Law Commons^™

Pre-Dispute Mandatory Arbitration In Employment Agreements, Bahareh (Bee) Moradi

Upper Level Writing Requirement Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Women, Unions, And Negotiation, Nicole B. Porter

Faculty Publications

In a period when union membership is at an all-time low (at least in the private sector), some (or perhaps many) people have given up hope that the labor movement can be revived. I believe that the labor movement still has the potential to be successful but needs to be re-imagined and reinvigorated. One way (among many) of doing this is to increase women's attachment to the labor movement. Now that women comprise nearly 47 percent of the workforce, it makes sense to have a concentrated effort to increase their union participation.

Not only will more women in unions increase …

Choices, Bias, And The Value Of The Paycheck Fairness Act: A Response Essay, Nicole B. Porter

Faculty Publications

In the previous article written by Gary Siniscalco, Lauri Damrell, and Clara Morain Nabity [The Pay Gap, the Glass Ceiling, and Pay Bias: Moving Forward Fifty Years After the Equal Pay Act], the authors argue that the pay gap is not primarily caused by employer discrimination, but rather can be attributed to many factors, including the "glass ceiling" and choices made by women regarding occupation, caregiving, and commitment to the workforce. Thus, they argue that we should not place blame on employers and focus on the reach of anti-discrimination laws, and should instead acknowledge that there is a …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Debord V. Mercy Health System Of Kansas, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2664 (2014) (No. 13-1118), 2014 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs Lexis 1120, Eric Schnapper, Mark A. Buchanan

Court Briefs

QUESTION PRESENTED

Section 704(a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids an employer to retaliate against any employee because that worker "opposed" unlawful discrimination.

The question presented is:

Does section 704(a) prohibit retaliation against a worker because of the worker's statements:

(1) only when the statements are made to the worker's own employer or to federal or state anti-discrimination agencies (the rule in the Tenth and Fourth Circuits), or (2) also when the worker's statements are made to any other person (the rule in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits)?

Employee Rights: If Nobody Knows, Who Cares?, Lee Howery

GGU Law Review Blog

No abstract provided.

What's So Reasonable About Reasonableness? Rejecting A Case Law-Centered Approach To Title Vii's Reasonable Belief Doctrine, Matthew W. Green Jr.

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The article critiques recent application of the reasonable belief doctrine under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision, in pertinent part, provides that “it shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of his employees … because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice [under Title VII].” Literally read, the provision requires that an employee oppose a practice Title VII actually makes unlawful. If the employee does so and is retaliated against, the statute affords the employee relief. While the U.S. courts of appeals have …

Slides: “Human Sustainability” In Natural Resources Industries: The New Frontier In Compliance, Social Responsibility, Disclosure, And Transparency, T. Markus Funk

Natural Resource Industries and the Sustainability Challenge (Martz Winter Symposium, February 27-28)

Presenter: T. Markus Funk, Partner, Perkins Coie

21 slides

A Nation At Waste: The Long-Term Unemployed And Job Discrimination, Hina Shah

Publications

No abstract provided.

Investment Treaties And Industrial Policy: Select Case Studies On State Liability For Efforts To Encourage, Shape And Regulate Economic Activities In Extractive Industries And Infrastructure, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

This paper, prepared in connection with a February 2014 conference organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, discusses some of the implications that investment treaties have for investments in infrastructure and the extractive industries. It focuses on liability for government conduct (1) in connection with tenders and negotiations; (2) when responding to questions regarding the legality of the investment; (3) in using performance requirements to leverage benefits and capture spillovers from the investment; (4) changing the legal framework governing an investment in response to evolving needs, circumstances, and interests; (5) administering the investment; and (6) requesting, and responding to …

Paid Leave In Mississippi: Analysis And Recommendations, Harvard Law School Mississippi Delta Project

Delta Directions: Publications

Although federal law guarantees many workers the right to take unpaid medical leave, workers currently have no federal right to paid leave. This means that many workers cannot afford to take leave to recover from an illness or seek medical care for themselves or their dependents. The lack of paid leave also poses significant costs for communities by discouraging the use of preventative care, spreading disease, decreasing employee performance, and increasing employee turnover. While some state and local governments around the country have tried to address these problems by passing laws that require employers to provide paid sick leave, Mississippi …

