National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA)		U.S. act that established the first national policy for workplace safety and health and continues to deliver standards that employers must meet to guarantee the health and safety of their employees.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act		U.S. law that requires federal contractors with contracts of $100,000 or more as well as recipients of grants from federal government to certify that they are maintaining a drug-free workplace.
Disparate treatment		U.S. act that establishes a minimum wage, maximum hours, and health and safety standards for contracts to manufacture or furnish materials, articles, or equipment to the U.S. government or the District of Columbia.
Disparate impact		U.S. act that defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman and permitted states to not recognize same-sex marriages recognized by other states; ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures		U.S. acts that expanded FMLA leave for employees with family members who are covered members of the military.
Employment at-will		U.S. act that made it unlawful to intercept messages in transmission, access stored information on electronic communication services, or disclose any of this information.
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act		1971 U.S. case that stated that an employer may not, in the absence of business necessity, refuse to hire women with preschool-aged children while hiring men with such children.
Executive Order 13672		U.S. act that requires that all publicly held companies establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting to reduce the possibility of corporate fraud.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)		U.S. act that requires contractors and subcontractors on certain contracts to pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found in the locality or the rates found in the previous contractor’s collective bargaining agreement.
Employees		U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against job applicants on the basis of national origin or citizenship and establishes penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
Equal Employment Opportunity Act		Legal doctrine under which a party can be held liable for the wrongful actions of another party.
Essential functions		U.S. act that defines what is included as hours worked and is therefore compensable and a factor in calculating overtime.
Nonexempt employees		Procedural document designed to assist employers in complying with federal regulations prohibiting discrimination.
Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA)		U.S act that protects privacy of background information and ensures that information supplied is accurate.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)		U.S act that frees employers who use third parties to conduct workplace investigations from the consent and disclosure requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in certain cases.
Equal Pay Act (EPA)		Concept that jobs filled primarily by women that require skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions comparable to similar jobs filled primarily by men should have the same classifications and salaries.
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)		States that a fiduciary of a plan covered by the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act has legal and financial obligations not to take more risks when investing employee benefit program funds than a reasonably knowledgeable, prudent investor would under similar circumstances.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)		Type of liability insurance covering an organization against claims by employees, former employees, and employment candidates alleging that their legal rights in the employment relationship have been violated.
McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act		Employees covered under U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act regulations, including minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)		U.S. act that requires some employers to give a minimum of 60 days’ notice if a plant is to close or if mass layoffs will occur.
Disability		1992 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer cannot be compelled to allow nonemployee organizers onto the business property.
Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB		Individuals who exchange work for wages or salary; in the U.S., workers who are covered by Fair Labor Standards Act regulations as determined by the IRS.
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act)		Medical condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment.
Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation		U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against specified categories of veterans; applies to federal government contractors and subcontractors.
Gender Identity		U.S. act that prohibits wage discrimination by requiring equal pay for equal or “substantially equal” work performed by men and women.
Prudent person rule		Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known as adverse impact.
Comparable worth		Amendments to U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act covering the definition of individuals regarded as having a disability, mitigating measures, and other rules to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability.
Exempt employees		U.S. act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age.
Portal-to-Portal Act		Injury that results from a work-related accident or exposure involving a single incident in the work environment.
Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)		Employees who are excluded from U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Occupational illness		Primary job duties that a qualified individual must be able to perform, either with or without accommodation.
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)		Type of discrimination that occurs when an applicant or employee is treated differently because of his or her membership in a protected class.
Civil Rights Act of 1991		U.S. act that provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for family members or because of a serious health condition of the employee.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)		U.S. act that expands the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA)		U.S act that amended Title VII and gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission authority to “back up” its administrative findings and conduct its own enforcement litigation.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green		Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one’s major life activities.
Drug-Free Workplace Act		U.S. act that provides individuals and dependents who may lose health-care coverage with opportunity to pay to continue coverage.
Vicarious liability		U.S act that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, youth employment, and record-keeping standards affecting full- and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)		U.S. act that prevents private employers from requiring applicants or employees to take a polygraph test for preemployment screening or during the course of employment, with certain exceptions.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)		Refers to one’s internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or boy or girl), which may or may not be the same as one’s sexual assignment at birth.
Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act		Statement in U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act that requires employers subject to the act to provide employees with a safe and healthy work environment.
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act		Modifying a job application process, a work environment, or the circumstances under which a job is performed to enable a qualified individual with a disability to be considered for the job and perform its essential functions.
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI)		U.S. act that imposed regulations on internal union affairs and the relationship between union officials and union members.
Occupational injury		Principle of employment in the U.S. that employers have the right to hire, fire, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and that employees have the right to quit a job at any time.
General Duty Clause		U.S. act that requires certain contractors and subcontractors to pay laborers and mechanics no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits for corresponding work on federal contracts.
Reasonable accommodation		Amends Executive Orders 11478 and 11246 to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)		Occurs when sexual or other discriminatory conduct is so severe and pervasive that it interferes with an individual’s performance; creates an intimidating, threatening, or humiliating work environment; or perpetuates a situation that affects the employee’s psychological well-being.
Davis-Bacon Act		U.S act that prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their genetic information in both employment and health insurance.
Hostile environment harassment		Case that established criteria for disparate treatment.