This is the first of five assignments in this class that will build upon each other and culminate in a final project due in the final week of class.

You will start by choosing any currently controversial employment law issue. “Controversial” in this sense means a law or policy that lacks consensus in the employment world regarding overall propriety, application, cost, liability, etc. Many examples are discussed in the lesson material for this course, but here are some simple examples. You are not limited to this list, and may choose another issue that satisfies the “controversial” standard if you prefer:

• How should employers aIDress the requirement to subsidize employee health insurance, as the Affordable Care Act requires?
• Should employers be permitted to refuse coverage for contraception in health insurance provisions for religious reasons?
• Should sexual orientation and/or gender identity be explicitly aIDed to the list of federally protected classes?
• Should aIDictions, obesity, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) be classified as disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act? (you would choose one condition)
• Should affirmative action be mandatory standard practice in hiring to avoid discrimination, inadvertent or otherwise?
• Should employers’ good faith reasons for criminal and credit checks trump any issues of disparate impact discrimination?
• Should employers be permitted to require access to and control over employees’ social media accounts as a prerequisite of employment?
• Should ‘right to work’ laws be expanded or eliminated?
• How should employers respond to President Obama’s executive order raising the salary threshold for overtime eligibility?
• Absent a subpoena, should employers be required to show that they are not engaged in gender-based pay discrimination?
• Should the United States follow the lead of other industrialized nations and amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide for paid leave?

After you’ve chosen an issue, for this assignment you will research three (3) peer-reviewed academic legal articles discussing the different sides of your issue, and review them in a paper. You may briefly summarize each of the articles, but be sure to focus on your assessment of any particularly strong or weak arguments on either side of the issue. Remember, the articles should be peer-reviewed academic articles; our APUS library will be your best resource for this. If you’re not sure what peer-reviewed articles are, or how to find them, our library can assist with this.

Submission Instructions:

This assignment should at a minimum contain 750 words of content (double spaced) and should be in APA format including a properly formatted cover page (abstracts are optional) and a reference page with at least three (3) NEW references (“new” here means references that you have not already used in previous assignments in this course). Providing aIDitional references to your assignments demonstrate your desire to conduct aIDitional research on the topic area, and can improve your research skills.

With all assignments, include properly formatted in-text citations within the body of your work for each of your listed references so the reader can ascertain your original thoughts or ideas as well as the portion of your work that is credited to credible sources. It is very important to identify work from other sources to ensure that proper credit is provided to researchers in the field. This assignment uses Turn It In for originality verification.

Submit the weekly written assignment as an MS Word attachment (.doc or .docx format). A recommended font is 12pt Times New Roman. DO NOT include discussion board answers with your formally written assignment submission.