Legislating Incentives For Attorney Representation In Civil Rights Litigation, Douglas M. Spencer, Sean Farhang

Faculty Articles and Papers

Congress routinely relies on private lawsuits to enforce its mandates. In this article, we investigate whether, when it does so, the details of the legislation can importantly influence the extent to which the private bar is mobilized to carry out the prosecutorial function. Using an original and novel data set based on review of archived litigation documents for cases filed in the Northern and Eastern Districts of California over the two decades spanning 1981-2000, we examine the effects of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which increased economic damages available to Title VII job discrimination plaintiffs, on their ability to …

Trilogy Redux: Using Arbitration To Rebuild The Labor Movement, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes the possibility of creating a program to provide representation to workers bound to arbitrate their legal disputes with their employers, while at the same time building a movement to challenge the practice of compulsory arbitration and its impact on workers' rights. First, I briefly review the Supreme Court's recent arbitration jurisprudence and its impact on workers, with a particular focus on the limitations on class actions. Then I move to a discussion of the advantages and challenges to the creation of such a program. Finally, I examine some alternative visions of what such a program might look …

Lessons From The Dolphins/Richie Incognito Saga, Kerri Lynn Stone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Brief For Bishopaccountability.Org Et Al. As Amici Curiae In Support Of Cert. Petition, John Doe B.P. V. Catholic Diocese Of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

League Of Ownership Of Teams, Conflicts Of Interest, And Personnel Exchanges, Lewis Kurlantzick

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

What Is Troubling About The Tortification Of Employment Discrimination Law?, William Corbett

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Urban Decay, Austerity, And The Rule Of Law, Brent T. White

Publications

Detroit has failed and its infrastructure is crumbling. But Detroit is not an isolated case. It is a paradigmatic example of increasing urban decay across the United States. While commentators have warned that the declining state of the country's infrastructure threatens U.S. prosperity, there is a bigger issue at stake. Decaying urban environments jeopardize the rule of law, undermining the very foundation of the social contract. This Article shows that the strength of the rule of law in a given country can be predicted by that government's ability (or inability) to provide public services-particularly, a livable urban environment. When urban …

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us: Defining The Line Between Personal And Professional Context On Social Media, 35 Pace L. Rev. 398 (2014), Raizel Liebler, Keidra Chaney

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow individuals and companies to connect directly and regularly with an audience of peers or with the public at large. These websites combine the audience-building platforms of mass media with the personal data and relationships of in-person social networks. Due to a combination of evolving user activity and frequent updates to functionality and user features, social media tools blur the line of whether a speaker is perceived as speaking to a specific and presumed private audience, a public expression of one’s own personal views, or a representative viewpoint of an entire …

Plaintiffs’ Comments On Defendant’S Remand Results And Motion For Second Remand, Former Employees Of Boeing Co. V. U.S. Sec'y Of Labor, Docket No. 1:13-Cv-00281-Gwc, 6 F.Supp.3d 1348 (United States Court Of International Trade 2014), Steven D. Schwinn

Court Documents and Proposed Legislation

No abstract provided.

Not My Job: Determining The Bounds Of Public Employee Protected Speech, Stephen Allred

Law Faculty Publications

This article reviews the Supreme Court’s rulings in public employee free speech cases, discusses the significant departure from precedent that Garcetti made to those cases, summarizes the Court’s most recent ruling in Lane, and argues that the Court should return to the broader standard the Court originally announced in Pickering.

“Liking” The Social Media Revolution, Thaddeus A. Hoffmeister

School of Law Faculty Publications

As in other areas of society, social media has significantly influenced the law. Currently, civil and criminal cases can, and often do, turn on an attorney's understanding and use of social media. In the realm of family law, most practitioners view social media as an essential tool-one that could serve as grounds for malpractice if ignored. Even in legal academia-an area long resistant to change-law schools are starting to understand the impact of social media on the law and offer courses like Social Media and Criminal Law and Law and Social Media.

