This is the third post in a series discussing some basic employment law terms. I hope this will help employers better understand the words that frequently come up in employment law. If there’s a term you’re wondering about that isn’t discussed here, let me know.
Here are links to the previous installments if you missed them:
F
“FLSA”: The Fair Labor Standards Act. This federal law establishes minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and recordkeeping standards for most employers and employees.
“FMLA”: The Family and Medical Leave Act. This federal law requires employers with 50+ employees to permit qualifying employees to take unpaid leave for certain personal and family medical issues, birth/adoption/foster placement of a new child, and “qualifying exigencies” related to family member military service.
“Front pay”: A remedy often available when an employee prevails in a discrimination claim against an employer. These damages account for money the employee would have earned in the future had the discrimination not have occurred.
G
“Garnishment”: The process of withholding a portion of an employee’s wages to satisfy a court order, such as for child support. The employer pays the money over to the employee’s third-party creditor.
“Genetic information”: For purposes of GINA (see below), this includes information about an individual’s genetic tests and an individual’s family medical history.
“GINA”: The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. A federal law that broadly prohibits employers with 15+ employees from acquiring or using genetic information about their employees.
“Grievance”: A complaint, usually made by an employee or union, about terms and conditions of employment.
“Grievance procedure”: The process for handling workplace complaints. For unionized employees, the collective bargaining agreement commonly establishes a grievance procedure that ends in arbitration.
H
“Harassment”: Unlawful harassment is any conduct that is unwelcome and related to a protected status (e.g., sex or race) that is both subjectively and objectively offensive and is severe or pervasive enough to alter the terms and conditions of employment.
“Hostile work environment”: The broader form of unlawful harassment. Distinguishable from “quid pro quo” sexual harassment, which involves a supervisor seeking sexual conduct from an employee. Can include inappropriate conduct on the basis of any legally protected characteristic.
“Hourly”: Describes an employee who earns a set amount for each hour worked. Usually, hourly employees must receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.
“Human Rights Law”: The name for some state and local anti-discrimination laws, such as the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law.
More Employment Law Terms Coming Soon
Stay tuned for the next installment of employment law terms: I-?
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If you think I’m missing any employment law terms that should be included above, please email me to let me know.