Law Commons^™

Without Accommodation, Jennifer B. Shinall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), workers with disabilities have the legal right to reasonable workplace accommodations provided by employers. Because this legal right is unique to disabled workers, these workers could, in theory, enjoy greater access to the types of accommodations that are desirable to all workers including the ability to work from home, to work flexible hours, and to take leave. This Article compares access to these accommodations, which have become increasingly desirable during the COVID-19 pandemic, between disabled workers and nondisabled workers. Using 2017-2018 data from the American Time Use Survey's Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, …

Employee Turnover & Partial Plan Terminations, Samantha J. Prince

Faculty Scholarly Works

Who would have expected that a pandemic would bring Congressional awareness of an oft-overlooked concept called Partial Plan Terminations? Congress codified a temporary (and now expired) partial termination safe harbor for qualified retirement plans in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. This was necessary because qualified plans can experience a partial termination due to layoffs resulting from an economic downturn. The pandemic created such an upheaval for many businesses that without such relief, an overwhelming number of plans would have partially terminated. However, even with businesses reopening, the economy continues to be in flux, and this can portend more employee turnover. …

Improper Distinction Under The Ada Leads To An Irrational Outcome: Favoring One Life Over Another, Daniel Frederick Parise

Touro Law Review

Society has a distorted view of those battling addiction and essentially marks them with a sign of disgrace; however, what society may not fully understand is that addiction is a disability beyond the afflicted individual’s control. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicates that 19.7 million Americans have battled a substance use disorder in their life. Of the 19.7 million Americans who battled illicit substance use disorders, approximately seventy-four percent also struggled with alcohol use disorder.

Based on these statistics, it is clear that illicit drug use disorders are often interconnected with alcohol use disorders. However, Congress makes …

“I Was Just A Kid”: Addressing The Collateral Consequences Of A Juvenile Record On Employment, Lauren Wray

Touro Law Review

There is a common myth that juvenile records are confidential, when in fact only nine states fully prohibit public access to juvenile records. Landlords, employers, and educators in a majority of states may ask questions about a juvenile’s record. Studies have shown that employers are less likely to hire an applicant who has a juvenile delinquency, and that many employers may not be able to differentiate between a juvenile and adult record. This Note reviews the intersectional flaws of the New York juvenile justice system and the New York labor laws. Specifically, it evaluates policies New York has implemented with …

Looking South: Toward Principled Protection Of U.S. Workers, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Laboratories Of Democracy: State Law As A Partial Solution To Workplace Harassment, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

This Article analyzes the substantive and procedural problems created by the federal judiciary in Title VII hostile work environment law that concurrently drains federal anti-harassment law of its meaning. The premise is that, at least for the near future, relying on federal courts and/or the U.S. Congress to protect employees' civil rights is likely fruitless. Instead, we should encourage state legislatures that seek to improve civil rights in employment in their own jurisdictions and state supreme courts to interpret their own state laws to recognize employees' civil rights to the fullest extent possible. Part II analyzes how federal courts decide …

Transcript Of Video File: Panel 4 - Severe Or Pervasive: Towards Empowering Workers, Ann C. Mcginley, Allegra Fishel, Alexis Ronickher, Joseph M. Sellers, Bernice Yeung

Scholarly Works

This is a video transcript of a panel session in the Enhancing Anti-Discrimination Laws in Education and Employment symposium.

An Attempt To Bring Modern Workplace Realities To The Social Security Disability Adjudication System, Robert E. Rains

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

How Can Federal Actors Compete On Noncompetes? Examining The Need For And Possibility Of Federal Action On Noncompetition Agreements, Robert Mcavoy

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Employees have been frustrated by the restrictiveness of noncompete agreements and confused about their enforceability for decades. The added complication of choice-of-law provisions in employment contracts with noncompetes creates a sea of unpredictability for both employees and employers.

