Whenever an employer utilizes employees in order to achieve the goals of the workplace, the employer must deal with the legal consequences of having employees. Consequently, the employer must address federal laws which apply to its employees. In addition, there are state based laws, which frequently mirror the federal laws and provide for enhanced employee protections. Thus, it is necessary for the employer to be aware of these obligations and take all appropriate legal steps to adhere to the law. Employee laws include laws which related to compensation, discrimination, benefits, union activities, medical and family leave job protection, job safety, workers' compensation, garnishment of wages, use of employee polygraph tests and more. The goal of these laws is to provide for employee to have certain guaranteed protections while in the workplace and to avoid the abuse of workers by employers.