Law Commons^™

The Transformation Of The Professional Workforce, Marion Crain

Chicago-Kent Law Review

For professionals, work is not a commodity to be sold on the market, but a calling that constitutes personal identity while simultaneously conferring a relatively privileged class status. Historically, the professions avoided commodification through a social bargain in which they exchanged their professional expertise and dedication to public service for autonomy, the ability to self-regulate through peer review, and monopoly power over their knowledge base. Over the last twenty-five years, market instability and technological development have fundamentally altered the conditions under which this social bargain was formed, and the professional class has been transformed from self-employed to salaried employee status. …

Recovering Retirement Security: An Analysis Of The Lockdown Claims Under Erisa, As Illustrated By The Enron Litigation, Margo Eberlein

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Note discusses Enron's lockdown of its 401(k) plan, the effect this decision had on Enron employees' pension funds, and the legal implications of this decision under the current statutory framework, ERISA. It describes the lawsuit filed by Enron employees in an attempt to recover some of the lost funds, as well as the probability of success for that action specifically and similar actions under ERISA in the future.

Commentary: Organized Professionals Can Be Effective Producers, Robert M. Tobias

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Changing World Of Employee Benefits, Maria O'Brien Hylton

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The employee benefits picture, at least for many plan participants and some plan sponsors, is a scary and bleak one. The number of workers with pension coverage is declining, health insurance rates are rising much faster than the rate of inflation, and the number of uninsured continues to rise as well. The decline in union density, the recent boost given by the U.S. Supreme Court to Any Willing Provider ("AWP") laws, and the deluge of recent benefits-related scandals are also all part of this landscape. This Article examines each of these issues, with a focus on reforms that would increase …

Commentary: Is It Time To Take The Broom And Really Clean House? A New Paradigm For Employee Benefits, Mary Ellen Signorille

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reasonable Accommodation Under The Ada: Are Employers Required To Participate In The Interactive Process? The Courts Say "Yes" But The Law Says "No", John R. Autry

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") generally requires employers to "reasonably accommodate" a "qualified" employee's disability. Unfortunately, the ADA is silent as to the appropriate method for fashioning reasonable accommodations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued regulations endorsing an "interactive process" by which an employer and its "qualified" disabled employee work together to devise the proper accommodation. However, the Supreme Court has yet to determine whether courts must defer to these regulations, leaving the circuit courts of appeals to issue differing opinions on whether the EEOC's interactive process is best characterized as a requirement or merely a suggestion.

Thus, …

State Employers Are Not Sovereign: By Analogy, Transfer The Market Participant Exception To The Dormant Commerce Clause To States As Employers, Lara Gardner

Chicago-Kent Law Review

States should be treated as market participants and not be given sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment when they are acting as private employers. Through an expansive reading of the Eleventh Amendment, the Supreme Court has restricted the right of state employees to sue under federal statutes intended to protect employees when the state is the employer and claims sovereign immunity. Under the market participant exception to the dormant Commerce Clause, if a state is acting as a market participant, rather than as a market regulator, it is no longer bound by the restraints of the Commerce Clause. The reasons …