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Full-Text Articles in Law
Structural Labor Rights, Hiba Hafiz
Structural Labor Rights, Hiba Hafiz
Michigan Law Review
American labor law was designed to ensure equal bargaining power between workers and employers. But workers’ collective power against increasingly dominant employers has disintegrated. With union density at an abysmal 6.2 percent in the private sector—a level unequaled since the Great Depression— the vast majority of workers depend only on individual negotiations with employers to lift stagnant wages and ensure upward economic mobility. But decentralized, individual bargaining is not enough. Economists and legal scholars increasingly agree that, absent regulation to protect workers’ collective rights, labor markets naturally strengthen employers’ bargaining power over workers. Existing labor and antitrust law have failed …
Improving Employer Accountability In A World Of Private Dispute Resolution, Hope Brinn
Improving Employer Accountability In A World Of Private Dispute Resolution, Hope Brinn
Michigan Law Review
Private litigation is the primary enforcement mechanism for employment discrimination laws like Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and many related state statutes. But the expansion of extrajudicial dispute resolution—including both arbitration and prelitigation settlement agreements—has compromised this means of enforcement. This Note argues that state-enacted qui tam laws can revitalize the enforcement capacity of private litigation and provides a roadmap for enacting such legislation.
Shots Fired: Digging The Uniformed Services Employment And Reemployment Rights Act Out Of The Trenches Of Arbitration, Lisa Limb
Michigan Law Review
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) was enacted to protect servicemembers from discrimination by civilian employers and to provide servicemembers with reemployment rights. Recent circuit court decisions, however, have maimed these protections by ruling that mandatory arbitration is permissible under USERRA. This Note argues that such rulings conflict with USERRA’s plain language, statutory structure, and purpose. Ultimately, in light of strong public policy considerations, this Note contends that mandatory arbitration should not be permissible under USERRA and proposes that Congress amend the Act to explicitly prohibit arbitration.
Designing A Flexible World For The Many: "Essential Functions" And Title I Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Michael J. Powers
Designing A Flexible World For The Many: "Essential Functions" And Title I Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Michael J. Powers
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note explores how courts interpret the meaning of “essential functions” under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To be protected under the ADA, a plaintiff must be able to perform the “essential functions” of her job with or without a reasonable accommodation. In general, courts follow one of two approaches when interpreting this phrase. The first approach narrowly focuses on the employer’s judgment regarding which functions are essential. The second approach considers the employer’s judgment, but looks beyond to consider the broader employment relationship. This Note argues that these different approaches have led to varying levels of …
Categorically Black, White, Or Wrong: 'Misperception Discrimination' And The State Of Title Vii Protection, D. Wendy Greene
Categorically Black, White, Or Wrong: 'Misperception Discrimination' And The State Of Title Vii Protection, D. Wendy Greene
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article exposes an inconspicuous, categorically wrong movement within antidiscrimination law. A band of federal courts have denied Title VII protection to individuals who allege “categorical discrimination”: invidious, differential treatment on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, or sex. Per these courts, a plaintiff who self-identifies as Christian but is misperceived as Muslim cannot assert an actionable claim under Title VII if she suffers an adverse employment action as a result of this misperception and related animus. Though Title VII expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, courts have held that such a plaintiff’s claim of “misperception …
Employee Free Choice: Amplifying Employee Voice Without Silencing Employers - A Proposal For Reforming The National Labor Relations Act, Amy Livingston
Employee Free Choice: Amplifying Employee Voice Without Silencing Employers - A Proposal For Reforming The National Labor Relations Act, Amy Livingston
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note investigates the effectiveness of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in balancing unions, employers', and employees' rights during the course of union organizing drives. After reviewing case law and commentary, it concludes that the NLRA's certification regime is ineffective and permits pressures that inhibit employees from expressing their real desires about whether or not to be represented by a union. This Note then examines proposed alternatives for certifying unions, and takes note of Canada's federal and ten provincial certification regimes. Finally, it concludes that the NLRA must be amended to protect worker free choice, and proposes reforms including …
Some Women's Work: Domestic Work, Class, Race, Heteropatriarchy, And The Limits Of Legal Reform, Terri Nilliasca
Some Women's Work: Domestic Work, Class, Race, Heteropatriarchy, And The Limits Of Legal Reform, Terri Nilliasca
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Note employs Critical Race, feminist, Marxist, and queer theory to analyze the underlying reasons for the exclusion of domestic workers from legal and regulatory systems. The Note begins with a discussion of the role of legal and regulatory systems in upholding and replicating White supremacy within the employer and domestic worker relationship. The Note then goes on to argue that the White, feminist movement's emphasis on access to wage labor further subjugated Black and immigrant domestic workers. Finally, I end with an in-depth legal analysis of New York's Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, the nation's first state law to …
The Federal Common Law Of Vicarious Fiduciary Liability Under Erisa, Colleen E. Medill
The Federal Common Law Of Vicarious Fiduciary Liability Under Erisa, Colleen E. Medill