Each state applies its own policy to noncompete agreements. While every state treats noncompetes differently than typical contract provisions, a broad spectrum exists between the states that are friendly and those that are hostile to the enforcement of noncompetes. Employees and employers often fail to understand whether their noncompete is enforceable under the jurisdiction chosen by the contract, and courts override choice-of-law …

(In)Dependent Contractors: Combatting Employee Misclassification In Title 26, Kyle T. Macdonald

FIU Law Review

This comment addresses the use of 26 U.S.C. § 7434 as an alternative remedy for individuals who are misclassified by their employers as independent contractors for federal tax purposes. Historically, misclassified employees have used more well-known employment laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act to sue employers who engage in employee misclassification. 26 U.S.C. § 7434 provides an underutilized, alternative means for misclassified employees to recover damages for wrongful misclassification. Originally enacted in 1996 as part of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, 26 U.S.C. § 7434 is a tax fraud statute that allows a taxpayer to seek civil damages …

Should Labor Abandon Its Capital? A Reply To Critics, David H. Webber

Faculty Scholarship

Several recent works have sharply criticized public pension funds and labor union funds (“labor’s capital”). These critiques come from both the left and right. Leftists criticize labor’s capital for undermining worker interests by funding financialization and the growth of Wall Street. Laissez-faire conservatives argue that pension underfunding threatens taxpayers. The left calls for pensions to be replaced by a larger social security system. The libertarian right calls for them to be smashed and scattered into individually-managed 401(k)s. I review this recent work, some of which is aimed at my book, The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder: Labor’s Last Best Weapon, …

Now We Have Reason To Fire You: What Should States Do About The Employer “After-Acquired” Employee Wrongdoing Defense?, Michael J. Hayes

FIU Law Review

Wrongful employer conduct, particularly discrimination and harassment, is leading to efforts to provide more protection to employees, and compensate them for wrongdoing already done to them. As shown by the Michigan Supreme Court’s July 2021 Lichon v. Morse decision that adopted a new and more pro-employee standard for when employers can compel employees to arbitrate instead of sue over claims of sexual harassment, much of the protection of employees may occur at the state level. Which makes it unfortunate that little attention is being paid to how states treat the employer after-acquired evidence defense that can undermine new and existing …

Looking South: Toward Principled Protection Of U.S. Workers, Ann C. Mcginley

FIU Law Review

In Principled Labor Law: U.S. Labor Law through a Latin American Method, authors Sergio Gamonal C. & Cesar F. Rosado Marzán argue that U.S. courts should follow the Latin American method of applying long-held jurisprudential principles to interpret labor law. The authors’ baseline is clear: applying these principles to U.S. employment law will better the employment opportunities and stability of workers who suffer from unequal bargaining power and the ever-present employer-oriented employment-at-will doctrine. Focusing on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and other civil rights provisions, this article imagines how applying the principles described by Gamonal and Rosado …

Ball Never Lies: How Guaranteed Contracts Provide Nba Players More Security Than Nfl Players To Advocate For Social Justice, Matthew Epstein

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Miser’S Rule Of Reason: The Supreme Court And Antitrust Limits On Student Athlete Compensation, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The unanimous Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Alston is its most important probe of antitrust’s rule of reason in decades. The decision implicates several issues, including the role of antitrust in labor markets, how antitrust applies to institutions that have an educational mission as well as involvement in a large commercial enterprise, and how much leeway district courts should have in creating decrees that contemplate ongoing administration.

The Court accepted what has come to be the accepted framework: the plaintiff must make out a prima facie case of competitive harm. Then the burden shifts to the defendant to produce …

Beagan V. Rhode Island Department Of Labor And Training, 253 A.3d 858 (R.I. 2021), Candace Quinn

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Selby V. Baird, 240 A.3d 243 (R.I. 2020), Matthew Bertelli

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Agents Of Inequality: Common Ownership And The Decline Of The American Worker, Zohar Goshen, Doron Levit

Faculty Scholarship

The last forty years have seen two major economic trends: wages have stalled despite rising productivity, and institutional investors have replaced retail shareholders as the predominant owners of the U.S. equity markets. A few powerful institutional investors — dubbed common owners — now hold large stakes in most U.S. corporations. And in no coincidence, when U.S. workers acquired this new set of bosses, their wages stopped growing while shareholder returns increased. This Article explains how common owners shift wealth from labor to capital, thereby exacerbating income inequality.

Powerful institutional investors pushing public corporations en masse to adopt strong corporate governance …

Essential, Not Expendable: Protecting The Economic Citizenship Of Agricultural Workers, Hunter Knapp

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Race-Based Hostile Work Environment Claims In Federal And Minnesota Courts: A Historical Perspective On The Development Of The "Severe Or Pervasive" Standard, Frances Baillon, Michelle Gibbons

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.