HR Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A software company with 75 employees has an engineer who needs 10 weeks of unpaid leave for a serious health condition. Is FMLA leave available?
- Yes, FMLA applies to all employers with any employees
- No, FMLA only covers employers with 50 or more employees (Correct answer)
- Yes, but only if the employee has worked there 6 months
- No, FMLA never covers mental or physical health conditions
Correct answer: No, FMLA only covers employers with 50 or more employees
FMLA applies only to employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles, so a 75-employee company meets the threshold, but an employee must have worked 12 months and 1,250 hours.
Question 2: Under EEOC guidelines, which hiring practice in software recruiting is most likely to create disparate impact liability?
- Requiring a college degree for senior engineer roles
- Using a cognitive aptitude test that disproportionately screens out a protected class without job-relatedness validation (Correct answer)
- Asking for professional references
- Conducting structured behavioral interviews
Correct answer: Using a cognitive aptitude test that disproportionately screens out a protected class without job-relatedness validation
Unvalidated tests that disproportionately exclude a protected class violate Title VII under the disparate impact theory unless shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity.
Question 3: A tech startup plans to classify all engineers as independent contractors to avoid payroll taxes. Under the IRS common-law test, which factor most strongly supports employee status?
- The worker uses their own laptop
- The company controls the manner and means of the work (Correct answer)
- The worker invoices the company monthly
- The work is performed remotely
Correct answer: The company controls the manner and means of the work
The IRS common-law test focuses on behavioral and financial control; controlling how the work is performed (not just the result) is the strongest indicator of employee status.
Question 4: Under NLRA Section 7, which HR policy in a software company would be considered unlawfully overbroad?
- A policy prohibiting sharing trade secrets with competitors
- A blanket policy banning all discussion of wages and working conditions among employees (Correct answer)
- A policy requiring security badge access to server rooms
- A remote work attendance policy
Correct answer: A blanket policy banning all discussion of wages and working conditions among employees
Section 7 of the NLRA protects employees' rights to discuss wages and working conditions; a blanket ban on such discussions is unlawfully overbroad.
Question 5: Under HIPAA, which scenario requires a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for an HR software vendor?
- The vendor stores only employee home addresses
- The vendor processes health plan claims data on behalf of a self-insured employer (Correct answer)
- The vendor runs the company's general payroll system
- The vendor provides workers' compensation insurance quotes
Correct answer: The vendor processes health plan claims data on behalf of a self-insured employer
A BAA is required when a vendor (Business Associate) creates, receives, maintains, or transmits Protected Health Information on behalf of a covered entity or another business associate.
Question 6: Which executive order requires federal software contractors to maintain an affirmative action program?
- Executive Order 11141
- Executive Order 11246 (enforced via OFCCP) (Correct answer)
- Executive Order 13985
- Executive Order 13950
Correct answer: Executive Order 11246 (enforced via OFCCP)
Executive Order 11246, enforced by OFCCP, requires federal contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action in employment practices.
Question 7: A software company's HR team discovers a data breach exposing employee Social Security numbers. Under which federal law must they notify affected employees?
- GDPR
- FACTA and applicable state breach notification laws (Correct answer)
- ERISA
- Title VII
Correct answer: FACTA and applicable state breach notification laws
FACTA requires proper disposal of employee consumer report data, and most states have breach notification laws requiring notification when SSNs are exposed; there is no single federal breach notification law for all employee data.
HR Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance 3
A software company with 75 employees has an engineer who needs 10 weeks of unpaid leave for a serious health condition.
Is FMLA leave available?