Employment Law and Regulatory Compliance
This domain tests whether you can identify which law governs a fact pattern, which agency enforces it, whether the employer is covered, and what the compliant action is. Most items turn on coverage thresholds, timing deadlines, and the difference between discrimination theories.
Core framework
- Sources of law: Constitution, statutes, agency regulations (EEOC, DOL Wage and Hour, NLRB, OSHA, OFCCP), executive orders for federal contractors, and case law.
- Coverage thresholds decide many answers: Title VII and ADA, 15 or more employees; ADEA, 20 or more, protecting age 40 and over; Equal Pay Act, no minimum; FMLA, 50 or more employees within 75 miles plus 12 months and 1,250 hours for the employee; WARN, 100 or more employees with 60 days' notice; OWBPA, 21 days to consider an ADEA waiver (45 for group programs) plus 7 days to revoke.
- Theories: disparate treatment (intentional, proven through the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting sequence), disparate impact (a neutral policy with an adverse effect, defensible by business necessity), and retaliation, which is the broadest protection because it covers opposing or participating in protected activity.
- FLSA: exempt status requires both the salary basis and the duties tests (executive, administrative, professional, computer, outside sales); non-exempt employees receive 1.5 times the regular rate above 40 hours in a workweek.
- Defenses: BFOQ, narrowly read; seniority and merit systems; production-based pay differences; validated selection procedures.
Worked example
An employee requests 10 weeks off to care for a seriously ill parent. The employer has 120 employees; the employee has 14 months of service and 1,400 hours. FMLA applies: the employer exceeds 50 employees, the employee meets the 12-month and 1,250-hour tests, and care for a parent is covered. Result: up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave with continued group health coverage. If the employer had 40 employees, FMLA would not apply and the analysis would shift to ADA accommodation, paid leave policy, or state law.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming every anti-discrimination statute covers every employer.
- Missing that retaliation can be found even when the underlying discrimination claim fails.
- Calling an employee exempt without checking the duties test.
- Overlooking state and local law that is stricter than federal law.
- Confusing the 8-hour fatality report with the 24-hour hospitalization report.