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Full-Text Articles in Law
Secret Surveillance Scores: Pay No Attention To What's Behind The Curtain, Allison Piper Geber
Secret Surveillance Scores: Pay No Attention To What's Behind The Curtain, Allison Piper Geber
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This Comment discusses the potential and actual misuse of consumers' secret surveillance scores in e-commerce, employment, and housing situations, as evidenced in a 2019 FTC complaint. The calculation and use of these secret surveillance scores are currently unregulated. The Comment presents two main arguments: First, secret surveillance scores are equivalent to credit scores used in the financial credit reporting industry and should thus undergo similar regulation. Second, the collection of consumer data points to calculate secret surveillance scores highlights the need for broad, nationwide consumer digital data privacy legislation. The collection and use of secret surveillance scores are akin to …
Gig-Dependence: Finding The Real Independent Contractors Of Platform Work, Keith Cunningham-Parmeter
Gig-Dependence: Finding The Real Independent Contractors Of Platform Work, Keith Cunningham-Parmeter
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Platforms such as Uber and TaskRabbit avoid employment obligations by categorizing their workers as “independent contractors.” Declining to follow overtime, antidiscrimination, and other workplace mandates, these platforms claim to employ no one. Applied on a grand scale, the entire project of platform labor threatens to destabilize our contemporary understanding of employment law. But not all platform workers possess the characteristics of genuine independent contractors, as courts first envisioned that category. Judges did not originally formulate the independent contractor distinction to define the boundaries of workplace protections; rather, the independent contractor classification was designed to limit the liability of masters for …
The Gig Economy: An Annotated Bibliography, Matthew L. Timko
The Gig Economy: An Annotated Bibliography, Matthew L. Timko
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Companies like Uber, Lyft, Postmates, Airbnb, and others have become established within society, to the point that Uber has become a regularly used verb. While the consumer benefits of these companies has been immediate, the legal implications remain far murkier. This emerging market has demonstrated that the twentieth century laws are unable to cope with these twenty-first century businesses in regard to employee rights, employer responsibilities, consumer protections, and federal and state regulations. This bibliography presents the primary and secondary sources which are essential to understanding what has been termed the "gig economy" so that readers have a background of …
Administrative Leave As An Adverse Action For Title Vii Retaliation: New Principles For Liability Call For New Updates To Policy, Zachary R. Cormier
Administrative Leave As An Adverse Action For Title Vii Retaliation: New Principles For Liability Call For New Updates To Policy, Zachary R. Cormier
Northern Illinois University Law Review
The time has come for employers and their attorneys to recognize that placing an employee on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation (or otherwise), has become a riskier proposition under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Numerous courts have held that a paid administrative leave, in most cases, will not constitute an “adverse employment action” as required by Title VII's discrimination provision. But herein lies the danger for employers making the decision on a paid administrative leave-- such relative security no longer applies to retaliation claims under Title VII. The warnings from federal circuit courts over the …
Symposium: Work And Family Introduction, Lorraine Schmall
Symposium: Work And Family Introduction, Lorraine Schmall
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Work and family problems seem as numerous, and as difficult to deal with as our children. Invidious discrimination, inadequate laws, intra-family dissension all contribute to our woes. But the dialogue has begun, and problem-solving cannot be too far behind.
Women, Work And Family: Recent Economic Trends, Manuelita Ureta
Women, Work And Family: Recent Economic Trends, Manuelita Ureta
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This article presents an overview of recent economic trends in the labor force behavior of men and women. The author focuses on the factors that play a role in a woman's decision to join the work force and presents data to illustrate the current labor situation. The author concludes that government mandated minimum wages and benefits are detrimental, rather than beneficial, to low-skilled workers.
Patterson V. Mclean Credit Union: Preventing Backdoor Discrimination Actions Or Closing The Door?, Elsa R. Miller
Patterson V. Mclean Credit Union: Preventing Backdoor Discrimination Actions Or Closing The Door?, Elsa R. Miller
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This recent United States Supreme Court decision interprets 42 U.S.C. § 1981 as not allowing an action for racial harassment during employment. This note examines the antecedent cases to Patterson along with Congressional actions which appear to indicate a lack of tolerance of racial discrimination in the public and private sectors. The author concludes that Patterson is a step in the wrong direction and calls into question the commitment of the United States Supreme Court to move in the direction of eliminating workplace distinctions based on the race of the worker.
Branti V. Finkel: A Fresh Look At The Spoils System, Diane E. Ward
Branti V. Finkel: A Fresh Look At The Spoils System, Diane E. Ward
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This note focuses on the role of the first amendment in patronage dismissals and analyzes the implications of the Court's modification of the Elrod decision. It will focus on two aspects of the Branti decision. First, the role of the first amendment and its applicability to patronage dismissals will be examined. Second, the Court's modification of the Elrod decision will be analyzed in light of the new standard adopted by the Court.