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. Learn 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’ll gain an inside view of the law with court examples, real situations, and prevention strategies that prepare you to effectively resolve workplace issues. You’ll 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.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

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. We'll take a look at a real court case to see how courts decide if someone is properly classified.

Friday - Lesson 02

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? Today, we'll look at the legal requirements relating to employment benefits. You may be surprised to learn what the law does and doesn't require! We'll also talk about the reasons companies provide benefits for their employees.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

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.

Friday - Lesson 04

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

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

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

Friday - Lesson 06

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

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

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

Friday - Lesson 08

Has anyone ever requested a special accommodation from you? Today, we'll 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.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

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

Friday - Lesson 10

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

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

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

Friday - Lesson 12

Legal compliance requires an entire corporate strategy. Today in our final lesson, we'll focus on tools, tactics, and resources you can use to create an environment of compliance in your workplace.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Ann Nevers.

With a law degree and masters in health law, Ann Nevers is involved in dispute resolution in areas of business, employment, and health care. She regularly teaches courses in business law, employment law, dispute resolution, and health care. She has published a number of academic articles, edited legal manuals, and written chapters on employment, dispute resolution, and health care topics. She has industry experience as a director of a regional corporation.

Requirements:

Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

Student 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."

"Ann is a creative and informative instructor and I would not hesitate to strongly recommend her courses to anyone interested in Employment Law!!"

"Ann Nevers did a great job presenting the material in logical order and with great "real-life" examples that made it easy to grasp. This was my first online course; I am inspired to take more."

"Ann Nevers is my favorite instructor. I think she is very nice, considerate, and makes me feel very comfortable to express myself, gives me valuable feedback besides she makes me feel as I am in a real class."

"Ann took a lot of information and kept it interesting. Her examples were to the point. A really good course that taught me a lot."

"Ann was a great instructor and always provide helpful feedback. I would highly recommend this class to anyone for an introduction in employment law. Thank you"

"Ann, your class has been GREAT!!!! You are a wonderful instructor and I hope to take a lot more classes from you in the future."

"A very good course, informative and useful.The class detail and resources material were very efficient and professional in nature. As a young non-profit director who help people on discrimination cases, this class has helped me a great deal.Great course! A lot of information provided that is of great use.I believe that this course is essential for employees especially those that work for the State. It makes things look less ambiguous and gives meaning to some of the things that they do or don't do."

"AWESOME course. Awesome instructor. Highly recommend to all!"

"Course was excellent! Can't wait to take another one!"

"Enjoyed the class. It was a great employment law refresher."

"Excellent Course!"

"Excellent course, and excellent instructor. All comments made were very beneficial and the instructor seemed to be very knowledgeable. A lot of information was packed into a small timeframe, but the way it was presented made it very easy to follow and learn. I would highly recommend this to anyone working in an HR dept, and also, to all management personnel. The added resource links will be invaluable!"

"Excellent course with great feedback. The information was to the point and I learned a lot."

"Excellent, excellent course and teaching method."

"Exceptional course and teacher."

"First on-line course. Enjoyed very much...look forward to another course in the future."

"Great class. It was perfect for what I wanted to learn."

"Great Class. Professor Nevers is very knowledgeable. She also does a great job of motivating her students through her feedback."

"Great course! I would recommend this to others."

"Great instructor, informative course!!!"

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

"I appreciate being able to take the course over a six week period versus a one day seminar. There was a lot more information I gained than a one day seminar. I will use the information in my daily work responsibilities and know the information would be useful for me and my company."

"I appreciate the knowledge I have gained in taking this course and would absolutely encourage others to take it as well."

"I appreciate the time Ann took to respond to all the participants! I would definitely recommend her courses to others. THANKS!"

"I can described this course with only one word: EXCELLENT! I strongly recommend it to anybody interested to learn about employment law."

"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 enjoyed taking this course. It covered a variety of topics which kept it interesting & informative."

"I enjoyed this class. The input from my instructor was very useful. I will take more classes taught by her."

"I enjoyed this course. The information has been very useful and timely."

"I enjoyed this course very much. It showed me what we are doing right and certainly what we need to take a second look at. Thank you for offering this opportunity to those of us who work full time and have other responsibilities at home and other places."

