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Full-Text Articles in Law
A Structural-Purposive Interpretation Of “Employment” In The Platform Economy, E. Gary Spitko
A Structural-Purposive Interpretation Of “Employment” In The Platform Economy, E. Gary Spitko
Florida Law Review
The considerable growth of the platform economy has focused attention on the issue of whether a provider engaged through a transaction platform should be classified as an employee of the platform operator, and therefore within the purview of workplace protective legislation or as an independent contractor, thus outside the scope of such legislation’s protections. This Article focuses specifically on whether the operator’s reservation of the right to impose quality control standards on the provider ought to give rise to employment obligations running in favor of the provider and against the operator. This narrow issue is of great importance to the …
The Declining Fortunes Of American Workers: Six Dimensions And An Agenda For Reform, Stephen F. Befort
The Declining Fortunes Of American Workers: Six Dimensions And An Agenda For Reform, Stephen F. Befort
Florida Law Review
At the turn of the century, I undertook an assessment of the then-current state of workplace rights and obligations. I concluded that the balance of power between employers and workers was “badly skewed” in favor of employers. This Article revisits that topic for the purpose of assessing twenty-first-century trends through the lens of six workplace dimensions. They are: workforce attachment, union–management relations, employment security, income inequality, balancing work and family, and retirement security. An examination of these dimensions reveals that the status of U.S. workers has significantly declined during the first sixteen years of the twenty-first century. This Article then …
Mainstreaming Employment Contract Law: The Common Law Case For Reasonable Notice Of Termination, Rachel Arnow-Richman
Mainstreaming Employment Contract Law: The Common Law Case For Reasonable Notice Of Termination, Rachel Arnow-Richman
Florida Law Review
This Article simultaneously exposes a fundamental error in employment termination doctrine and a paradox in contract law jurisprudence. Contemporary employment law has developed under the assumption that at-will parties may terminate their relationship both without reason and without notice. This Article argues that the second half of this formulation—the idea that parties reserve the procedural right to terminate without notice—is neither historically supported nor legally correct. Employment at will, as originally expressed, was a mere duration presumption reflecting America’s rejection of the predominant British rule favoring one-year employment terms. While subsequent case law expanded the presumption in various ways, a …
Illusory Protection: The Fifth Circuit’S Misguided Interpretation Of Title Vii’S Anti-Retaliation Provision In Hernandez V. Yellow Transportation, Inc., William C. Matthews
Illusory Protection: The Fifth Circuit’S Misguided Interpretation Of Title Vii’S Anti-Retaliation Provision In Hernandez V. Yellow Transportation, Inc., William C. Matthews
Florida Law Review
After Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White resolved the issue of what constitutes an “adverse action” under the Title VII anti-retaliation statute, the scope of employer liability was substantially broadened. The Supreme Court’s decision reinforced the broad intent behind the anti-retaliation statute and acknowledged the statute’s remedial purpose. The Fifth Circuit, however, has been reluctant to expand employer liability as evidenced through its interpretation of the “adverse action” prong relating to coworker harassment. More specifically, the Fifth Circuit’s “In Furtherance” standard, which is used to judge whether an employer is liable for coworker harassment in retaliation for …
Fact Sheet #71: Shortchanging The Unpaid Academic Intern, Patricia L. Reid
Fact Sheet #71: Shortchanging The Unpaid Academic Intern, Patricia L. Reid
Florida Law Review
On the eve of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s seventy-fifth anniversary, unpaid academic internships threaten to outpace government regulation and undermine opportunities for gainful employment. Although coveted by students eager to fill a line on their résumé, unpaid academic internships are a subspecies of unpaid internships that might soon face extinction. While the advent of unpaid internship litigation decreases the likelihood that employers will plead ignorance of the law when they defend against disgruntled unpaid interns, recent litigation does little to clear up a half-century of contradictory case law. The only certainty that surrounds the legal status of unpaid academic …
Mutual Marginalization: Individuals With Disabilities And Workers With Caregiving Responsibilities, Nicole Buonocore Porter
Mutual Marginalization: Individuals With Disabilities And Workers With Caregiving Responsibilities, Nicole Buonocore Porter
