Law Commons^™

Consider The Source: A Note On Public-Sector Union Expenditure Restrictions Upheld In Davenport V. Washington Education Association, Daniel A. Himebaugh

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Umass Boston – Brazilian Immigrant Center Partnership, Tim Sieber, C. Eduardo Siqueira, Natalicia Tracy, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Brazilian Immigrant Center (BIC) does organizing, advocacy and training to reduce marginalization of Brazilian immigrants, promoting their engagement as workers & civic participants. A worker’s center, BIC supports and defends workers’ rights under current state & US labor laws. BIC helps workers mediate complaints with employers, and refers others for class action suits, or intervention by the Mass. Attorney General or US Dept of Labor. A special focus at present is organizing mostly women domestic workers, and BIC has a new Law and Policy Clinic, a Domestic Worker Mediation Program, and an Immigration Justice Project staffed by two full-time …

Supporting Employment First: Assisting States In Achieving Improved Employment Outcomes For Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Cindy Thomas, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

A membership network of 29 states, the State Employment Leadership Network is a community of practice where members meet to connect, collaborate, and share information and lessons learned across state lines and system boundaries. Participating state agency officials build cross-community support for pressing employment-related issues and policies at state and federal levels. States commit to work together and engage in a series of activities to analyze key elements in their systems to improve the integrated employment outcomes for their citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Uncertain Impact Of Wal-Mart V. Dukes, Michael Harper

Faculty Scholarship

It has been less than two years since the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, 131 S.Ct. 2541 (2011). During this short period the Court’s opinion has been interpreted by numerous lower courts. It also, not surprisingly, has been the subject of a substantial amount of commentary in law reviews and numerous proposals for legislative reform to restore a promise of class action challenges to employment discrimination that the Dukes decision allegedly shattered. Drawing from this commentary, I would choose these two very different articles as useful guides for tracking the impact of Dukes on employment discrimination class …

Turning Back The Clock: The California Supreme Court's Decision In Mcclung V. Employment Development Department And The Difficulty Of Determining Legislative Intent In Retroactive Rulemaking , Jeffrey R. Groendal

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

Against the backdrop of McClung, this note will explore the principle of retroactivity, tracing its development at the national level in the U.S. Supreme Court and at the state level with respect to California courts. Part II of this note addresses the history and development of jurisprudence on retroactivity, focusing on the traditional roles of the Judicial and Legislative Branches and the major cases of both the U.S. Supreme Court and California courts on retroactivity. Part III sets out the facts of McClung. Part IV analyzes and critiques the court's opinions in McClung, with a separate analysis of the history …

An Overview Of Whistleblower Protection Claims At The United States Department Of Labor, William Dorsey

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This article gives an overview of whistleblower protection adjudications at the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges. Section I introduces the whistleblower protection statutes that give rise to the complaints adjudicated by the Secretary of Labor. Section II reviews earlier statutes that have protected employees from job retaliation and identifies several whistleblower statutes the Secretary of Labor does not administer, but refers to for guidance in interpreting and applying her employee protection programs; these statutes may permit judicial remedies. Section III familiarizes the reader with key concepts in whistleblower protection litigation. Among these are the need to …

Immigrant Labor And The Occupational Safety & Health Regime; Part I: A New Vision For Workplace Regulation, Jayesh Rathod

Jayesh Rathod

This article is the first in a series of three articles that together form a scholarly project that unearths the causes of recent trends in immigrant worker fatalities and injuries in the U.S., and presents recommendations for reversing it. The article examines how the history, structure, and operations of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have, at times, obscured the workplace safety concerns of immigrant workers and have left these workers with no meaningful voice in the regulatory process. The article presents a set of regulatory imperatives to guide OSHA’s future work with respect to immigrant workers. These …

Protecting Immigrant Workers Through Interagency Cooperation, Jayesh Rathod

Jayesh Rathod

Stephen Lee’s Monitoring Immigration Enforcement offers a promising prescription for resolving the long-standing tension between the workplace enforcement priorities of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and the efforts by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) to protect the rights of immigrant workers. Lee convincingly describes - often with the aid of rich historical examples - the origins of the chronic imbalance of power between DHS and the DOL, and the limitations of past efforts to synchronize the work of the respective agencies. Lee’s proposal for interagency coordination, in the form of ex ante monitoring by the DOL of worksite enforcement …

The Afl-Cio — Ndlon Agreement: Five Proposals For Advancing The Partnership, Jayesh M. Rathod

Jayesh Rathod

No abstract provided.