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), the federal law that regulates employer-sponsored benefit plans, has a rich history of judiciallycreated federal common law. This Article explores the theoretical, policy, statutory, and stare decisis grounds for the development of another area offederal common law under ERISA-the incorporation of respondeat superior liability principles to impose ERISA fiduciary liability ("vicarious fiduciary liability") upon a corporation for the fiduciary activities of its employees or agents. The Article proposes that the federal courts should adopt a federal common law rule of vicarious fiduciary liability under ERISA based on the traditional scope of …
Removing Categorical Constraints On Equal Employment Opportunities And Anti-Discrimination Protections, Anastasia Niedrich
Removing Categorical Constraints On Equal Employment Opportunities And Anti-Discrimination Protections, Anastasia Niedrich
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
It has been the "historical tendency of anti-discrimination law to use categories to define protected classes of people." This Article challenges the categorical approach and seeks to change that limited framework. This Article focuses on the flaws with Title VII's categorical approach and discusses why there is a desperate need for change to combat the different types and targets of workplace discrimination today, focusing on the transgender community as one example. After discussing the current framework and operation of Title VII, this Article analyzes the insurmountable flaws inherent in the categorical approach to anti-discrimination law, and specifically considers Title VII's …
Federal Employer Sanctions As Immigration Federalism, Darcy M. Pottle
Federal Employer Sanctions As Immigration Federalism, Darcy M. Pottle
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
For low-skilled workers in much of the world, U.S. admission policies make illegal immigration the most viable means of entering the country. Low average schooling, which disqualifies many potential immigrants from employment-based visas, and long queues affecting family preference immigration from high-traffic countries, make the admission criteria outlined in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibitive for most would-be immigrants to the United States. Perhaps due to this failure of immediate legal avenues, many immigrants enter the country illegally. Though many eventually gain legal status, in the meantime they live and work in the United States without documentation. "Illegal …
Gina's Genotypes, David H. Kaye
Gina's Genotypes, David H. Kaye
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
In August 2009, the Board of Trustees of the University of Akron added to the university's employment policy the following proviso: "any applicant may be asked to submit fingerprints or DNA sample for purpose of a federal criminal background check." Although the federal government does not do background checks with DNA, the policy is significant because it highlights a largely unexplored feature of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ("GINA"). Hailed by the late Senator Edward Kennedy as "the first civil rights bill of the new century of life sciences," GINA generally prohibits employers from asking for "genetic information." …
Ghost Workers In An Interconnected World: Going Beyond The Dichotomies Of Domestic Immigration And Labor Laws, Ruben J. Garcia
Ghost Workers In An Interconnected World: Going Beyond The Dichotomies Of Domestic Immigration And Labor Laws, Ruben J. Garcia
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Beginning with the September 11, 2001 ("9/11 ") terrorist attacks, the labor movement's plans to organize immigrant workers and achieve immigration reform have met serious challenges. After 9/11, the political climate surrounding immigrants put the AFL-CIO s hopes for legislative reform on hold, because of socially perceived connections between immigrants and terrorism. Then, in a March 2002 decision titled Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, the U.S. Supreme Court held that undocumented immigrant workers could not collect back pay under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when their rights to join unions are violated. According to the Court, back pay …
Crazy (Mental Illness Under The Ada), Jane Byeff Korn
Crazy (Mental Illness Under The Ada), Jane Byeff Korn
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article examines how people with mental disabilities and mental illnesses have been treated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part I addresses the history of mental illness. It argues that while beliefs about the causes and content of mental illness have vacillated over time, the mentally ill have received consistently poor treatment throughout human history. Part II addresses present problems with the definition of mental illness, including how mental illness and mental disability are defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Part III discusses the problems faced by people with mental illness today. The author argues the current state …
The Attachment Gap: Employment Discrimination Law, Women's Cultural Caregiving, And The Limits Of Economic And Liberal Legal Theory, Laura T. Kessler
The Attachment Gap: Employment Discrimination Law, Women's Cultural Caregiving, And The Limits Of Economic And Liberal Legal Theory, Laura T. Kessler
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Title VII has prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy since 1978, when Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA"), but it does not require employers to recognize women's caregiving obligations beyond the immediate, physical events of pregnancy and childbirth. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ("FMLA ") also does little more than provide job security to some relatively privileged women in the case of childbirth. Neither of these statutes, which constitute the bulk of the United States' maternity and parental leave policies, provides for the most common employment leave needs of caregivers, who by all measures …
Stock Market Volatility And 401 (K) Plans, Colleen E. Medill
Stock Market Volatility And 401 (K) Plans, Colleen E. Medill
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Many workers today depend on their 401(k) plan to provide them with an adequate income during retirement. For these workers to achieve retirement income security, their 401(k) plan investments must perform well over their working lifetime. Employers' selection of investment options for the 401(k) plan, a fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), plays a critical role in determining investment performance. In this Article, Professor Medill uses a series of hypothetical litigation scenarios to illustrate how interpretation of the employer's duty of prudence and duty of loyalty under ERISA present different policy choices for the …
