Business and Employment Law Business Law and Labor & Employment Law

Employees are classified in different categories. Federal and state law does not explicitly define the categories, but employers generally categorize employees on the basis of duties performed, number of hours worked, and duration of job. Accordingly, employees fall in three main groups: permanent (full-time), part time, and temporary employees (PayScale, 2009). A permanent employee is an employee who works a typical work week for an indefinite duration, while a part-time employee works fewer hours than the typical work week. Temporary employees may work full-time or part-time, though for a definite period of time. Though federal law does not define the above categories, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) classifies employees as either non-exempt or exempt employees (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM], 2014). The former denotes employees whose work is covered by FLSA and who are subject to overtime and minimum wage regulations, while the latter denotes employees whose work is not subject to FLSA provisions on overtime and minimum wage.

Classifying employees correctly is crucial for a number of reasons. First, classification helps in determining employees' eligibility for benefits, especially non-statutory benefits. For instance, part-time employees are often excluded from health insurance coverage. Additionally, correct classification of employees ensures employees have a clear understanding of their employment status, especially with respect to their conditions of work (SHRM, 2014).

Question...

In essence, it is unlawful for employers to rely on these characteristics in making employment decisions such as hiring, firing, transfer, promotion, compensation, and fringe benefits (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC], 2009).
Lee and Larry can sue Lopez, Inc. for race-based employment discrimination under federal law. The company has a historically employed Hispanics only and even hired Hispanics for the recent vacancies of a sales person and a computer programmer. In other words, the company evidently favors individuals from a certain race (Latin American) over others. Rather than considering skills and qualifications, the company apparently prioritizes racial background, an indication of racially-motivated workplace discrimination.

It is, however, important to note that proving racial discrimination against an employer can be quite difficult as in most cases there may be no direct evidence such as memos instructing managers to hire candidates from a specific race. Nonetheless, this does not necessarily mean that Larry and Lee cannot claim for workplace racial discrimination. First, given the company's history of recruitment and the recruitment of the sales person and the programmer, it is quite apparent that they were denied employment…