Employment Law Fundamentals

Learn the basics of employment law so you can legally hire, evaluate and manage employees. This course is a must for anyone who is (or aspires to be) a supervisor, manager, or human resources professional.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

Starting May 14, 2025

Offered in partnership with your preferred school

Florida State College at Jacksonville

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$179.99

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$179.99

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Starting May 14 | June 11

Details + Objectives

Course code: elp

Learn the basics of employment law so you can legally hire, evaluate and manage employees as a manager, supervisor, small business owner, human resource specialist, or corporate executive. This course will explain the difference between an employee and independent contractor: the basic types of employee benefits; effective hiring; evaluation, and termination procedures; methods to resolve employment disputes in and out of court; discrimination and union laws; and workplace safety rules.

You will gain an inside view of the law with court examples, real situations, and prevention strategies that prepare you to effectively resolve workplace issues. You will learn effective communication techniques, negotiation strategies, and what to expect if you do go to court. This course is a must for anyone who is (or aspires to be) a supervisor, manager, or human resources professional.

What you will learn

Learn the difference between an employee and an independent contractor and properly classify workers so you can withhold taxes and provide benefits for true employees
Learn to screen applicants effectively
Discover dispute resolution tools to handle disputes in the workplace
Learn about the litigation process and laws that affect your workplace, such as discrimination laws and special accommodation laws
Explore unfair labor practices that both unions and management need to watch out for
Learn what your obligations are to keep your employees safe and discover Internet resources where you can look up specifics about your particular work environment
Discover tools, tactics, and resources to create an environment of compliance in your workplace

How you will benefit

Know how to effectively screen applicants and develop strong hiring practices
Be ready to resolve any type of conflict and turn it into a win-win situation
Be familiar with laws that govern a safe, fair, and compliant workplace for your employees

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

Are all workers employees? In this lesson, you'll learn to recognize the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. This will enable you to properly classify workers so you can withhold taxes and provide benefits for true employees. You'll take a look at a real court case to see how courts decide if someone is properly classified.

Do you wish you could retire to the beach with solid employment benefits, such as health insurance, retirement, sick leave, and vacation leave in place? In this lesson, you'll look at the legal requirements relating to employment benefits. You may be surprised to learn what the law does and doesn't require! The lesson will also talk about the reasons companies provide benefits for their employees.

Do you ever find yourself stuck with employees who aren't producing? This lesson will focus on ways to screen applicants for employment to keep poor employees out and find a good match between the job and skill level of an applicant. As the saying goes, it's better to have strong hiring practices than to deal with a problem employee later on.

Ever wonder what to do with your employees and how to keep them effectively producing? This lesson will focus on evaluation, discipline, and termination processes. You'll learn how to tackle these tough issues without violating any laws in the process.

If you ever have to deal with upset people at work (employee outbursts, customer complaints, or vendor concerns) then this lesson is for you! This lesson will show you some dispute resolution tools that will help you turn conflicts into win-win situations.

Do you ever wonder what happens behind courthouse doors? This lesson will talk about the litigation process from start to finish so that you'll know what to expect if you someday find yourself in court. It will also go over legal jargon—words like depositions and interrogatories—so that you really understand the words lawyers commonly use.

While discrimination should be a thing of the past, prejudice still pops up in the workplace. This lesson will talk about how to comply with Title VII law, which prohibits discrimination at work. The examples and strategies discussed here will make this law easy to understand.

Has anyone ever requested a special accommodation from you? This lesson will explore what the laws are about this issue. You'll find out what your duty is regarding accommodation and learn to analyze your workplace to determine whether it's compliant.

Suppose there's labor talk whispered in the halls of your workplace. What do you do? This lesson will discuss the legal rights of unions to organize. You'll also consider unfair labor practices that both unions and management need to watch out for.

Collective bargaining, grievance and appeal, strikes—what do these things have in common? They're all processes that can occur in a union environment. This lesson will talk about how to prepare for and handle union bargaining and appeals.

What are your obligations when it comes to keeping employees safe on the job? This lesson will focus on employee safety and reporting. You'll get Internet resources where you can look up specifics about your particular work environment.

Legal compliance requires an entire corporate strategy. The final lesson will focus on tools, tactics, and resources you can use to create an environment of compliance in your workplace.

Instructors & Support

Ann Nevers

Ann Nevers holds a law degree and a master's in health law. She works in dispute resolution for business, employment, and health care and regularly teaches courses in these areas. She has published numerous academic articles, edited legal manuals, and written chapters on employment, dispute resolution, and health care topics.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
This course is based on U.S. Employment Laws and is not suitable for other areas.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

An excellent teacher and a very interesting course!!! I really liked the little graphics which were placed within each lesson. The lessons were written so that the lay person could understand.

I am fairly new in the HR field. This course was very helpful and informative.

I enjoyed learning more about the topics in this course. The examples made the topic more understandable. The instructor's writing style and organization of the lessons were helpful. I feel prepared to hire my first employee and monitor my business to reduce liability and know what is required of me. Thanks.

I had very limited knowledge of employment law. This course was full of valuable information written in a manner a layperson would understand. I liked the examples given.

I have been at my first supervisor role for a year now, and this course has been very beneficial to my career and future success. Thank you!

I learned a lot from this course, and will implement what I've learned. I feel more confident in knowing that I know where to look for answers about employment law. I bookmarked all the websites that were posted.

I really enjoyed learning about Employment Law. The instructor made the class interesting, challenging and fun! I would strongly recommend it!

I've been in business on my own for 20 years. There was a lot of great information and web links supplied that really helped me to revise and update our own employment manuals. The short stories of real cases also helped me to understand more technical issues from a better perspective. This course did teach an old dog new tricks!

I've been in HR for a number of years and felt that a "refresher" would be helpful. I found this course to be helpful in updating current employment practices.

The course covered very useful information. Great in depth knowledge. Anyone working in the HR and/or legal field should take this course.

This class was well worth the time and money spent. I would recommend this class to ANYONE whether in management or not, if they have questions about the actions of their employer, or what their rights are as an employee.

This course should be mandatory for every employee. I learned so much new information. After completing one lesson, I could hardly wait for the next lesson to start.