Labor and Employment Law
Uploaded by zzandman24 on Oct 30, 2011
This essay discusses labor and employment law, and the various areas covered by each.
I Introduction
II Further Discussion
A Employment Discrimination
B Pensions
C Workplace Safety
D Worker’s Compensation
E Labor Law
III Conclusion
IV References
I Introduction
Labor and employment law are two different areas of the law. Employment law covers “all areas of the employer/employee relationship except the negotiation process covered by labor law and collective bargaining.” It also consists of both federal and state statutes, court decisions and other regulations. Some employment laws exist to protect workers while others “take the form of public insurance.” Unemployment compensation falls into this category. (“Employment Law,” PG).
Labor law can fairly be described as a “sub category” of employment law. It too consists of thousands of federal and state regulations and court decisions, but deals mostly with relations between employers and unions, collective bargaining, and other labor-specific issues.
II Further Discussion
Some of the areas that are covered under employment law are employment discrimination, pensions, workplace safety, and worker’s compensation. (“Employment Law,” PG). I’ll try to give a brief description of the concerns of each field of the law.
Employment discrimination law is concerned with employer discrimination based on race, age, sex, national origin, physical disability and religion; there is a “growing body” of employment discrimination law dealing with cases based on sexual orientation. “Discrimination” includes bias in “hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, [and] compensation,” and all types of harassment. (“Employment Discrimination,” PG). Some of the familiar legislation enacted in this field includes the Americans with Disabilities Act; the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Pensions are in the news these days, because of the corporate scandals, such as Enron, that have resulted in workers losing not only their jobs but their savings as well. There are generally two types of pensions, a “defined benefit plan” and a “defined contribution plan.” In the first, the employee receives benefits based on his salary and length of service; in the second, the employer makes deposits “into an account established for each employee.” (“Pension Law,” PG). From just these examples, it’s easy to see that pension law is very complex and detailed. It’s governed by federal law, specifically the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Workplace safety is governed largely by the familiar Occupational and Safety Health Act (OSHA), which is a federal law. Its purpose is to reduce the number of injuries, illnesses and deaths...