Initial Disclaimers The Internet can be a useful tool for finding assistance on legal issues, including employment law issues. However, it is not screened for accuracy, so be careful that your sources are good. Even generally reliable dot.gov and dot.edu sites can be outdated, so you may want to double-check your resources before relying on them.
Fortunately, some of your taxes are going towards developing websites for the government agencies that regulate employers and are increasingly easy to search for information. The following list is not intended to be exclusive, but is an example of some of the free government information resources:
www.eeoc.gov. This is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s website. It includes information about the discrimination laws and regulations that it enforces, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII, and other federal civil rights laws. It provides access to the text of the laws and regulations, and has interpretive and enforcement information available, too.
www.usdoj.gov. This is the Department of Justice’s website. It contains information about some aspects of the civil rights laws that are not covered on the EEOC’s site, such as a business’s reasonable accommodation obligations as a place that provides services to the public.
www.dol.gov. This is the Depart-ment of Labor’s website. It includes information about the wage and hour laws (FLSA), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (which sets standards for workforce diversity for federal contractors), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), workplace safety rules (OSHA), among other things. It provides access to the text of the laws and regulations, press releases, and interpretive and enforcement information.
www.ftc.gov. This is the Federal Trade Commission’s website. It includes information about the discrimination laws and regulations that it enforces, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which applies to background and credit checks of employees and applicants, and which the FTC has interpreted as applying to workplace investigations such as sexual harassment investigations. It provides access to the text of the laws and regulations, letter opinions and other interpretive information.
www.irs.gov. This is the Internal Revenue Service’s website. It includes information about the tax laws and regulations it enforces, and has many of the IRS forms available online. It also has information to determine if an individual is an employee or an independent contractor for federal tax purposes. It provides access to the text of the laws and regulations, letter opinions and other interpretive information.
www.ssa.gov. This is the Social Security Administration’s website. It includes information about Social Security issues, such as the availability of extended Medicare coverage to Social Security beneficiaries who are working.
www.wa.gov/lni. This is the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries website. It includes information about worker safety rules and minimum wage. It also provides articles and other interpretive information.
www.opm.gov. This is the Office of Personnel Management’s website. The OPM is, in effect, the Federal Govern-ment’s human resources agency, and its site contains its interpretation of the employment laws that apply to U.S. government employees.
www.supremecourtus.gov. This is the United States Supreme Court’s
website. It provides Supreme Court
opinions, information about cases that are before the Supreme Court, and links to related web sites.
www.courts.wa.gov. This is the Washington State Courts’ website. It
provides information about court opinions in the Washington state courts and information about the state court system.
www.leg.wa.gov. This is the Washington State Legislature’s web
page. It provides information about state laws, agency rules and bills.
www.metrokc.gov/kcscc. This is the website of the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office. It contains information about the court system and process, local rules, the law library, publications, and recent interesting briefing (though not necessarily employment-related).
www.metrokc.gov/recelec/archives. In this site, select “King County policies, procedures and public rules” and then scroll down to “personnel management” to view some of King County’s personnel policies.
Practical Guidelines
In many situations, more than one agency has jurisdiction over the issues, and you may be overlooking a law, regulation, agency opinion or court decision that could affect the outcome if you just look at a single web site.
Be sure that what you are reading applies to your situation. You may come across a regulation that appears to apply, but it may be part of a subset of regulations that affect only a limited number of employers, such as public employers or community colleges.
Some of the regulations are organized in a manner that may be confusing to browse online. Printing out the table of contents for each
part and subpart of the regulations that may apply before you begin an in-depth search may save you from getting lost.
Start with the small business owner or employer guides. They have good general information about specific issues.
Check the number of pages before you hit the “print” key. Some of the guidance manuals that are online are several hundred pages long. n
Karen Sutherland is Chair of the Employment and Labor Law Practice Group of Ogden Murphy Wallace, P.L.L.C., Chair of the Bar Bulleting Committee, and Bar Talk columnist. She can be contacted at ksutherland@ omwlaw.com. This article is not a complete discourse on this subject, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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