COA Employment Law & Labor Regulations — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), eligible employees may take up to how many weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for qualifying medical or family reasons?
- 6 weeks
- 10 weeks
- 12 weeks (Correct answer)
- 26 weeks
Correct answer: 12 weeks
FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers (50+ employees) to up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for qualifying reasons such as a serious health condition or the birth of a child.
Question 2: Which federal agency is responsible for enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Department of Labor (DOL)
- National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information.
Question 3: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non-exempt employees must receive overtime pay at what rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek?
- 1.25 times their regular rate of pay
- 1.5 times their regular rate of pay (Correct answer)
- 1.75 times their regular rate of pay
- 2 times their regular rate of pay
Correct answer: 1.5 times their regular rate of pay
The FLSA mandates that non-exempt employees receive overtime pay at a rate of at least 1.5 times (commonly called 'time and a half') their regular hourly rate for all hours over 40 in a workweek.
Question 4: Which employment doctrine, standard in most U.S. states, allows an employer to terminate an employee for any legal reason — or no reason at all — without advance notice?
- Implied contract employment
- Just cause termination
- Constructive dismissal
- At-will employment (Correct answer)
Correct answer: At-will employment
At-will employment is the default employment relationship in most U.S. states, giving either the employer or the employee the right to end the relationship at any time for any lawful reason, with or without notice.
Question 5: An office administrator receives a formal harassment complaint from an employee about a coworker's behavior. What is the MOST appropriate immediate action?
- Advise the employee to speak directly with the coworker to resolve it informally
- Wait to observe whether the behavior continues before escalating
- Document the complaint and report it to HR following established company policy (Correct answer)
- Confront the accused coworker on the complaining employee's behalf
Correct answer: Document the complaint and report it to HR following established company policy
Harassment complaints carry legal obligations. The administrator must document the complaint immediately and route it through proper HR channels per company policy, ensuring a timely and legally compliant response.
Question 6: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which of the following BEST illustrates a 'reasonable accommodation' for a qualified employee with a disability?
- Eliminating all essential functions of the employee's job
- Creating a new position specifically for the disabled employee
- Providing an ergonomic keyboard for an employee with a repetitive strain injury (Correct answer)
- Permanently excusing the employee from all attendance requirements
Correct answer: Providing an ergonomic keyboard for an employee with a repetitive strain injury
An ergonomic keyboard is a practical, low-cost modification that enables an employee with a repetitive strain injury to perform essential job functions — the defining standard of a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.
COA Employment Law & Labor Regulations
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), eligible employees may take up to how many weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for qualifying medical or family reasons?