Law Commons^™

Pay Equity For Coaches And Athletic Administrators: An Element Of Title Ix?, Barbara Osborne, Marilyn V. Yarbrough

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, Professors Osborne and Yarbrough address the issue of gender discrimination in the compensation of coaches and athletic administrators. They discuss the application of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII to pay inequity claims and conclude that both have proven to be inadequate as a means of addressing the problem. Professors Osborne and Yarbrough then present Title IX as a way of countering the problem of gender discrimination in the compensation of coaches. They also discuss the prospects for gender equality in compensation by considering several cases addressing the issue. Finally, they offer recommendations both …

"Supervisor" Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment Claims, Liability Insurance, And The Trend Towards Negligence, Amanda D. Smith

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A lack of settled standards for determining liability in supervisor hostile environment sexual harassment lawsuits combined with similar uncertainty in the context of employer liability insurance coverage has resulted in increased litigation in this area. This Note argues that the current predominant standard in the employer liability context, which is based on negligence principle should be rejected in favor of an apparent authority standard, which more appropriately strikes a balance between encouraging employers to identify harassing behaviors and exonerating them from liability when they do so and take appropriate remedial action. It further argues that in order to develop effective …

Individual Entitlement To The Financial Benefits Of A Professional Degree: An Empirical Study Of The Attitudes And Expectations Of Married Professional Students And Their Spouses, Rebecca Redosh Eisner, Ruth Zimmerman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Note describes the case law that delineated the factors examined in the study. Those factors are the financial support provided by the supporting spouse, the extent of personal sacrifice made by the supporting spouse, the length of the marriage and corresponding accumulated assets of the marriage at the time of the divorce, and the relative earning capacities of the two parties after the divorce. Part II discusses the design of the study, and specifically how we manipulated these factors in hypothetical vignettes to measure reactions to the factors. Part III presents the results and our conclusions …

Pay Equity--The Minnesota Experience, Nina Rothchild

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The concept of comparable worth is simple: jobs should be paid according to their value, whether the jobs are performed by men or by women. It says that pay should be based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions required to do the job. It is hard to believe that such a common sense idea could generate such an emotional reaction.

In this essay I will describe Minnesota's experience with pay equity at the state and local levels. Our experience leads us to believe that the arguments of the opposition are pure conjecture and that the scare …

Comparable Worth -- The Theory, Its Legal Foundation, And The Feasibility Of Implementation, Carin Ann Clauss

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

County of Washington v. Gunther was decided by the Supreme Court over five years ago. In that case, the Court, resolving a conflict among the circuits, ruled that sex-based wage discrimination claims could proceed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 without regard to the limiting "equal work" standard of the Equal Pay Act. Following this decision, it was generally assumed that the courts would become the major forum for redressing sex-based wage discrimination. The anticipated litigation explosion never took place. Few wage discrimination suits have been filed, and even fewer have been successful. What progress has …

Thoughts On Comparable Worth Litigation And Organizational Strategies, Nancy Gertner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

To watch the evolution of Title VIP is to watch the gradual constricting of a law that many had heralded as a tool of social change for women. Its passage represented a statement that the so-called free market had not worked for women. Women were denied access to higher paying and high-status positions. Even when a job was integrated, women's work was undervalued and their wages frequently depressed. With the passage of Title VII came the hope that the law would do what the market could not-break the cycle of discrimination.

Sex discrimination, in contrast with other forms of discrimination, …

The Attainment Of Pay Equity Between The Sexes By Legal Means: An Economic Analysis, George E. Johnson, Gary R. Solon

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of this Article is to present an analysis of the gap between men's and women's wages with particular emphasis on the likely effects of various existing and proposed legal remedies. Part I sets out a simple "ideal" statistical model of wage determination. Its purpose is to identify carefully the potential impact of alternative legal remedies such as the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and proposed policies like comparable worth. This model is ideal in the sense that, although it could be estimated in principle, there is no data set currently available with which it could actually be estimated. …

Presumption Of Dependence In Workers' Compensation Death Benefits As A Denial Of Equal Protection, A. Russell Localio

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This note will examine the sex bias prevalent in many workers' compensation statutes and the constitutionality of these statutes in light of recent Supreme Court decisions on sex discrimination. After this examination, alternative methods for effecting reform of the sex-biased death benefit provisions will be analyzed.