Florida Law Review
This Article explores the marginalization of two groups of employees—individuals with disabilities and workers with caregiving responsibilities. One might argue that these two groups have little in common. However, while these groups are not perfectly aligned, they do have much in common in the workplace. First, these employees are unable to consistently meet their employers’ expectations of an “ideal worker.” Thus, they often must seek adjustments or modifications in the workplace to accommodate for their failure to conform to the ideal-worker norm. The need for accommodation causes both groups of employees to suffer from “special-treatment stigma,” which manifests itself in …
The Tort Label, Sandra F. Sperino
The Tort Label, Sandra F. Sperino
Florida Law Review
Courts and commentators often label federal discrimination statutes as torts. The tort label leads to reasoning that is superficial and not transparent about its motivations and goals. Courts do not engage in nuanced discussions about the kind of reasoning they are using or the values they are prioritizing in reaching the result. Importantly, the tort label gives the appearance that the courts are engaging in a form of traditional analysis that is noncontroversial. This Article argues that multiple claims courts make about the employment discrimination statutes related to the tort label are so baseless that they do not even reach …
The Forgotten Role Of Consent In Defamation And Employment Reference Cases, Alex B. Long
The Forgotten Role Of Consent In Defamation And Employment Reference Cases, Alex B. Long
Florida Law Review
As has been well documented, the fear of defamation suits and related claims lead many employers to refuse to provide meaningful employment references. However, an employer who provides a negative reference concerning an employee enjoys a privilege in an ensuing defamation action if the employee has consented to the release of information concerning the employee’s job performance. Thus, many attorneys now advise prospective employers to have applicants sign consent agreements, permitting the prospective employer to conduct an investigation into the applicant’s work history and releasing from liability anyone who provides information about the employee’s work history. The Restatement (Second) of …
Social Media And The Workplace: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Privacy Settings And The Nlrb, Kathleen Carlson
Social Media And The Workplace: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Privacy Settings And The Nlrb, Kathleen Carlson
Florida Law Review
Social media has permeated every aspect of society. The use of social media can easily lead to issues in an employment law context when employees suffer adverse employment actions based on the information they choose to share via their personal social media websites. Today’s laws concerning online privacy are in a nebulous state and have led some observers to suggest that employees who use social media may not find adequate legal protection from wrongful termination. This Note refutes this contention by analyzing current laws that may protect employees from adverse employment actions due to their use of social media. This …
To Enforce A Privacy Right: The Sovereign Immunity Canon And The Privacy Act’S Civil Remedies Provision After Cooper, Daniel J. Dimatteo
To Enforce A Privacy Right: The Sovereign Immunity Canon And The Privacy Act’S Civil Remedies Provision After Cooper, Daniel J. Dimatteo
Florida Law Review
In 2005, a joint investigation between separate government agencies revealed that Stanmore Cooper, a pilot, failed to disclose to the Federal Aviation Administration that he was HIV positive. Cooper sued the agencies in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that they violated the Privacy Act by disclosing his medical records to one another without his consent. Alleging that the unlawful disclosure of his condition caused him severe emotional distress, Cooper sought monetary relief under the Privacy Act’s civil remedies provision, which establishes a cause of action against the government for “actual damages.” The dispositive …
Clicking Away Confidentiality: Workplace Waiver Of Attorney-Client Privilege, Adam C. Losey
Clicking Away Confidentiality: Workplace Waiver Of Attorney-Client Privilege, Adam C. Losey
Florida Law Review
Barbara Hall, an administrative assistant, often arrives at work an hour and a half early solely to check her personal e-mails on her employer’s computer. Afterwards, “[i]n the grand tradition of Chekhov, or perhaps ‘Days of Our Lives,’ Barbara Hall carries on a dialogue throughout the workday with her two daughters, both of whom work at an event-planning company in Cleveland and use its e-mail system for such exchanges.” When she gets home from work, Barbara continues to use her workplace e-mail account to send personal e-mails. Barbara Hall and her daughters are not alone. The average employee is estimated …