Law at Work: Legal Studies for Human Resources

Law at Work is an accessible text that allows any non-lawyer to understand the basic legal issues involved in human resources work. The text presents not just the fairly settled legal rules, but it also conveys the dynamic aspect of law. The text addresses such questions as: Will gig workers be protected as employees? How do medical and recreational marijuana laws affect workplace drug testing? What protection exists for transgender employees? May an employer discharge a worker for displaying offensive tattoos? Will "comp time" eventually replace overtime pay? The text covers employer responsibilities with respect to immigration, discrimination, health and safety, unionization, family and medical leaves, privacy, compensation, and benefits, among other topics. The chapters start with a set of "Try Your Hand" questions to engage the reader immediately and to entice curiosity about the answers, found in the pages that follow. Each chapter also contains one or more problems illustrating the ambiguous nature of legal rules. The goal of these problems, called "Developing Your Instincts," is to allow students to put into practice the material that they have learned and to help students realize when they should exercise caution in resolving Human Resources issues. The text is suitable for human resources classes at any level of higher education.