What Are the Five Major Kinds of Employment Laws in the U.S.?

Human resources (HR) is the business function responsible for managing the employee lifecycle.¹ That means responsibility for hiring, firing, and retiring. The scope of those responsibilities also includes HR compliance: ensuring a business and its employees comply with their legal obligations to each other and laws governing the workplace.

This post looks at the five major kinds of employment laws in the United States. These laws form the backbone of HR compliance, making them some of the most important regulations every HR professional needs to know.

1. Wage and Hour Laws: Fair Pay Standards

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulates minimum wage, overtime pay, and protections against child labor. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor enforces this law.²

Since 1938, the FLSA has set the rules for overtime pay, the federal minimum wage (and the exemption for tipped employees), limitations on child labor, and requirements for employers to keep records of employees’ hours, wages, and personal information.

As an HR professional, it’s important to be mindful of state laws that regulate wages and hours. In practice, the FLSA establishes a national minimum standard, but states can set higher standards. For example, the state of Alabama has no minimum wage legislation of its own, so it defaults to the national minimum wage set by the FLSA.³ But the minimum wage in Florida is $14.00/hour—almost double the FLSA’s required $7.25/hour minimum.³

2. Workplace Safety and Workers’ Compensation

Congress enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to “assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.”⁴ Most significantly, this law created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency responsible for setting and enforcing workplace safety standards.

OSHA enforces the “general duty clause” of the 1970 Act, which mandates employers to provide safe working conditions.⁵

Some workplaces are more inherently hazardous than others. If your company is processing radioactive material, it will likely attract a lot more OSHA compliance attention than a local coffee shop.

Almost every business carries some risk of employees getting injured on the job. Workers’ compensation laws in the United States are primarily enacted at the state level.⁶ While most states make workers’ compensation mandatory—requiring some form of no-fault insurance to cover the cost of treatment and compensation for lost earnings due to workplace injuries—at least one (Texas) does not.

3. Equal Opportunity and Anti-Discrimination Laws

Equality is one of the U.S. Constitution’s defining principles. Still, it wasn’t until states ratified the 14th Amendment in 1868 that Americans got a constitutional right to equal protection under the law.⁷

Delivering that equal protection in practice has generated a long list of employment laws and anti-discrimination regulations.

Landmark federal legislation includes:

• Equal Pay Act (1963): Amended FLSA to require that men and women doing the same work in the same place must receive the same pay⁸
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964): Prevents employment discrimination based on an “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”⁹
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967): Prevents hiring discrimination on the basis of age, protecting anyone aged 40 or older. Also makes it illegal to specify age preference or limitation in employment¹⁰
• Americans with Disabilities Act (1990): Prevents hiring discrimination against people with disabilities and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled employees¹¹

HR professionals also require knowledge of state or local anti-discrimination regulations.

More recently, there has been a political movement that classifies certain anti-discrimination measures as themselves discriminatory, leading to a raft of workplace measures and practices coming under legal scrutiny.¹² The perceived targeting of workplace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs is still subject to various legal challenges and counters, but has the potential to be one of the most significant adjustments to the interpretation of employment laws in recent history.

4. Employee Benefits and Leave Security

“Non-wage compensation” describes employment benefits separate from salary, such as health insurance, pension plans, and annual leave entitlements.

Although businesses often present these as optional extras to standard employment terms, many elements of non-wage compensation are regulated. Key federal regulations covering employment benefits include:

• Family and Medical Leave Act (1993): Establishes a federally mandated right to unpaid, job-protected family and medical leave for qualified employees¹³
• Affordable Care Act (2010): Provides several tax credits and penalties that businesses need to understand¹⁴
• Employee Retirement Income Security Act (1974): Establishes minimum standards for private pension plans and protections for individuals who join them¹⁵

Some state and local regulations will cover more employment benefits, including paid leave and sick days.

5. Labor Relations and Union Statutes

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 protects employees’ rights to collective bargaining. Broadly, it established a legal right to join a union (or refuse to join a union) and prohibited employers from intimidating employees or discriminating against them based on membership or potential membership in a union.¹⁶ It also protects employees’ rights to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid and protection that is not limited to efforts to join a union.

Whether working in a unionized workplace or not, HR professionals are typically responsible for employee relations, which can include informal and formal efforts to boost morale and ensure employees are able to discuss workplace concerns constructively.

Advance Your Career in HR With Pitt Law

The five employment laws or types of law outlined in this post are not the only legal concepts that HR professionals need to understand, but they are among the most significant. The employment laws governing wages, anti-discrimination, statutory leave, benefits, and employee relations are some of the most influential in shaping the rules of the modern workplace.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s Online Master of Legal Studies (MSL) with a specialization in HR Law is designed to equip non-lawyers with a thorough understanding of the legal principles and systems that underpin U.S. employment law. The curriculum includes specialized modules covering the law around hiring and firing, wages and benefits, and anti-discrimination laws. This program also prepares you to sit for the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) exams within one year of graduation.

Alternatively, you can complete Pitt Law’s Online HR Law Certificate program in as little as 11 months, cultivating an in-depth understanding of HR Law with the option to pursue an MSL after completing your certificate.

To learn about Pitt Law’s admissions requirements and discuss how an Online Master of Studies in Law can advance your career and understanding of HR law, schedule a call with an admissions outreach advisor.