"I found the course to be very interesting. As I took the course I always noticed how quick Ann (the instructor) would respond to the discussion sessions. When I read her remarks it was clear that she knew what she was talking about. She just did not respond, she interacted with students in such a way it almost seemed like you were with her talking to her. She took her time and included explanations, quotes, etc in her responses. It was also clear that the instructor had put a lot of work into the preparation of the course. I liked the discussion part of the training. it was interesting and helpful reading what other students had to say about the topics at hand."

"I found this class and the instructor very helpful in my profession. I have enjoyed taking this class and will be taking others. I have learned a great deal."

"I greatly enjoyed this class and would love to take another with Ann. She is a fantastic instructor and made the class interesting."

"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 great deal from this class and am certain that it will benefit me tremendously when I press forward in bettering my career. I appreciate this class being offered online and have recommended online courses to many people. Thank you"

"I learned a lot from this course and feel it would be helpful to anyone in business. 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 look forward to taking another class. Met my needs for the level of detail required by my job and fit into a rather busy schedule! Thank you!"

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

"I really enjoyed the class, and it will really benefit me in the future. Ms Nevers was a very helpful person and made the class enjoyable. Thank you for all your help."

"I really really enjoyed this class. It was very educational. I even went to work and saw some thing that I could change in how I see and do things."

"I thoroughly enjoyed this class. I look forward to taking future on-line courses."

"I thought Ms. Nevers was a great instructor, she was always very positive and had great feedback for us."

"I thought the course was wonderful. It was extremely informative, well-organized, and had great and very in-depth responses from the instructor. I would definitely recommend any classes by Ann Nevers!!!"

"It turns out that I made a wise decision to take this course. I am a recreation therapist(CTRS) My degree is Therapeutic Recreation Management. Most of my coursework was clinical and I was not well versed in employee law. Therefore, I was not at all confident when I had a management position in LTC. I made a few mistakes. Now I'm ready to fly. The information is so valuable and the resources will continue to be helpful. Thank you for presenting the info in such a non-threatening manner."

"It was a wonderful experience. The course was user friendly. The instructor was prompt on his responses and provided great feedback. I enjoyed it a lot and will take another of his courses. Great job!!!!"

"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."

"I was in need of this class. It really helped me with some everyday situations and gave me the knowledge I need to perform my duties as a manager."

"I work for a company that is very on top of legal and ethical issues. This course helped me understand the "whys" of what we do and why we have so many policies and procedures in place."

"just want to let you know that I really liked this course. I am now hooked on taking online courses. I really learned a lot. I have been in HR for 11 years now and I still learned a lot. Thank you...."

"Ms. Nevers was wonderful to have as an instructor for this course. She ALWAYS responded to discussion area questions/comments very promptly. She was very thorough with her answers in helping us to understand the subject matter. I would definitely recommend this course to others!!"

"One of the best online courses I have taken."

"Thank you for an excellent and informative course. I have completed your course as a better informed manager, with more resources to keep me up to date on changing laws."

"Thank you for making this learning experience a pleasurable one."

"Thank you for the incredible hands-on approach. I appreciated the direct interaction with Ann Nevers, the instructor. I look forward to continuing my education with other classes taught by Ann Nevers."

"Thank you for the opportunity to take this course online... It is exactly what I needed. I have enjoyed the course and have recommended it to another employee."

"Thank you for this course! I really enjoyed being your student. Material was useful and resources can be used every day."

"Thank you. This was very useful and the group participation in the discussion area made the course even better. Instructor always answered questions with thought and lots of resources to find more information."

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

"The course was filled with information. I printed the whole course to use as reference material at work. I know that I will be referring to it often, not just for myself, but for my coworkers as well."

"The course was insightful, and I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge that I will be able to put to use in my occupation. I also appreciate being able to complete the course in a time frame that best fits my schedule. I am looking forward to taking my next course."

"The course was very informative and well thought out. I enjoyed discussion with instructor and others. Would recommend this course to everyone in Human Resource or setting up your first business."

"The instructor took the time to give informative & useful feedback in the discussion area."

"The instructor was very knowledgeable. She responded to everyone's questions timely, as well as complimenting them on asking good questions. She is a teacher with an extreme volume of knowledge in her file who uses this knowledge to teach her students in a very encouraging and supportive manner."

"This class was excellent. Mrs. Nevers used great examples to further emphasize criteria throughout the material. Mrs. Nevers is extremely knowledgeable about employment law. I would definitely take another one of her classes and I walked away with a lot of information and resources to help me in the future."

