Employment Law: 10 Terms to Know

Legalese can be nearly impossible to understand, so if you’ve had to hire an employment law attorney you may feel more lost than ever. Before you start pulling your hair out, read these 10 terms to get a better understanding of labor law.

1. Wrongful Termination: Also called wrongful dismissal, this term is used to explain a situation when someone is terminated from their job in a way that breaks the law or their employment contract. While employees may feel “wrongfully” terminated for various reasons, a wrongful termination has to be illegal to stand up in a court of law.
2. Workplace Harassment: Harassment in the workplace can happen in various ways, but the basic definition is when someone experiences belittling or threatening behavior, usually directed at one individual. The harassment can be physical or emotional abuse.
3. Sexual Harassment: This type of harassment is when an employee experiences unwanted sexual advances or attention from another coworker or superior. Additionally, sexual harassment could be offensive or degrading remarks toward one’s sex. Occasional teasing isn’t illegal, but if the actions are frequent or severe, it creates a hostile work environment based on sexual harassment.
4. Hostile Work Environment: This term is used to explain a situation where an employee has the inability to perform his or her job due to someone else’s offensive behavior. A hostile work environment can come from harassment, but the key difference between the two is that an employee can no longer perform their job.
5. Workplace Discrimination: Discrimination is the unequal treatment of an employee based on their age, sex, religion, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Workplace discrimination can happen indirectly or directly. Indirect discrimination is when an employee is given an unreasonable condition that disadvantages them. Direct discrimination is when someone makes offensive comments or assumptions about another employee.
6. Worker’s Compensation: If something happens to an employee while on the job, they may be entitled to worker’s compensation. This type of insurance provides wages and medical benefits to an employee who has become injured while performing their duties. Worker’s compensation is used in exchange for an employee to relinquish their right to sue.
7. Retaliation: Federal law prohibits retaliation when an employee complains, but the law doesn’t always prevent people from doing something illegal. Retaliation is when an employee, usually a superior, takes adverse action on an employee who has filed a complaint or for supporting another employee’s complaint.
8. Implied Contract: An implied contract is an agreement created by at least two different parties and is not written or spoken. An example of an implied contract is when the law automatically protects someone, like an implied warranty.
9. Severance Package: Pay and benefits an employee receives when he or she leaves a company is referred to as a severance package. The amount of money and benefits an employee receives usually is dependent on the length of employment and may also include unused vacation days and unreimbursed business expenses.
10. Whistleblowing: Whistleblowing is when an employee reports or files a complaint on another employee’s misconduct. Most often, a person makes a charge against a coworker’s illegal actions. Whistleblowers are protected by the government when they report the illegal actions of an employee or organization.