HR and the Law quiz

Under the FLSA, “tipped employees” can be paid less than the minimum wage provided that:

• They agree to a reduced minimum wage salary, however, if they don’t agree they must be paid the full minimum wage and any tips are forfeited to the employer or the other employees

• 
  

  They retain on an individual basis all tips that are earned; pooling of tips is not permitted

• 
  

  Their total pay in wages and tips equals at least the minimum wage

  
  

• The employee customarily and regularly receives at least $300 per week in tips

Which of the following is true regarding overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

• 
  

  Employees who work more than 8 hours in a work day must be compensated with overtime pay

• Employees are entitled to twice their regular rate of pay for overtime hours

• Private sector employers can pay for overtime required under the FLSA with compensatory time off in the future, whereas government agencies may not do so

• 
  

  Overtime work can be mandatory, but overtime pay cannot be waived

  
  

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a “workweek”:

• 
  

  is any fixed and reoccurring period of 5 consecutive days

  
  

• 
  

  is any fixed and reoccurring period of 7 consecutive days

• is the same as a calendar week

• includes all the days during a calendar week on which any work is performed

The FMLA requires that sufficient notice must be given by an employee when a qualifying event has occurred for which leave is needed.  Regarding sufficient notice, which of the following statements is most accurate?

• If need is foreseeable, employers can require 90 days notice.

  
  

• Simply calling in sick is generally not considered to be sufficient notice.

• 
  

  Employees must specifically mention the FMLA when providing notice for the need for leave.

  
  

• When the employer has 500+ employees, the employee does not have to provide sufficient notice.

One of your employees, who is working on an important project, has a parent who is going to require extended care for several weeks. You have a major deadline looming, so you refuse to provide leave, arguing undue hardship.  Which of the following best describes the legality of this situation?

• Legal; you can clearly show business necessity

• Legal; the serious illness/injury of a parent is actually not an FMLA qualifying event

• Illegal; you would have to have a better reason than this to argue undue hardship

  
  

• Illegal; the FMLA does not include an undue hardship provision

In order for a workplace injury to be covered by workers’ comp, which of the following must be true?

• There must be evidence that the employer was negligent

• The employee has to show that they were not attending to a personal activity at the time of injury (e.g., going to the restroom, getting coffee, etc.)

• There cannot be any indication that horseplay was involved as the cause of the injury

  
  

• The injury has to have arisen out of employment and occurred during the course of employment

Legal or illegal?  For a few minutes, an employee and his co-workers were goofing off, spinning around on the hard carts they use to move goods throughout the warehouse.  The employee fell and broke his wrist.  You deny his claim for workers’ compensation.

• Legal

• Illegal

A farm employee is building a shed, when a tornado hits. He is seriously injured, and files for workers’ comp. If the court applies the positional risk doctrine, will the injury be covered and why?

• Yes, because being struck by a tornado was an actual risk of the job in this particular case

• Yes, this doctrine requires only that the employment was the reason for the exposure to the hazard

  
  

• No, the employee’s work did not measurably increase his chances of being struck by a tornado over that of the general public

• No, this doctrine requires that the harm be foreseeable as a hazard of this type of employment

Which of the following statements is true regarding violations of OSHA safety standards?

• It can be difficult for employers to keep up with OSHA’s specific standards, as new standards are added often

• 
  

  Violations of OSHA safety standards can result in very large penalties, often $100,000 per violation

• Employers can avoid liability for violations caused by unpreventable employee misconduct if clear rules were established and enforced

• OSHA inspectors can assess penalties for violations immediately, during inspections

Which of the following statements is true regarding the OSH Act?

• The Act gives OSHA inspectors full authority to issue citations and penalties “on the spot.”

• 
  

  It is enforced in a much more proactive manner than other employment laws.

• If an employer refuses entry to an OSHA inspector, OSHA must wait 30 days before re-attempting their inspection.

• 
  

  The OSHRC is the final word on violations – there is no appeals process.