When Public Employees Speak Out On Issues Of Public Concern: The Applicability Of Pickering In Garcetti V. Ceballos, Jayne Chen

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

"Speak, Go Ahead, Speak, Speak": Chamber Of Commerce V. Brown's Effect On Employment Speech Regarding Unionization , Lauren Kadish

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This case note examines the analysis of the Supreme Court's holding in Chamber of Commerce. v. Brown and the effect the decision will have on the rights of employers to engage in noncoercive speech regarding unionization. Part II discusses the historical lineage of employer free speech guaranteed under the NLRA. Part III denotes the relevant facts and procedural history of the case and issues presented to the Supreme Court. Part IV analyzes both the majority and dissenting opinions regarding NLRA preemption over state regulations prohibiting the expenditure of state funds by employers to deter union organization. Finally, Part V considers …

The Supreme Court Retires Disparate Impact: Kentucky Retirement Systems V. Eeoc Validates The Disparate Treatment Theory Under The Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Molly Horan

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This case note explores the ramifications and effectiveness of the Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC decision. Part II discusses the historical background, progression, and development of the ADEA, as well as the theories used to analyze claims under the Act. Part III outlines the operative facts of Kentucky Retirement. Part IV dissects and analyzes the opinions of the majority and dissent. Part V examines the potential impact the Court's decision in Kentucky Retirement will have on employees, employers, and the judicial system. Finally, Part VI concludes this case note.

Participant, Pacem In Terris: After Fifty Years, Thomas Kohler

Thomas C. Kohler

No abstract provided.

Union Dues In The Public Sector: Legislative Changes And Legal Challenges, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

The economic crisis that began in 2008 led many states and localities to look for ways to reduce labor costs, which form a substantial portion of government budgets. Some state legislatures focused on collective bargaining laws, with Wisconsin being the most high profile example. Along with the restrictions on bargaining, a number of states moved to limit the collection of union dues. The limitations were not across the board, but primarily directed at either political expenditures of unions or at particular unions, most commonly education unions. Not surprisingly, the laws enacted were immediately subjected to legal challenge sinceunions, like every …

Vol. 30, No. 2, Ann C. Hodges

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Contents:

Union Dues in the Public Sector: Legislative Changes and Legal Challenges, by Ann C. Hodges

Recent Developments

What The Awards Tell Us About Labor Arbitration Of Employment Discrimination Claims, Ariana R. Levinson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article contributes to the debate over mandatory arbitration of employment-discrimination claims in the unionized sector. In light of the proposed prohibition on union waivers in the Arbitration Fairness Act, this debate has significant practical implications. Fundamentally, the Article is about access to justice. It examines 160 labor arbitration opinions and awards in employment-discrimination cases. The author concludes that labor arbitration is a forum in which employment-discrimination claims can be-and, in some cases, are-successfully resolved. Based upon close examination of the opinions and awards, the Article recommends legislative improvements in certain cases targeting statutes of limitations, compulsory process, remedies, class …

Redeeming A Lost Generation: "The Year Of Law School Litigation" And The Future Of The Law School Transparency Movement, Andrew S. Murphy

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Significant And Substantial: The History And Continuing Evolution Of One Of The Mine Safety And Health Administration's Principal Enforcement Tools, Maxwell Multer

West Virginia Law Review

The cornerstone of the graduated enforcement scheme enacted to ensure safety in America's mines, significant and substantial has long been one of the Mine Safety and Health Administration's principal enforcement tools. In the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, Congress mandated that when a federal mine inspector issues a citation for a violation of a mandatory health or safety standard, the inspector must indicate whether the violation is one that "could significantly and substantially contribute to the cause and effect of a mine safety or health hazard." While Congress provided minimal guidance as to what it intended and …

The Great Recession And The Pressure On Workplace Rights, Katherine S. Newman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This paper explores the impact of the Great Recession on the rights of workers in the U.S. and overseas. While secular trends in play before the economic downturn began had already eroded employment benefits and workers’ right, recent economic conditions have exacerbated conditions for workers. With the Great Recession have come record levels of long term unemployment, a rise in the number of involuntary part-time workers, and a growth in the already high rates of youth unemployment. All of these conditions, along with the decline of union representation, have placed downward pressure on wages and forced workers to give back …

Case Studies Of Emerging/Innovative Vocational Rehabilitation Agency Practices In Improving Employment Outcomes For Individuals With Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, Robert Burns, Kelly Haines, Elizabeth Porter, Heike Boeltzig-Brown, Susan Foley

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

The Vocational Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (VR-RRTC.org) based at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston partnered with national content experts to identify promising VR employment practices serving people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), the funding agency,requested an emphasis on identifying promising practices for people with mental illnesses and peoplewith intellectual disabilities/developmental disabilities, and to identify promising practices related to order of selection and the designation of most significant disability. This report provides a summary of four promising VR employment practices for persons with …

Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies Helping People With Psychiatric Disabilities Get Employed: How Far Have We Come? How Far Do We Have To Go?: Case Studies Of Promising Practices In Vocational Rehabilitation, Joseph Marrone, Mary Lynn Cala, Kelly Haines, Heike Boeltzig-Brown, Susan Foley

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

The final set of eight promising practices out of the 58 nominated practices are summarized here and then described inmore detail in the appendix. Each descriptive write up can be used independently and provides sufficient detail for review. A note from the VR RRTC Team: These are descriptions of practices in one snapshot of time. We acknowledge that by thetime we are able to produce asummary report, practices may have evolved or modified, and new practices may have emerged. For more specific details or up to date descriptions we advise going to the source, the state VR agencies, directly. We …