"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 and instructor were outstanding! I have already recommended it to others, and will continue to do so. Thank you for such a quality educational experience!"

"This course is exactly what I needed to answer most of the questions about employment law. This is a very good course that I recommend for business people and also to employees who want to learn about their rights when they are member of a union, discrimination, etc. I'm glad I have taken this course, I learned a lot of things, and appreciated replies to my questions."

"This course provided a powerful working knowledge in employment law that helped me solve my own personal problems at work."

"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."

"This course should be taken by anyone who plans to enter the workforce, either as an employee or employer"

"This course was an excellent investment. I got a wealth of useful and up-to-date inputs about the Employment Laws. I will recommend this course to any person interested in the subject."

"This course was just what I needed. I am a full time employee and have just opened up my own business that requires lots of time and dedication. With these type courses it helps me to be spread my time for all three events taking place! Thank you!"

"This course was very helpful to me with my own business. I will be able to have my notebook on hand if I need to look at it another time for reference. This is an area that is very much needed in today’s world. Thanks!"

"This course was very informative. I will use the information obtained immediately. Thanks for a professional job."

"This has been the most valuable class that I have ever taken. I found myself in a situation where the question of employee or contract labor was the issue and the knowledge I learned in this class helped me to be successful in providing the necessary evidence. Thank you for the opportunity. This class and the instructor were super! I would recommend this class to every student who plans to be an employee or employer. Thank you!"

"This instructor has mastered the art of teaching an online course, and I learned a lot. The discussion area was the best of any online course I've taken, and the assignments were meaningful."

"This is the 1st on line course I have completed and look forward to registering for more course topics. I find the content style using scenarios very helpful in applying and learning more about employment law. Thank you and best wishes."

"This was a great course. I look forward to taking more of them."

"This was a great course. Really helped me with my job."

"This was an excellent course. I owned my own business and found there were a lot of things I didn't know and should have known. The instructor really helped with questions and gave addition places to do further research if I was interested in looking deeper. This was great I'm sorry I'm finished with this course. I will find others through this website. Thanks for the new knowledge."

"This was a terrific course and I would recommend it to everyone in the management field! A must! Ms. Nevers' lessons were excellent! Thank you!!!!"

"This was a very informative class on the basics of Employment Law. A good place to start and an excellent resource guide. I would highly recommend it to others who are interested in gaining knowledge to further their qualifications in this field."

"This was excellent coverage of a very broad and complicated subject. I loved the use of examples - it really helped me absorb the concepts. I never felt bored or overwhelmed with the lessons; they were all very digestible and interesting. The instructor responded to the discussions very quickly, and I really appreciated that. I also feel that each response furthered the lesson in a way that was customized to each of our individual situations and focuses."

"This was from first on-line course and I found it to be very easy, informative and interesting. Even if you are 40+ years old it's never to late to learn; the school and the instructor made it easy to do!"

"This was my first online class and I’ve really enjoyed taking this class, I found the lessons easy to understand and have gained a lot of information from it. Ms. Nevers is an excellent Teacher, and I look forward to taking another online class."

"This was my first on-line course. I found it easy to navigate, informative, and helpful. I have already enrolled in a 2nd on-line course. Thank you."

"This was the first online class that I have taken. I was impressed with it. The instructor for this class was very good. She really seemed to know the subject. When I approached my boss about the course, he thought it looked worth trying. No one in the department had taken a class this way. He said if I thought it was a good class, he would allow others to take classes. I am going to tell him I would recommend these classes."

"This was the first online course that I have taken and enjoyed it. Very useful. Thanks for the many web sites that I can utilize in my job area. I was able to fit this into my busy schedule from the office or comfort of my home. Works for me.."

"Very good class and I really appreciated the timeliness and detail of the instructor's feedback. I think my chapter files will be a great resource for all future jobs."

"Very good class. I liked the use of examples. Thank you."

"Very good class. It was very helpful in understanding the employment laws that I hear about every day in my current job. Thank you."

"Very informative !! I learned things I didn't know and the reason I took this course , of course, was to learn. I would certainly take another one."

"Very Informative. Written in plain English. I would recommend this course to anyone who needs a brush up on Employment Law."

"Wonderful instructor, I would definitely take another course from her. I've done and am doing other on-line classes from other schools and this is the best one."