Chapter 1
FIRST THE FOREST, THEN THE TREES: AN OVERVIEW OF EMPLOYMENT
AND LABOR LAW
True/False Questions
_____ 1. Early court cases concluded that labor organizations were criminal conspiracies.
ANSWER: T
_____ 2. Federal legislation such as the Federal Employers Liability Act (1908) and the
Railway Labor Act (1926) allowed for alternative methods for dispute resolution, first in the
railroad, and later in the airline industry.
ANSWER: T
_____ 3. John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, abided by the “gentlemen’s
agreement” during World War II.
ANSWER: F
_____ 4. The Taft-Hartley Act was a federal statute, which enacted unfair labor practices for
which unions might be charged or punished.
ANSWER: T
_____ 5. The new laws and common-law legal theories have often supplanted labor unions as
the main source of legal protection for American workers.
ANSWER: T
,_____ 6. In the case of Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corporation, NYSE Rule 347
provided for arbitration in matters that only dealt with the termination of employment.
ANSWER: F
_____ 7. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is intended to protect only
disabled workers who are still too young to retire.
ANSWER: F
_____ 8. National statutes do not require private employers to provide their employees with
either health insurance or a pension plan.
ANSWER: T
_____ 9. Following WWII, Big Business, Big Labor, and Big Government did not team up to
help prevent the economic decline.
ANSWER: F
_____ 10. The Black Death, a plague that first decimated Europe s population in the mid-14 th
century, actually benefited those workers who survived.
ANSWER: T
_____ 11. The Industrial Revolution in 19th century England and America witnessed the rise
of the employment-at-will doctrine in the common law.
ANSWER: T
_____ 12. Common law includes statutes and ordinances enacted by legislative bodies.
ANSWER: F
,_____ 13. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare after
the president during whose term it was enacted, dramatically revised the American
healthcare system.
ANSWER: T
_____ 14. Occasionally, statutory protections and terms of collective bargaining agreements
conflict.
ANSWER: T
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A situation wherein either the employer or the worker could terminate their relationship
at any time for any reason is known as:
a. common law.
b. employment-at-will.
c. willful misconduct.
d. employer’s liability act.
ANSWER: (b)
2. The act which sets the ground rules for the give and take between labor unions and
corporate managers is the:
a. Social Security Act (1935).
b. Walsh-Healy Act (1936).
c. Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).
d. National Labor Relations Act (1935).
ANSWER: (d)
3. The first of several statutes to set the terms and conditions of employment to be
provided by government contractors is known as the:
, a. Merchant Marine (Jones) Act (1936).
b. Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).
c. Walsh-Healy Act (1936).
d. Social Security Act (1935).
ANSWER: (c)
4. The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938):
a. establishes the rules of give and take between labor unions and corporate
managers.
b. sets employment conditions for government contractors.
c. sets minimum wages, mandates overtime pay, and regulates child labor.
d. allows the termination of employment relationship at any time and for any
reason.
ANSWER: (c)
5. Which Act provides remedies for injured sailors?
a. Marine Labor Standards Act (1938)
b. Merchant Marine (Jones) Act (1936)
c. Navy Labor Relations Act (1935)
d. Social Security Act (1935)
ANSWER: (b)
6. There should be set rules if there is a give and take policy between a labor union and
corporate managers. The Act which provides these rules is the:
a. Social Security Act.
b. National Labor Relations Act.
c. Walsh-Healey Act.