Law Commons^™

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.

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.

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 …

Employment Discrimination Claims Under Erisa Section 510: Should Courts Require Exhaustion Of Arbitral And Plan Remedies?, Jared A. Goldstein

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines whether courts should require section 510 claimants to exhaust either plan-based or arbitral remedies before seeking judicial relief. It begins by comparing the basis for an exhaustion requirement with respect to benefits claims with the basis for such a requirement with respect to statutory claims - like those under section 510. Part I examines the rationale courts have offered for requiring exhaustion of plan remedies for benefits claims. Part I concludes that federal courts have correctly determined that Congress intended individuals bringing benefits claims to exhaust the remedies provided by the plan before seeking judicial relief. Part …

Religious Discrimination And The Role Of Arbitration Under Title Vii, Harry T. Edwards, Joel H. Kaplan

Michigan Law Review

One of the major thrusts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed by the 88th Congress of the United States after much procrastination and debate, is title VII, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which prohibits selected forms of employment discrimination.

In drafting title VII, the proponents of the Act were chiefly concerned with racial discrimination in employment. In fact, the entire Civil Rights Act was written with an eye toward the elimination of the "glaring ... discrimination against Negroes which exists throughout our nation." Given this intent, it is not surprising that, during the hearings and debates preceding the …

No-Strike Clauses In The Federal Courts, Frank H. Stewart

Michigan Law Review

One consideration will support several promises. A promisor may extract more than one promise in return for his single undertaking to do - or not to do. It depends upon his bargaining power. His single undertaking may be so valuable that several promises are necessary to induce him to act, or not to act. He is privileged to hold out for the best deal. The law does not examine his motives or reduce his demands. And from this arises the common- law principle that one consideration may support several promises.

The Status Of The Collective Labor Agreement In France, Robert J. Nye

Michigan Law Review

This paper is intended to outline in historical perspective the statutory, judicial, administrative and social developments which have made the collective agreement an indispensable accessory to legislative and judicial regulation in France.

The Authority Of The National War Labor Board Over Labor Disputes, Leonard B. Boudin

Michigan Law Review

The National War Labor Board has reached the respectable age of two years. Supported originally only by the President's war powers, it has secured compliance with its orders, has weathered a minor congressional investigation, and has built up a body of decisions whose effect will continue after the war. These facts, as well as certain signs of the conservatism which appears to strike all government agencies at one time or another, entitle the board to a short survey of certain aspects of its jurisdiction and authority.

The State Legislatures And Unionism: A Survey Of State Legislation Relating To Problems Of Unionization And Collective Bargaining, Russell A. Smith, William J. Delancey

Michigan Law Review

'There ought to be a law!" So declared labor and its friends in the early days of the New Deal, and the Wagner Act and "little" Wagner acts (the "labor relations acts") were the legislative response. Now, some five years later, with Utopia in labor relations not yet at hand, the hue and cry goes up for still more law, both state and federal. In part this is the typical American reaction to particular irritations and assumes with the usual naiveté that there is a single legislative specific for every isolated ailment. In part it is the equally typical reaction …