WGU C233 Employment Law Topics 1 & 2 Already Passed
Supremacy Clause ✔✔Mandates that the constitution, federal laws, treaties and federal
regulations are the highest laws above the land and are priority over state laws.
Stare Decisis ✔✔Doctrine of a court following the precedent of an earlier court.
Judicial Review ✔✔Power of the Supreme Court to consider whether a law comports with the
consititution.
Respondeat Superior ✔✔Employer is only responsible for the employee action performed
within the scope of employment.
Scope of Employement ✔✔Involves employee conduct which is reasonably relative to a job
description and foreseeable by the employer as part of that job description.
What 3 tests are used to classify whether someone is an employee or an independent
contractor? ✔✔Common Law Agency Test, Economic Realities Test, and The IRS 20-Factor
Analysis.
Common Law Agency Test ✔✔A worker is an employee if the employer maintains the right to
control the method of work performed. For example, a worker classified as an independent
contractor, but who must conform to strict standards of work hours, grooming, dress, billing
processes, reporting procedures, and so on, is really an employee.
Economic Realities Test ✔✔Looks past technical, common-law concepts of the master/servant
relationship to determine whether the "economic reality" of a working relationship renders a
worker substantially dependent on a given employer. The deciding point is whether the
worker has little freedom to exit the relationship because he or she is economically dependent
on the business to which he or she renders service.
, IRS 20-Factor Analysis ✔✔A guide to employers in determining if workers are indeed
independent contractors. Most of these factors relate to control by the employer.
Integrated Enterprise ✔✔One in which the operations of two or more employers are
considered so intertwined that they can be considered a single employer for purposes of both
federal statutory coverage and liability - an important consideration.
Employment-at-will ✔✔A predominant rule governing employee-employer relationships that
states an employer may terminate an employee at any time, for any legal reason, without
incurring liability.
What are 3 exceptions to employee-at-will doctrine that protects employees? ✔✔Public Policy,
Implied Contract and Implied Covenant of Good Faith.
Public Policy Exception ✔✔An exception to the employment-at-will that states an employer
cannot terminate an employee for reasons that violate public policy. Examples include
whistleblowing, calling OSHA, filing for workers' comp, etc.
Implied Contract Exception ✔✔A legally binding agreement which is created, not through
formal contract negotiation and documentation, but by the actions of the employer and the
employee. Examples included oral assurances from the employer that as long as an employee
does good work he or she will have a job or an employee handbook, policies, and procedures.
Implied Covenant-of-Good-Faith Exception ✔✔An at-will doctrine exception that is only
recognized by 13 states, holds that each party to the employment relationship makes an
implied promise to treat each other in good faith and fairness, and when that covenant is
broken, the employee has a cause of action for wrongful termination. Because of the strong
presumptions of the at-will doctrine, these cases are hard to prove.
Constructive Discharge ✔✔When an employer allows intolerable conditions of unfairness or
mistreatment to exist at work to such a degree that no reasonable employee would feel he or
she had any other option but to quit. For example: sexual or other harassment, failure to
accommodate a disability, or excessive pressure to retire.
Supremacy Clause ✔✔Mandates that the constitution, federal laws, treaties and federal
regulations are the highest laws above the land and are priority over state laws.
Stare Decisis ✔✔Doctrine of a court following the precedent of an earlier court.
Judicial Review ✔✔Power of the Supreme Court to consider whether a law comports with the
consititution.
Respondeat Superior ✔✔Employer is only responsible for the employee action performed
within the scope of employment.
Scope of Employement ✔✔Involves employee conduct which is reasonably relative to a job
description and foreseeable by the employer as part of that job description.
What 3 tests are used to classify whether someone is an employee or an independent
contractor? ✔✔Common Law Agency Test, Economic Realities Test, and The IRS 20-Factor
Analysis.
Common Law Agency Test ✔✔A worker is an employee if the employer maintains the right to
control the method of work performed. For example, a worker classified as an independent
contractor, but who must conform to strict standards of work hours, grooming, dress, billing
processes, reporting procedures, and so on, is really an employee.
Economic Realities Test ✔✔Looks past technical, common-law concepts of the master/servant
relationship to determine whether the "economic reality" of a working relationship renders a
worker substantially dependent on a given employer. The deciding point is whether the
worker has little freedom to exit the relationship because he or she is economically dependent
on the business to which he or she renders service.
, IRS 20-Factor Analysis ✔✔A guide to employers in determining if workers are indeed
independent contractors. Most of these factors relate to control by the employer.
Integrated Enterprise ✔✔One in which the operations of two or more employers are
considered so intertwined that they can be considered a single employer for purposes of both
federal statutory coverage and liability - an important consideration.
Employment-at-will ✔✔A predominant rule governing employee-employer relationships that
states an employer may terminate an employee at any time, for any legal reason, without
incurring liability.
What are 3 exceptions to employee-at-will doctrine that protects employees? ✔✔Public Policy,
Implied Contract and Implied Covenant of Good Faith.
Public Policy Exception ✔✔An exception to the employment-at-will that states an employer
cannot terminate an employee for reasons that violate public policy. Examples include
whistleblowing, calling OSHA, filing for workers' comp, etc.
Implied Contract Exception ✔✔A legally binding agreement which is created, not through
formal contract negotiation and documentation, but by the actions of the employer and the
employee. Examples included oral assurances from the employer that as long as an employee
does good work he or she will have a job or an employee handbook, policies, and procedures.
Implied Covenant-of-Good-Faith Exception ✔✔An at-will doctrine exception that is only
recognized by 13 states, holds that each party to the employment relationship makes an
implied promise to treat each other in good faith and fairness, and when that covenant is
broken, the employee has a cause of action for wrongful termination. Because of the strong
presumptions of the at-will doctrine, these cases are hard to prove.
Constructive Discharge ✔✔When an employer allows intolerable conditions of unfairness or
mistreatment to exist at work to such a degree that no reasonable employee would feel he or
she had any other option but to quit. For example: sexual or other harassment, failure to
accommodate a disability, or excessive pressure to retire.
