Term | Definition |
employment at will | A common law doctrine under which either party may terminate an employment relationship at any time for any reason, unless a contract specifies otherwise. |
whistleblowing | An employee’s disclosure to government authorities, upper-level managers, or the media that the employer is engaged in unsafe or illegal activities. |
wrongful discharge | An employer’s termination of an employee’s employment in violation of the law or an employment contract. |
minimum wage | The lowest wage, either by government regulation or union contract, that an employer may pay an hourly worker. |
workers’ compensation laws | State statutes that establish an administrative process for compensating workers for injuries that arise in the course of their employment, regardless of fault. |
vesting | The creation of an absolute or unconditional right or power. |
I-9 verification | The process of verifying the employment eligibility and identity of a new worker. It must be completed within three days after the worker commences employment. |
I-551 Alien Registration Receipt | A document, known as a “green card,” that shows that a foreign-born individual can legally work in the United States. |
closed shop | A firm that requires union membership by its workers as a condition of employment, which is illegal. |
union shop | A firm that requires all workers, once employed, to become union members within a specified period of time as a condition of their continued employment. |
right-to-work law | A state law providing that employees may not be required to join a union as a condition of retaining employment. |
hot-cargo agreement | An illegal agreement in which employers voluntarily agree with unions not to handle, use, or deal in the nonunion-produced goods of other employers. |
authorization card | A card signed by an employee that gives a union permission to act on his behalf in negotiations with management. |
collective bargaining | The process by which labor and management negotiate the terms and conditions of employment, including working hours and workplace conditions. |
strike | An action undertaken by unionized workers when collective bargaining fails. The workers leave their jobs, refuse to work, and (typically) picket the employer’s workplace. |
secondary boycott | An illegal strike directed at suppliers and customers of the primary employer with whom the union has a labor dispute. |
lockout | Occurs when an employer shuts down to prevent employees from working typically because it cannot reach a collective bargaining agreement with the union. |