Due Process Review Under The Railway Labor Act, Christopher L. Sagers
Due Process Review Under The Railway Labor Act, Christopher L. Sagers
Michigan Law Review
This Note contends that the RLA prohibits due process review and further argues that such a result is constitutional. Part I examines the statutory language of the RLA itself and contends that it limits district court review to the three statutory grounds. Part II argues that the Supreme Court's opinion in Sheehan reaffirms this interpretation because the Court's language unmistakably conveys an intent to bar due process review. Part III explains that such a limitation does not violate the Constitution. The only constitutional provision that could be implicated in an RLA proceeding, the right of procedural due process, is protected …
Collective Bargaining Or "Collective Begging"?: Reflections On Antistrikebreaker Legislation, Samuel Estreicher
Collective Bargaining Or "Collective Begging"?: Reflections On Antistrikebreaker Legislation, Samuel Estreicher
Michigan Law Review
The strike is a necessary part of collective bargaining. Workers should not ordinarily lose their jobs by pressing their disputes in this manner. But neither should strikes be viewed as a risk-free means of empowering unions to lock employers into uncompetitive contracts.
The Constitutionality Of Employer-Accessible Child Abuse Registries: Due Process Implications Of Governmental Occupational Blacklisting, Michael R. Phillips
The Constitutionality Of Employer-Accessible Child Abuse Registries: Due Process Implications Of Governmental Occupational Blacklisting, Michael R. Phillips
Michigan Law Review
This Note discusses the due process implications of permitting employer access to state child abuse registries when disclosure affects registry members' employment.
Understanding Mixed Motives Claims Under The Civil Rights Act Of 1991: An Analysis Of Intentional Discrimination Claims Based On Sex-Stereotyped Interview Questions, Heather K. Gerken
Understanding Mixed Motives Claims Under The Civil Rights Act Of 1991: An Analysis Of Intentional Discrimination Claims Based On Sex-Stereotyped Interview Questions, Heather K. Gerken
Michigan Law Review
This Note analyzes the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and relevant case law to determine whether posing sex-stereotyped interview questions is actionable conduct under Title VII. It questions whether proof of discrimination during a phase in the hiring process, specifically during the interview stage, supports a Title VII claim without other independent evidence that the hiring decision was discriminatory. Part I explains that the circuit courts have envisioned the impact of discrimination during the hiring process differently and, as a result, are divided in determining whether sex-stereotyped interview questions are actionable under Title VII. Part II examines the legislative history …
Changing The Rules Of The Game: Pension Plan Terminations And Early Retirement Benefits, Dana M. Muir
Changing The Rules Of The Game: Pension Plan Terminations And Early Retirement Benefits, Dana M. Muir
Michigan Law Review
This Note examines whether early retirement benefits are included among the liabilities that an employer must satisfy before that employer can receive a reversion of excess assets. Part I reviews the background of plan terminations and how they affect early retirement benefits. It also discusses the general structure of ERISA. Part II examines the controversy surrounding whether ERISA's definition of "accrued benefits" includes early retirement benefits. ERISA requires that employees receive all of their accrued benefits before the employers receive any reversions. However, the circuits have disagreed as to whether early retirement benefits are accrued benefits and, therefore, covered by …
Labor Law's Alter Ego Doctrine: The Role Of Employer Motive In Corporate Transformations, Gary Alan Macdonald
Labor Law's Alter Ego Doctrine: The Role Of Employer Motive In Corporate Transformations, Gary Alan Macdonald
Michigan Law Review
This Note examines the differing judicial approaches for reviewing NLRB alter ego findings, and concludes that a fundamental problem with all of the current approaches is the unwarranted consideration of motive in varying degrees. This Note proposes a modified "reasonably foreseeable benefit" standard which does not depend in any degree on the employer's motive for changing its corporate form. Part I discusses the origin and evolution of the alter ego doctrine, including its genesis in Southport Petroleum, the well-settled Crawford Door factors, and the related "successorship" doctrine. Part II analyzes the conflict among the federal courts of appeals over …
Nonmajority Bargaining Orders: The Only Effective Remedy For Pervasive Employer Unfair Labor Practices During Union Organizing Campaigns, David S. Shillman
Nonmajority Bargaining Orders: The Only Effective Remedy For Pervasive Employer Unfair Labor Practices During Union Organizing Campaigns, David S. Shillman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Current Board policy forbids issuing a bargaining order in this situation, where there is no objective evidence of majority support for a union, even though the bargaining ·order may be the only effective remedy for extreme employer unfair labor practices. The Board's refusal to issue nonmajority bargaining orders (NMBOs), grounded in its fear of imposing a union on unwilling employees, has left it impotent to remedy the most severe employer unfair labor practices. This Note examines arguments for and against the Board's use of NMBOs and concludes that NMBOs are within the scope of the Board's remedial powers and should …
Japanese-Style Worker Participation And United States Labor Law, William S. Rutchow
Japanese-Style Worker Participation And United States Labor Law, William S. Rutchow
Michigan Journal of International Law
This note will evaluate the current legal status of Japanese-style worker participation programs under the NLRA. First, it analyzes relevant sections of the NLRA and their interpretation by the Board and the courts. Second, the note describes various types of Japanese worker participation programs, and suggests how these programs can be legally implemented under current American labor law. Third, the note considers standards the Supreme Court may adopt to test the legality of worker participation programs in the future. Finally, this note recommends that the Supreme Court uphold those participation programs which are freely chosen by employees.
