Whether you are a business owner or an employee, there are a few employment labor laws that you should know. These laws tell you of your rights and responsibilities in the organization. Ignoring these laws amounts to violation and may lead to serious actions sometimes. So, you should know at least the major employment laws, if you are a business owner or an employee. The purpose of this article is to make you know about a few major laws.
Wage laws
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the law that sets the federal minimum wage or overtime pay. Minimum wage varies from state to state; and one thing that you should know here is, if the state has set higher minimum wage than the federal minimum wage, then it means that the higher minimum wage will be considered and will be in effect.
Over time pay is for any type of work done in excess to what has been legally set by the law. In general, under the federal law, the employer should pay the employees 1.5 times more than the normal wage for the hours worked more than 40 hours a week.
Discrimination laws
There are many discrimination laws under various state or federal laws such as – job discrimination, wage discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, sexual discrimination or harassment, etc. So, the employees of an organization must be aware of such discrimination laws of their state; and if they have faced any type of discrimination under the associated acts, they can make a claim, accordingly.
Workplace safety law
Workplace safety comes under OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act). It requires employers for making the workplace free from recognized hazards (illness and injuries). Under this act, the employer of an organization have several responsibilities that must be taken care and make the workplace safe and secure. The employees also have many rights under this Act.
Leave laws
Under Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), different employees have different time periods or limits for availing the leave with job protection, based on the acts the employee belongs to. So, make sure that you are aware of the limits from your employer, before you take leave.
A note to make here is that these laws may differ from state to state and across the countries. So, ensure checking with your organization or your employer regarding the employment laws (state or federal).
These are the common major employment laws that an employer or employee should be aware of. It is recommended that an employer must have these labor law posters in their organization, to make the employees know about the facts of labor law.