| Course | ACC 543 Managerial Accounting & Legal Aspects of Business (ACC/543) |
|---|---|
| Week | 6 |
| Paper type | Employment and environmental law paper |
| Length | about 1,193 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MS in Accounting |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for ACC 543 Week 6
Salaried Machinists Who Are Owed Overtime and a Factory Site That May Carry Someone Else's Pollution: Employment and Environmental Law for a Composite Precision Machining Company
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
ACC/543: Managerial Accounting & Legal Aspects of Business
Week 6 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The company, its employees and the property are composites written for a model paper; the law is stated generally from the sources listed and applies federal rules, which states may supplement.
A composite company machines aerospace and medical components with tight tolerances. It has grown from 60 to 145 employees in four years and needs a larger plant. This spring two issues reached the controller at once: a former employee's lawyer claimed that the company's salaried lead machinists were owed overtime, and the owners were negotiating to buy a 12-acre site that had housed an electroplating shop until 2004. Both issues are legal questions, but each ends as an accounting question: how much the company owes, and when it must say so. This paper analyzes both, stating federal rules that some states supplement.
The Overtime Claim
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, covered employers owe nonexempt workers an overtime premium of half again their regular rate for every hour past 40 in a workweek (29 U.S.C. § 207). Exemptions for executive, administrative and professional employees require that the employee be paid on a salary basis, at least a minimum salary level and perform qualifying primary duties. After a federal court vacated the Department of Labor's 2024 increase, the minimum in effect for 2025 is $684 a week.
The company pays its 14 lead machinists salaries of about $1,115 a week and treated them as exempt executives. They meet the salary tests. The duties test is the problem. An exempt executive's primary duty must be managing the enterprise or a recognized department, directing the work of at least two full-time employees and having authority, or significant input, on hiring and firing. The lead machinists spend most of their time programming and running machines, direct one or two machinists informally and have no role in hiring. Their primary duty is production work. They are nonexempt and were owed overtime.
Estimating the Exposure
Time clock records, kept for safety access rather than pay, show the lead machinists averaged about six hours of overtime a week. Their regular rate is about $27.90 an hour, so the overtime premium they should have received is about $41.85 an hour for those hours, or about $250 a week each. The statute of limitations is two years, or three for willful violations. For two years, back pay for 14 employees is about $364,000. The statute also provides liquidated damages equal to back pay unless the employer shows good faith and reasonable grounds, plus the employees' attorney fees. Total exposure is roughly $730,000 to $1.1 million, depending on willfulness and fees.
The company reclassified the lead machinists as nonexempt immediately, began paying overtime and, on counsel's advice, is negotiating a settlement. For its statements, the loss is probable and can be estimated within a range; the company accrued $730,000, the low end, with disclosure of the possible additional amount.
Other Employment Obligations
With more than 15 employees, the company is covered by Title VII, which bars employment decisions based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, sex and national origin, and by the Americans with Disabilities Act; with more than 20, by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This year a machinist with a back injury asked to avoid lifting parts heavier than 30 pounds. The disability law requires a reasonable accommodation unless it would impose undue hardship; the company provided a lift assist at a cost of $4,800 and adjusted assignments. Workplace safety rules require guarding on machines to protect operators, and a safety audit found two older lathes with missing guards, which were repaired. Employment remains at will, but exceptions for public policy (Cheeseman, 2019), implied contracts and retaliation mean terminations should be documented. Autor (2003) found that state court exceptions to at-will employment were associated with increased use of temporary staffing, one sign of how employment law shapes business choices.
Preventing a Repeat
The company adopted three controls to prevent another misclassification. Human resources now reviews every new salaried position against the duties tests before an offer is made, with outside counsel reviewing borderline cases. Timekeeping, previously used only for building access, now records hours for all employees, exempt or not, so that any pattern of long hours in a classification can be seen. And the controller reviews classification annually when salaries change. The cost of these steps is small compared with a two- or three-year back pay claim that doubles with liquidated damages.
The Plating Shop Site
The federal cleanup law for hazardous substances makes current owners and operators of contaminated property, among others, liable for cleanup costs, regardless of fault, and the liability can be joint and several (42 U.S.C. § 9607). A company that buys contaminated land can become liable for pollution left by a prior owner. The law provides a defense for bona fide prospective purchasers who, among other requirements, make all appropriate inquiries into the property's past uses before acquiring it and then comply with continuing obligations, such as cooperating with regulators and taking reasonable steps to stop releases.
The standard way to perform all appropriate inquiries is a Phase I environmental site assessment following the industry standard practice (ASTM International, 2021). The company's consultant reviewed historical records, aerial photographs, regulatory databases and interviews and inspected the site. The Phase I found a recognized environmental condition: the plating shop had used chromium and cyanide solutions, and a former drain line led to an unlined ditch. A Phase II investigation with soil and groundwater samples found chromium above state cleanup standards in one area.
