Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

In this definition, major life activities include—but are not limited to—seeing, hearing, speaking,
walking, breathing, learning, working, performing manual tasks, and caring for oneself.
Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations or modifications that help
impaired individuals in completing essential functions of a job. Reasonable accommodations
or modifications are identified as adjustments to a job or the work environment that will allow
a qualified disabled person to perform essential job functions if these accommodations do not
create undue hardship. With respect to the provision of an accommodation, undue hardship is
defined as significant difficulty or expense incurred by a covered entity.
As related to nutrition and food service, department directors are required to consider
carefully what are outlined in job descriptions as essential job functions and what could be
reassigned so as to provide reasonable accommodations. During an interview, neither employers
nor their representatives can ask whether an applicant has a disability, but they may ask
whether the applicant can perform the job with or without accommodation.
Compensation and Benefits Legislation
Several important federal laws regulate how employers pay their employees and provide
employee benefits. The following subsections briefly describe this body of legislation.
Social Security Act of 1935
The Social Security Act of 1935 created a system of retirement benefits. The act established a
federal payroll tax to fund unemployment and retirement benefits. Employers are required to
share equally with employees the cost of old age, survivors, and disability insurance. Employers
are required to pay the full cost of unemployment insurance.
Social Security provides retirement income to people who retired at age 62 in 2000; the
retirement age will be increased gradually until 2007, when it reaches age 66. After stabilizing
at this age for a period of time, it will again increase in 2027, when it reaches age 67.
For people who become disabled and cannot work for at least twelve months, Social
Security provides a monthly income comparable to retirement benefits.
Medicine is a part of the Social Security program that provides health insurance coverage
for people aged 65 and older. Medicare has two parts: Part A covers hospital costs, and Part B
covers medical expenses. People pay an annual deduction for Parts A and B.
Survivors’ benefits are paid to the deceased employee’s family members if they qualify.
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), also called the Wage and Hour Law, requires all organizations
covered by the act to pay nonsalaried employees at least the minimum wage, an hourly
wage that is fixed by the federal government and is considered to be the lowest wage on which
an individual can live under current economic conditions. The federal minimum wage was
$4.25 per hour in 1993. However, in August 1993, a bill introduced in Congress raised the
federal minimum wage to $4.50 and further increases would be tied to the rate of inflation.
Congress sets the minimum wage for nonexempt employees. States may have a legal rate that
is higher than the federal rate; where such laws exist, the higher rate prevails.
The FLSA defines two categories of employees: exempt and nonexempt. Exempt employees
include professional, executive, administrative, and outside sales jobs. The Department of
Labor provides guidelines to determine if a job is exempt or nonexempt. Exempt employees are
not covered by the provision of the FLSA. Nonexempt employees are covered by the FLSA.
Nonexempt employees who are paid an hourly salary must be paid overtime at the rate for the
number of hours worked beyond 40 hours in one week. The usual overtime rate is time and a
half. Congress is in the process of redefining overtime, the rate of pay, and employees who are
eligible to receive overtime pay.
Human Resource Management
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