The goal of this essay is not to …

Hiding The Statute In Plain View: University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center V. Nassar, Michael J. Zimmer

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Title Vii’S Last Harrah: Can Discrimination Be Plausibly Pled?, Michael J. Zimmer

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Cultural Determinants Of Workplace Arbitration In The U.S. And Italy, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Although Italy and the United States are both advanced industrial economies, the law and practice of workplace arbitration differs significantly in the two countries. This Article explores those variations and analyzes the reasons lbr the divergent evolution of arbitration. The Article concludes that histon'cal and cultural differences in legal systems and labor and employment relations are explanatory forces. While the United States could provide a more balanced system of arbitration by learning from the Italian systems greater protection of workers, given the current reality neither system seems likely to undergo significant change in the near fiiture.

Workers Disarmed: The Campaign Against Mass Picketing And The Dilemma Of Liberal Labor Rights, Ahmed A. White

Publications

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, mass picketing, characterized by large numbers of workers congregating in common protest at or near their employers' establishments, emerged as a crucial weapon in a historic campaign by American workers to realize basic labor rights and build an enduring labor movement in the face of strident resistance from a powerful business community. So potent a weapon did mass picketing prove that these business interests, aided by allies at all levels of government, moved quickly to ban the tactic. From the real-world complexities of labor conflict, this coalition forged a simplistic, analytically dubious, but …

Unions & Campaign Finance Litigation, Charlotte Garden

Faculty Articles

Labor unions and federations, particularly the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), devote significant resources to litigating before the Supreme Court. This Supreme Court litigation frequently takes place in cases that reach far beyond labor law, meaning that unions help to shape the law governing many aspects of American society. Virtually no legal scholarship considers the role that unions play in these cases, and consequently there has been no systemic attention to the positions that unions take before the Supreme Court. Yet, unions’ litigation positions, especially before the Supreme Court, yield useful information about union strategies and priorities. …

Citizens United & The First Amendment Of Labor Law, Charlotte Garden

Faculty Articles

The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission sparked a widespread dialogue about the fundamental First Amendment right of free speech and the future of election spending. This article contributes to that dialogue with a focus on how the Citizens United decision affects labor unions. After explaining the Court's rationale in Citizens United, the author juxtaposes Citizens United with earlier cases concerning the First Amendment rights of labor unions. Specifically, the article explores inconsistencies in two areas: first, labor protest rights, as to which pre-Citizens United Supreme Court decisions upheld certain speaker-based restrictions on protest tactics; and …

Employment-Related Geographic Mobility In Canada And Collective Bargaining: A Report Prepared For The On The Move Partnership Research Team, Eric Tucker, Brendan Breckman Jowett

All Papers

Report prepared for: On the Move, Policy Component, July, 2014.

Rethinking Erisa's Promise Of Income Security In A World Of 401(K) Plans, Lawrence A. Frolik

Articles

This article discusses the evolution of retirement income funds from defined benefit packages to 401(k) and IRA accounts and how the changing dynamic has reshaped the way retirees think about post-retirement income. The article outlines the mechanics of 401(k) accounts and rollover IRAs in the post-retirement period and presents questions about the ability of retirees to successfully address the complex issues relating to investment choices including, what entity they entrust their savings to, the volume and source of distributions, and long-term sufficiency planning. The article suggests that an increase in the use of annuities may help to resolve some of …

The Law And Economics Of Corporate Social Responsibility And Greenwashing, Miriam A. Cherry

All Faculty Scholarship

In this symposium article, I explore the concept of greenwashing in more depth. In the first part of the article, I start with first principles, looking at the origins of greenwashing, its definitions, and identifying theeconomic incentives that lead firms into the practice. The second part of this article examines the legal structure that allows greenwashing to occur, and with it, explores the pervasiveness and extent ofgreenwashing. The third part of this article articulates the harms of greenwashing. Intuitively, greenwashing involves deception, falsity, and hypocrisy that reflexively seem problematic. Precisely identifying the actual harm inflicted by some forms of greenwashing, …