The Bfoq Defense In Adea Suits: The Scope Of "Duties Of The Job", Robert L. Fischman
The Bfoq Defense In Adea Suits: The Scope Of "Duties Of The Job", Robert L. Fischman
Michigan Law Review
This Note examines these three possible interpretations of which job characteristics a court must examine when determining the validity of a BFOQ defense to an ADEA suit and concludes that the Eighth Circuit's standard is correct. Because disputes over which interpretation is proper arise almost exclusively in cases involving public safety occupations, this Note discusses the standards for measuring that scope within the framework of the policy considerations associated with public safety. Part I of this Note discusses the three current standards used to determine the scope of the BFOQ defense. Part II illuminates the problems inherent in having three …
Employer Postcertification Polls To Determine Union Support, James D. Dasso
Employer Postcertification Polls To Determine Union Support, James D. Dasso
Michigan Law Review
This Note evaluates these competing standards in light of the two major policy objectives of the NLRA: industrial stability and employee free choice. It concludes that the courts of appeals properly apply a less stringent standard. Part I considers employer polling in the larger context of the general law of employer interrogation. This section concludes that the Board's standard for postcertification polling deviates significantly from the general law of employer interrogation as well as the more specific rules established for precertification polling. The remainder of this Note demonstrates that the Board's distinctions between pre- and postcertification polling do not justify …
Pension Plan Terminations And Asset Reversions: Accommodating The Interests Of Employers And Employees, Carl A. Butler
Pension Plan Terminations And Asset Reversions: Accommodating The Interests Of Employers And Employees, Carl A. Butler
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note focuses on the problems that often arise for plan participants when an overfunded defined benefit plan is terminated and the employer recaptures excess assets. Part I explains the relative ease with which employers can terminate plans and receive excess assets under current pension law. Part II argues that pension law must be reformed because its shortcomings threaten American workers' retirement income security, it allows for sham terminations that remove assets from plans that are, in fact, ongoing, and it usually allows excess assets to go to employers rather than employees. Part III discusses two reforms proposed for plan …
Alternatives To Seniority-Based Layoffs: Reconciling Teamsters, Weber, And The Goal Of Equal Employment Opportunity, Paul M. Hamburger
Alternatives To Seniority-Based Layoffs: Reconciling Teamsters, Weber, And The Goal Of Equal Employment Opportunity, Paul M. Hamburger
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note advocates the use of legal incentives for adopting nonpreferential alternatives to seniority-based layoffs. Part I analyzes the impact of bona fide seniority systems on recently hired minorities and women. Part II discusses existing legal incentives for unions and employers to seek alternatives to strict seniority layoffs and for courts to enjoin such layoffs, thereby forcing the parties to negotiate over alternatives. Finally, part III examines two kinds of potential alternatives: racially preferential alternatives, which are prohibited under Title VII, and nonpreferential options, which are permissible and should be used increasingly.
Labor Law--Bankruptcy--The Effect Of The Bankruptcy Of An Employer On The Employment Relationship And On Jurisdiction Over Labor Disputes Involving The Employer, Michigan Law Review
Labor Law--Bankruptcy--The Effect Of The Bankruptcy Of An Employer On The Employment Relationship And On Jurisdiction Over Labor Disputes Involving The Employer, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Litigation arising in connection with the recent bankruptcy of Turney Wood Products, Inc., has brought into issue the general problem of the operation of a bankrupt employer under the federal labor laws. The provisions of both the federal labor laws and the Bankruptcy Act are clear in purpose, but in areas of their interaction they have produced jurisdictional confusion. The situation presented to a single court by the cases arising from the Turney Wood Products bankruptcy provided an ideal vehicle to resolve much of that confusion; in fact, the parties involved viewed it as a test-case situation. But the resulting …