HR and Employment Law
What is the practice of managing people to improve organizational performance?
Human resource management
Does calling someone an “independent contractor” in a written agreement determine the worker’s legal status?
No. The actual working relationship determines classification.
$200
Under the ABC test, what does Prong A require?
Freedom from the hiring entity’s control and direction
What doctrine determines whether an employer is responsible for an employee’s conduct within the scope of employment?
Agency or respondeat superior
Intentional unequal treatment because of a protected characteristic is called what?
Disparate treatment
Which HR function recruits applicants and selects the strongest candidate?
Recruitment and selection
hich classification test asks whether a worker is economically dependent on a business?
The economic reality test
Under the ABC test, what does Prong B require?
Work outside the hiring entity’s usual course of business
What is the term for two businesses that each exercise sufficient control over the same worker?
Joint employers
A neutral employment rule that disproportionately excludes a protected group may create what type of claim
Disparate impact
Which HR function prepares employees to assume important positions when key workers leave?
Succession planning
Which classification test focuses on the hiring party’s right to control the manner and means of performing the work?
The common-law control test
Under the ABC test, what does Prong C require?
An independently established trade, occupation, or business
What doctrine may treat related companies as one employer based on common management, ownership, operations, and centralized HR control?
The integrated-enterprise doctrine
A company ignores repeated complaints that a technician threatens customers and continues sending him into customers’ homes alone. What liability theory is most applicable?
Negligent supervision or negligent retention
Why is American employment law described as a “patchwork”?
It consists of federal, state, and local laws that vary by employer and location.
Under which classification test must the hiring entity establish all three requirements to overcome a presumption of employee status?
The ABC test
A bakery hires an outside accountant to prepare its tax returns. Which ABC prong does this arrangement most clearly support?
Prong B, because accounting is outside the bakery’s usual business.
In Salinas v. Commercial Interiors, why did the general contractor potentially qualify as a joint employer?
It directed the workers’ schedules, assignments, daily activities, and work.
Summit required warehouse applicants to carry 80 pounds even though employees normally handled packages weighing no more than 40 pounds. What weakened Summit’s defense?
The test was not connected to actual job duties or supported by a job analysis.
What four management practices can help prevent employment-law problems?
Apply policies consistently, document decisions, consult HR, and avoid retaliation.
A skilled welder owns a truck and equipment but works under the company’s schedule, supervision, and hourly-pay system. What is the best legal conclusion?
All factors must be weighed together; skill and equipment do not automatically establish contractor status.
A package-delivery company classifies its package-delivery drivers as contractors. Which ABC prong will probably create the largest problem?
Prong B, because delivery is the company’s usual course of business.
A delivery driver travels one block off route for coffee and causes an accident while returning. What scope-of-employment concept probably applies?
A minor detour that likely remains within the scope of employment
After David complained to HR about religious discrimination, his supervisor removed an important account, revoked remote work, and said David should have kept HR out of it. What claim is strongest?
Retaliation
Maria was more experienced than Tyler, but Summit promoted Tyler after the manager expressed concern about clients taking orders from “a Latina woman.” The manager ignored the written selection process and later changed his explanation. Identify two forms of evidence supporting Maria’s claim.
Evidence of discriminatory intent and evidence of pretext, including the biased statement, changing explanation, stronger qualifications, and failure to follow the required selection process.