Law Commons^™

Fallout From 14 Penn Plaza V. Pyett: Fractured Arbitration Systems In The Unionized Workplace, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

First, the article will review the history of arbitration of statutory employment claims, including the Pyett decision. Second, the article will look at the history and causes of legalism in arbitration. Then the article will consider the probable responses of employers and unions to Pyett. While predictions are necessarily speculative, it is likely that some unionized employers will seek to require employees to arbitrate statutory claims, perhaps in higher percentages than in the nonunion workplace. While unions may, and perhaps should, resist, many future collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) may contain such provisions. The article then discusses the alternative dispute resolution …

Lessons From The Laboratory: The Polar Opposites On The Public Sector Labor Law Spectrum, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Section I analyzes the legal framework and history of collective bargaining in Illinois, and Section II follows with a similar analysis for Virginia. Each section includes current data about public sector employees and union activity in the two states. Section III follows with a discussion of possible explanations for the differences in the law of the two states. Section IV looks at the lessons from this analysis for state and federal lawmakers, unions, employers, and labor relations advocacy groups.

Strategies For Combating Sexual Harassment: The Role Of Labor Unions, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article will discuss the role that unions do play and the role that they can play in eliminating workplace harassment. First, the article will discuss the problem of harassment in the workplace, documenting its frequency and analyzing its forms. Section II will include an examination of harassment in the unionized workplace. Section III will propose a number of reasons that unions should take the lead in addressing workplace harassment, some focused on workers' rights and others on union selfinterest. Finally, in Section IV, the article will recommend several approaches for unions that desire to be in the vanguard of …

Can Compulsory Arbitration Be Reconciled With Section 7 Rights?, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Employers are increasingly imposing arbitration agreements on their employees as a condition of employment. These agreements force the employees to arbitrate, rather than litigate, any legal claims arising out of their employment. For employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act, such agreements may impair their rights to engage in concerted activity, since litigation of employment claims is protected by Section 7. Employee rights to file class actions, consolidate claims, and seek broad injunctive relief are concerted actions that are particularly threatened by the move to compelled arbitration. The Article analyzes the impact of arbitration agreements on various forms of …

Judicial Review Of Arbitration Awards On Public Policy Grounds: Lessons From The Case Law, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

A review of the case law demonstrates that most of the labor arbitration awards challenged on public policy grounds involve reinstatement of discharged employees. This article analyzes 138 private sector federal cases in which labor arbitration ·awards have been contested on public policy grounds. All the cases reviewed are discharge cases in which arbitration awards reversing the terminations were challenged. The article attempts to determine the factors that influence courts to uphold or overturn arbitration awards. This analysis will provide assistance to arbitrators in writing opinions that are less subject to challenge, and to employers, unions, and their attorneys in …

The Americans With Disabilities Act In The Unionized Workplace, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the issues raised by application of the ADA in the organized employment setting. The Article begins with an overview of the statute and then analyzes its applicability in the unionized workplace. In addition to recommending changes in the statute and regulations to clarify the obligations of employers and unions under the ADA, the Article makes recommendations with respect to judicial interpretation of the statute in three major areas. In Sections III C through E, the Article analyzes the circumstances under which the union should be held liable for discrimination, recommending that courts assess liability based on the …

The Interplay Of Civil Service And Collective Bargaining Law In Public Sector Employee Discipline Cases, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article undertakes such a review with respect to one aspect of the potential conflict between merit systems and collective bargaining- employee discipline and the appeal of discipline decisions. Protection from arbitrary or unjust discipline is a primary motivation for employee unionization. As a result, achieving protection from unjust disciplinary action becomes a fundamental goal of unions in collective bargaining. Public sector unions in the United States are particularly interested in "discipline, grievance procedures and organizational due process"....

Section IV of this article reviews the approaches of the various states that have addressed the issue, analyzing them in light of …

The Steelworkers Trilogy In The Public Sector, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article will examine the role of the Trilogy principles, including the public policy exception, in judicial enforcement of arbitration agreements in the public sector. First the article will review the applicable law in the private sector regarding judicial arbitration enforcement. Then, the article will discuss the role of the courts in public sector arbitration, concluding that while courts frequently pay lip service to the Trilogy principles, in reality they often fail to apply them. Finally, the article will analyze the arguments for and against application of the deferential Trilogy standards in the public sector in light of the distinctive …