Why Buyers Accept the Risk
The site is attractive despite its history: it is zoned for industry, sits near the interstate and costs about a third less than comparable clean land. Many former industrial sites are redeveloped this way, often through state voluntary cleanup programs that provide a letter or certificate when remediation is complete, limiting future state enforcement. The company's lender required the Phase I and Phase II reports and the state's certificate as conditions of the construction loan, since contamination could impair the value of its collateral.
Shaping the Deal and the Accounting
With the Phase II results, the company negotiated three protections: a price reduction of $600,000, the seller's agreement to complete remediation under the state's voluntary cleanup program before closing, with an escrow of $400,000, and an indemnity for preexisting contamination. Because the company completed all appropriate inquiries before closing and will meet continuing obligations, it expects to qualify as a bona fide prospective purchaser. It will not record a remediation liability, since the cleanup obligation remains with the seller, but it will disclose the site's history and the indemnity, and the purchase price allocated to land will reflect the reduction.
Conclusion
The company misclassified its lead machinists as exempt because their duties were production rather than management, creating an overtime exposure of roughly $730,000 to $1.1 million, now accrued at the low end and disclosed. Its other employment obligations were reviewed and addressed. Before buying a contaminated plating site, it performed all appropriate inquiries, used the findings to reduce the price and secure cleanup and an indemnity and preserved its defense to cleanup liability. Both legal analyses ended in accounting judgments.
References
ASTM International. (2021). Standard practice for environmental site assessments: Phase I environmental site assessment process (ASTM E1527-21).
Autor, D. H. (2003). Outsourcing at will: The contribution of unjust dismissal doctrine to the growth of employment outsourcing. Journal of Labor Economics, 21(1), 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1086/344122
Cheeseman, H. R. (2019). Business law: Legal environment, online commerce, business ethics, and international issues (10th ed.). Pearson.
29 U.S.C. § 207 (2018).
42 U.S.C. § 9607 (2018).
What the ACC 543 Week 6 instructions ask
ACC 543 Week 6 turns to legal issues in employment and the environment and how they affect a business's finances. Typical requirements include employment at will and its exceptions, wage and hour law and overtime exemptions, antidiscrimination laws such as Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, workplace safety under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the federal cleanup law for hazardous substances, including liability of property owners. Prompts commonly describe one company facing several of these issues at once. Answers should apply each rule to the facts, estimate costs where possible and cite the statutes, a business law text and research in APA form.
How this ACC 543 Week 6 example is built
A machining company that is growing fast meets both bodies of law at once: its payroll grew faster than its human resources practices, and it is buying land for a larger plant. The paper applies the overtime exemption tests to a group of salaried employees, estimates the exposure and describes the fix. It then covers the other employment laws the company must observe, with one accommodation request as an example. The environmental section explains why a buyer of contaminated land can be liable for cleanup it did not cause and how pre-purchase investigation provides a defense. Each section ends with the accounting consequence, such as an accrual or a disclosure.
ACC 543 Week 6 grading rubric: where the points go
For this final week, instructors typically weigh accurate legal rules, correct application to the facts and practical advice tied to financial consequences. Faculty check that overtime exemptions are analyzed with both the salary tests and the duties test, that damages reflect the statute's back pay and liquidated damages provisions, that accommodation duties are described accurately and that environmental liability is explained as strict, joint and several for current owners with defenses requiring pre-purchase inquiry. Connecting findings to accruals, disclosures or deal terms shows the accountant's perspective. Clear structure and citation of statutes, regulations, texts and research round out the grade.
ACC 543 Week 6 help: mistakes to avoid
In ACC 543 Week 6, many drafts assume that a salary alone makes an employee exempt from overtime. The duties test matters as much as salary; employees who mainly do production work are usually nonexempt. Another is assuming a buyer is safe from cleanup liability because it did not cause the pollution; current owners can be liable, and the defense requires investigation before purchase. Students also list laws without applying them to the facts. Use the company's situation for each rule. Estimate the dollar exposure where possible, showing the rate, hours and period used. Note that states may add stricter rules. Finally, describe the accounting treatment of each exposure.
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ACC 543 Week 6 questions, answered
What does ACC/543 Week 6 usually cover?
It usually covers legal aspects of employment, such as wage and hour law, antidiscrimination and safety rules, and environmental law, including the liability of property owners for contamination.
Where can I find a free ACC 543 Week 6 sample paper?
A machining company's overtime exposure and contaminated site purchase are analyzed on this page with margin notes, free to read. Give us the scenario from your course and your first graduate draft is free.
Are salaried employees exempt from overtime?
Not automatically. Under federal law, most exemptions require a minimum salary paid on a salary basis and job duties that are primarily executive, administrative or professional.
Can a buyer be liable for contamination it did not cause?
Yes. Under federal cleanup law, current owners of contaminated property can be strictly liable, but a buyer that performs all appropriate inquiries before purchase and meets continuing obligations may qualify for a defense.
What is a Phase I environmental site assessment?
A review of a property's history, records, site conditions and interviews, following an industry standard, to identify recognized environmental conditions before a purchase.
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