A Dilemma Of Doctrinal Design: Rights, Identity And The Work-Family Conflict, Lauren Sudeall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This symposium article suggests that with regard to the work-family conflict, we may have exhausted doctrine’s potential in setting a constitutional foundation for women to be treated as equals in the workplace and requiring that they not be discriminated against in the event that they decide to start a family. For purposes of this piece, those accomplishments constitute the first phase or “first generation” of progress. This article is concerned with how doctrine relates to “second generation” issues arising from the work-family conflict: how to balance work and family once some initial level of equality has been achieved; how to …

The Blame Game: How The Rhetoric Of Choice Blames The Achievement Gap On Women, Nicole B. Porter

Faculty Publications

In 2013, fifty years after the Equal Pay Act guaranteed women equal pay for equal work, almost fifty years since Title VII made discrimination based on sex unlawful, thirty-five years since the Pregnancy Discrimination Act made it unlawful to discriminate against women because of pregnancy, and nineteen years after the Family and Medical Leave Act provided twelve weeks of unpaid leave for some caregiving reasons, there is still a significant achievement gap between men and women in the workplace. Women still make less money, and rise more slowly and not as high in workplace hierarchies. Why? The common narrative states …

Intellectual Property And Employee Selection, Elizabeth A. Rowe

UF Law Faculty Publications

In today’s marketplace, companies from Disney to Hooters are increasingly integrating their image into the service that they provide. This has come to be known as “branded service.” The human wearing the trade dress merges with the brand image. When a company chooses this strategy to differentiate itself from its competitors in the marketplace, it will often incorporate some intellectual property, and the result then necessarily influences hiring decisions. If a business decides not to hire a prospective employee because she does not fit the company’s image, and that decision is challenged under the antidiscrimination laws, to what extent should …

“Rights Without Remedies”: Enforcing Employment Standards In Ontario By Maximizing Voice Among Workers In Precarious Jobs, Leah F. Vosko

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Workers in Ontario, Canada are on the edge of a crisis in the enforcement of their minimum employment standards (ES). This crisis is shaped not only by well-documented deficiencies in the scope of labour protection but by the fact that the administration of the ES system has not kept pace with the increasing number of workers and workplaces requiring protection under the province’s employment standards act. Coupled with an outmoded complaint-based system, the dearth of support for ES enforcement is cultivating a situation in which an unprecedented number of workers are bearers of rights without genuine opportunities for redress. Responding …

Collective Representation And Employee Voice In The Us Public Sector Workplace: Looking North For Solutions?, Martin Malin

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Legislation enacted in many states following the 2010 elections in the United States strengthened unilateral public employer control and weakened employee voice. This rebalancing of power occurred in the context of state public employee labour relations acts modeled on the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), but with a narrower scope of bargaining than in the private sector. This narrow scope channels unions’ voice away from the quality of public services and towards protecting members from the effects of decisions unilaterally imposed by management. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that the freedom of association guaranteed by the Charter of …

Workplace Voice And Civic Engagement: What Theory And Data Tell Us About Unions And Their Relationship To The Democratic Process, Alex Bryson, Rafael Gomez, Tobias Kretschmer, Paul Willman

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

We offer an explanation for the phenomenon of declining democratic engagement by assuming that what happens at work is the primary driver of what occurs outside of the workplace. If workers are exposed to the formalities of collective bargaining and union representation, they also perhaps increase their attachment to, and willingness to participate in, structures of democratic governance outside of the workplace as well. In order for this argument to hold, one first needs to test whether individual union members are more prone to vote and participate in civil society than non-members: other research refers to this as the union …

Voices At Work In North America: Introduction, Sara Slinn, Eric Tucker

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Voice: Are Workers Afraid To Express Their Health And Safety Rights?, Wayne Lewchuk

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article reconsiders the shift in Canada from an exclusively government-regulated occupational health and safety system to the Internal Responsibility System (IRS). The IRS gives workers rights, or “voice,” to manage, know about, and refuse unsafe working conditions. I present new evidence that worker voice and the IRS have weakened with the decline of unions and the rise of precarious employment. Survey data are analyzed from Ontario workers who rated the likelihood that raising a health and safety concern with their current employer would negatively affect their future employment. My analysis models how workers’ sex, race, unionization, sector, and degree …

Attacks On Public-Sector Bargaining As Attacks On Employee Voice: A (Partial) Defence Of The Wagner Act Model, Joseph Slater

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The attacks on public-sector union rights in the United States that began in 2011 are one of the most important developments in labour law in recent memory. These events shed light on employee voice issues, and on the continuing viability of the “Wagner Act” model. While declining union density rates in the private sector have prompted some to question this model, high-density rates in the public sector show that unions can flourish under it. This article gives an overview of public-sector unions in the US and summarizes the recent attacks on their rights. It then addresses rulings in both Missouri …