.

For example, if an employee requests a schedule change for a religious observance, the employer should consider whether a reasonable adjustment is possible rather than automatically rejecting the request. The outcome depends on the job and the employer’s circumstances.

Minimum wage, overtime, and records

The FLSA sets federal rules for minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping for covered employment. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Where a higher state or local minimum applies, the worker generally must receive the higher applicable rate.

Covered, nonexempt employees generally must receive at least one and one-half times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. A salary by itself does not necessarily make a worker exempt from overtime. Employers must keep accurate wage-and-hour records.

A workweek is a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours. Overtime is calculated by workweek, not by averaging hours across several weeks. For example, a covered nonexempt employee who works 45 hours in one workweek generally receives overtime for the five hours above 40, even if the employee works fewer hours the next week. State laws may require additional protections, such as a higher wage or different overtime rules.

Termination and separation

In most U.S. states, employment is generally at will: absent a contract or other exception, either the employer or employee may end the relationship. At-will employment does not permit an employer to fire someone for an illegal reason, such as unlawful discrimination or retaliation. Contracts, collective bargaining agreements, public-sector rules, and state law can change the analysis. Notice, final-pay, and mass-layoff requirements may also apply under particular laws.

A termination dispute often turns on the stated reason, the evidence supporting it, how comparable workers were treated, and whether the employee recently engaged in protected activity. Employees who believe their rights were violated should preserve relevant records and check filing deadlines promptly. Agency deadlines and procedures vary, and some deadlines can be short.

A method for analyzing employment-law problems

Use a structured approach, while checking the particular law and facts at each stage:

1. Identify the jurisdiction and law. Federal, state, and local rules may differ.

2. Determine worker status and employer coverage. Identify which legal test and coverage thresholds apply.

3. Identify the right or duty at issue. Examples include overtime, accommodation, freedom from harassment, and protection from retaliation.

4. Match the rule to the facts. Consider dates, documents, policies, communications, and how other workers were treated.

5. Check exceptions, procedures, and deadlines. The appropriate forum and time limit depend on the claim.