General Resources:  Chapters from Open Educational Resources Textbooks

Reading:  Employment Law, Chapter 18 in Government Regulation and the Legal Environment of Business by Mayer, etal.  The first half of the chapter focuses on Employment Discrimination, so you’ll need to scroll through the book until you get to the sections on Employment at Will and Worker Protection Statutes.

Reading:  Employment Law, Unit 7 in the textbook by the Saylor Academy.  It covers employment-at-will, wage laws, OSHA, and Labor-Relations Law.

Readings & Videos:  Employment Law module in Jason Gordon’s The Business Professor textbook.  This opening link introduces the module, followed by more links looking at worker protection statutes.

Video:  California’s Plans for the Future of Work, Workers, and a Renewed Social Contract (1:10:36, March 2021).  California is often on the leading edge of employment trends.  This Aspen Institute Webinar looks at California’s Future of Work Commission (formed before the pandemic) and some of its recommendations.

Employment at Will and Other Common Law Employment Issues

Reading:  Legal Match on Employment Law  (employees and independent contractors and why it matters, -will employment, whistleblowers, EEO issues)

Reading:  “Difference between an Employment Contract and Employment -will”

Reading:  The Employment–Will Doctrine: Three Major Exceptions

Reading:  Good Things About -Will Employment

Video:  What Does – Employment at Will Mean?  (0:57)

Video:  Understanding Employment at Will (2:25)

Contractual Issues:  NDA, Non-Solicitation Agreements, and Non-Competes

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Video:  The Federal FLSA (1:45)

Video:  FLSA (2:36)

Reading:  Wage and Hour Laws This Findlaw-maintained website has links to current information on a variety of wage and hour topics, e.g., minimum wage and overtime (with a separate link for minors and teens), meal and rest break laws, tipped workers under the FLSA, working “off the clock” and how to report suspected wage and hour violations.

A $15 Minimum Wage?

Reading:  Why the US Needs a $15 Minimum Wage (Jan 2021).  This fact sheet prepared by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) is packed with data in an easy-to-read format that focuses on the benefits of increasing the minimum wage, which groups would benefit most, etc.

Reading:  Minimum Wage, with its Purpose, Pros, Cons, and History. (Jan 2021).  As its title indicates, this brief article explores the purpose and history of the federal minimum wage before exploring the advantages and disadvantages of current efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15.

Podcast:  The Fight For (and Against) a $15 Minimum Wage.  (25:00) Produced by the New York Times in March 2021, this podcast “look[s] at the history of that demand, and the shifting political and economic arguments for and against it. ”

Reading:  What are the Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage?  (Nov 2020)  J. B. Maverick, writing for Investopedia, provides some historical perspective by examining the Raise the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 that passed the U.S. House, but died in the Senate.

Website:  Crisis of Low Wages in the US.  This website created by Oxfam, a global organization fighting inequality, poverty, and injustice. provides demographic data on which groups are most affected by low wages, as well as fact sheets, a report, and an interactive map with information about wages by state.

Podcast:  The Economic Case for a $15 minimum wage (26:43) This February 2021 broadcast by Michael Reich, a Professor of Economics and Chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at UC Berkeley, looks at the economic impacts of minimum wage increases.  You’ll also find links to recent articles by Reich, e.g., how minimum wage increases reduce racial wage gaps — with another link to the full study.  This one, also released in February 2021, is 56 pages and examines “how the racial patchwork of federal and state minimum wage changes
between 1990 and 2019 has affected racial wage gaps.”

Podcast:  Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?  (9:00).  This January 2021 Planet Money podcast also includes the transcript of the two hosts discussing whether the minimum wage should be increased.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Video:  Why OSHA was Created (1:15)

Video:  Introduction to OSHA (16:09)

Reading:  Retaliating Against Whistleblower Employees Can Be Costly (July 2016)

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

Video:  What is COBRA? (2:00)

Video:  What is COBRA Insurance? (4:18)

Reading:  COBRA Fact Sheet (brief summary of the act)

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Video:  What is the FMLA? (1:41)

Video:  Understanding FMLA: What you need to know (5:17)

Reading: 82% of Americans want paid maternity leave – making it as popular as chocolate (published in The Conversation on April 29, 2021).

FMLA Poster (summarizes law; last updated April 2023)

Workers’ Compensation

Reading:  FindLaw Explains Workers’ Comp Benefits

Video:  What is Workers’ Compensation? (2:48)

Video:  How Workers Compensation Works (4:19)

Unemployment Compensation

Reading:  An Overview of Unemployment Compensation Law

Video:  What is Unemployment Insurance and How can it Help You? (3:30)

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

Video:  The 1986 IRCA and Current Reform Efforts (3:10)

Website: IRCA

Reading:  Legal Pitfalls of Hiring Undocumented Immigrants (NOLO)

Other Federal Statutes

Reading:  HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Fact Sheet
(2 page summary of basic provisions of the act)

Reading:  WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Factsheet
(brief overview of basic provisions and coverage)

Drug and Alcohol Testing of Employees

Reading:  Drug and Alcohol Testing of Employees

Reading:  Best Practices for Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing

Reading:  DOL’s “Drug-Free Workplace Adviser”
(explains why, when and how employers test employees for drug use)