Controversial employment law issue
Choose a currently controversial employment law issue. “Controversial” in this sense means a law or policy that lacks consensus in the employment world regarding overall propriety, application, cost, liability, etc. Many examples are discussed in the lesson material for this course, but below are a few simple ones. You are not limited to this list, and may choose another issue that satisfies the “controversial” standard if you prefer:
• How should employers address the requirement to subsidize employee health insurance, as the Affordable Care Act requires?
• Should employers be permitted to refuse coverage for contraception in health insurance provisions for religious reasons?
• Should sexual orientation and/or gender identity be explicitly added to the list of federally protected classes?
• Should addictions, obesity, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) be classified as disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act? (you would choose one condition)
• Should affirmative action be mandatory standard practice in hiring to avoid discrimination, inadvertent or otherwise?
• Should employers’ good faith reasons for criminal and credit checks trump any issues of disparate impact discrimination?
• Should employers be permitted to require access to and control over employees’ social media accounts as a prerequisite of employment?
• Should ‘right to work’ laws be expanded or eliminated?
• Absent a subpoena, should employers be required to show that they are not engaged in gender-based pay discrimination?
• Should the United States follow the lead of other industrialized nations and amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide for paid leave?
Sample Solution
Controversial employment law issue
What is commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or sometimes as Obamacare, is actually two bills signed into law by President Obama in March of 2010. These bills are the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The ACA mandates that an employer with 50 or more full-time workers offer and substantially pay for affordable and minimum value health insurance coverage. That minimum wage value of coverage must be made available to 95% of full-time employees and their children under the age of 26. Although many businesses are required to offer insurance to their employees, businesses with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees are exempt from this requirement. The most legally and politically controversial aspect of the ACA, the individual mandate requires Americans to purchase health insurance or face a government penalty, with some exceptions – particularly for low-income individuals who cannot afford to buy insurance.
