Employment Law Fundamentals

Lesson 1

Employee or Independent Contractor?

Are all workers employees? In this lesson, you'll learn to recognize the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. This will enable you to properly classify workers so you can withhold taxes and provide benefits for true employees. You'll take a look at a real court case to see how courts decide if someone is properly classified.

Employment Benefits

Do you wish you could retire to the beach with solid employment benefits, such as health insurance, retirement, sick leave, and vacation leave in place? In this lesson, you'll look at the legal requirements relating to employment benefits. You may be surprised to learn what the law does and doesn't require! The lesson will also talk about the reasons companies provide benefits for their employees.

Hiring Practices

Do you ever find yourself stuck with employees who aren't producing? This lesson will focus on ways to screen applicants for employment to keep poor employees out and find a good match between the job and skill level of an applicant. As the saying goes, it's better to have strong hiring practices than to deal with a problem employee later on.

Evaluating Employees

Ever wonder what to do with your employees and how to keep them effectively producing? This lesson will focus on evaluation, discipline, and termination processes. You'll learn how to tackle these tough issues without violating any laws in the process.

Employment Disputes

If you ever have to deal with upset people at work (employee outbursts, customer complaints, or vendor concerns) then this lesson is for you! This lesson will show you some dispute resolution tools that will help you turn conflicts into win-win situations.

Employment Disputes in Court

Do you ever wonder what happens behind courthouse doors? This lesson will talk about the litigation process from start to finish so that you'll know what to expect if you someday find yourself in court. It will also go over legal jargon—words like depositions and interrogatories—so that you really understand the words lawyers commonly use.

Discrimination and Title VII

While discrimination should be a thing of the past, prejudice still pops up in the workplace. This lesson will talk about how to comply with Title VII law, which prohibits discrimination at work. The examples and strategies discussed here will make this law easy to understand.

More Discrimination Laws

Has anyone ever requested a special accommodation from you? This lesson will explore what the laws are about this issue. You'll find out what your duty is regarding accommodation and learn to analyze your workplace to determine whether it's compliant.

Labor Unions

Suppose there's labor talk whispered in the halls of your workplace. What do you do? This lesson will discuss the legal rights of unions to organize. You'll also consider unfair labor practices that both unions and management need to watch out for.

Labor Negotiations

Collective bargaining, grievance and appeal, strikes—what do these things have in common? They're all processes that can occur in a union environment. This lesson will talk about how to prepare for and handle union bargaining and appeals.

Workplace Safety

What are your obligations when it comes to keeping employees safe on the job? This lesson will focus on employee safety and reporting. You'll get Internet resources where you can look up specifics about your particular work environment.

Legal Compliance

Legal compliance requires an entire corporate strategy. The final lesson will focus on tools, tactics, and resources you can use to create an environment of compliance in your workplace.

Lesson 1
Are all workers employees? In this lesson, you'll learn to recognize the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. This will enable you to properly classify workers so you can withhold taxes and provide benefits for true employees. We'll take a look at a real court case to see how courts decide if someone is properly classified.

Lesson 2
Do you wish you could retire to the beach with solid employment benefits, such as health insurance, retirement, sick leave, and vacation leave in place? Today, we'll look at the legal requirements relating to employment benefits. You may be surprised to learn what the law does and doesn't require! We'll also talk about the reasons companies provide benefits for their employees.

Lesson 3
Do you ever find yourself stuck with employees who aren't producing? This lesson will focus on ways to screen applicants for employment to keep poor employees out and find a good match between the job and skill level of an applicant. As the saying goes, it's better to have strong hiring practices than to deal with a problem employee later on.

Lesson 4
Ever wonder what to do with your employees and how to keep them effectively producing? Today we'll focus on evaluation, discipline, and termination processes. You'll learn how to tackle these tough issues without violating any laws in the process.

Lesson 5
If you ever have to deal with upset people at work (employee outbursts, customer complaints, or vendor concerns) then this lesson is for you! We'll talk about dispute resolution tools that will help you turn conflicts into win-win situations.

Lesson 6
Do you ever wonder what happens behind courthouse doors? Today we'll talk about the litigation process from start to finish so that you'll know what to expect if you someday find yourself in court. We'll also go over legal jargon—words like depositions and interrogatories—so that you really understand the words lawyers commonly use.

Lesson 7
While discrimination should be a thing of the past, prejudice still pops up in the workplace. In this lesson, we'll talk about how to comply with Title VII law, which prohibits discrimination at work. The examples and strategies we discuss will make this law easy to understand.

Lesson 8
Has anyone ever requested a special accommodation from you? Today, we'll explore what the laws are about this issue. You'll find out what your duty is regarding accommodation and learn to analyze your workplace to determine whether it's compliant.

Lesson 9
Suppose there's labor talk whispered in the halls of your workplace. What do you do? In this lesson, we'll discuss the legal rights of unions to organize. We'll also consider unfair labor practices that both unions and management need to watch out for.

Lesson 10
Collective bargaining, grievance and appeal, strikes—what do these things have in common? They're all processes that can occur in a union environment. Today we'll talk about how to prepare for and handle union bargaining and appeals.

Lesson 11
What are your obligations when it comes to keeping employees safe on the job? In this lesson, we'll focus on employee safety and reporting. You'll get Internet resources where you can look up specifics about your particular work environment.

Lesson 12
Legal compliance requires an entire corporate strategy. Today in our final lesson, we'll focus on tools, tactics, and resources you can use to create an environment of compliance in your workplace.