Law Commons^™

A New Class Of Worker For The Sharing Economy, Megan Carboni

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Jennifer Guidry begins her workday at four a.m. She begins by vacuuming her personal car, preparing it to "ferry around strangers" for Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are "ride services that let people summon drivers on demand via [electronic] apps." Her phone pings just moments after four-thirty a.m.-an Uber customer requesting a ride to the airport. She accepts immediately, makes a round trip to the airport in just over an hour, and pockets twenty-eight dollars. This does not account for the cost of gas or wear and tear on her car.6 She performs the airport loop a …

The Compliance Case For Information Governance, Peter Sloan

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

In an increasingly convoluted information environment, organizations strive to manage information-related risks and exposures, minimize information-related costs, and maximize information value. The inadequacy of traditional strategies for addressing information compliance, risk, and value is becoming clear, and so too is the need for a better, more holistic approach to governing the organization’s information.

Avoiding Legal Seduction: Reinvigorating The Labor Movement To Balance Corporate Power, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This Article begins by briefly describing how legal and political action has come to be a central strategy for labor unions. Next, it analyzes the ways in which the law has failed the labor movement, reviewing various laws that have been enacted to protect employees, often at the behest of unions, and how those laws have been perversely twisted to the detriment of workers. The Article, then, looks at unions and employee movements that have succeeded in the face of unfavorable laws and analyzes the determinants of those union successes. Finally, based on these strategies, the Article provides suggestions about …

The Future Of Hedge Fund Regulation: A Comparative Approach: United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, And Germany, Anne Riviere

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Love Doesn't Pay: The Fiction Of Marriage Rights In The Workplace, James A. Sonne

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

California's Database Breach Notification Security Act: The First State Breah Notification Law Is Is Not Yet A Suitable Template For National Identity Theft Legislation, Timothy H. Skinner

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Attacks on poorly-secured information systems containing personal information are nearing epidemic proportion. Hardly a month passes without a news story regarding a security breach that exposed hundreds or thousands of data subjects’ personal information. As dependence on e-Commerce continues to expand, personal information stolen from poorly secured systems is becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Health Care Law, Peter M. Mellette, Emily W. G. Towey, J. Vaden Hunt

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Family Law, Elizabeth P. Coughter, Ronald R. Tweel

University of Richmond Law Review

The most significant case decisions regarding family law issues in Virginia this year are those cases involving the preemptive effect of federal law on equitable distribution issues. These cases held that federal law preempts state law when beneficiary provisions of certain insurance policies and retirement plans are being determined. Other important decisions struck down the self-executing provisions of property settlement agreements regarding the payment of child support. Additionally, a decision by the Court of Appeals of Virginia would have abrogated all property settlement agreements endorsed prior to 1998 were it not for a subsequent statutory modification.

Family Development Deductions - An Alternative To Repealing The Estate Tax, Richard J. Kovach

University of Richmond Law Review

Opposing political and social interests have long conducted a vigorous debate on whether gratuitous transfers of wealth should invoke federal excise taxes. Attempts to eliminate wealth transfer taxes reached a peak in the summer of 2000, when the Senate passed repeal legislation overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives. Those supporting repeal point out that wealth transfer taxation discourages work and savings while encouraging consumption. They further assert that transfer taxation revenue does not constitute a very significant portion of total federal revenue. The supporters of repeal also emphasize how the complexity of these taxes has created a parasitic service …

Retirement Incentives In The Twenty First Century: The Move Toward Employer Control Of The Adea, Judith A. Mcmorrow

University of Richmond Law Review

Retirement has become an increasingly important topic of public policy discussion in the United States, as well as an accepted, and even cherished, goal for many American workers. Consequently, it is not surprising that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) recognized, somewhat inartfully, the importance of retirement. When originally passed, the ADEA expressly provided an exemption for any bona fide employee benefit plan such as a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the ADEA. In 1986, Congress amended the ADEA to eliminate mandatory retirement, but made clear in its legislative …

Wards Cove Packing Or Not Wards Cove Packing? That Is Not The Question: Some Thoughts On Impact Analysis Under The Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Mack A. Player

University of Richmond Law Review

Assume two employers, A and B. Each gives a separate objective test to select employees for a particular position. Employer A utilizes a pen-and-paper, multiple choice examination that has questions in three major categories: 1) biology and genetics which includes DNA theory, cloning, etc.; 2) astrophysics, with questions about time, space, light relationships, "black holes," novas, etc. and 3) microprocessor engineering, the internet, silicon chips, and the like.

Organized Labor As Shareholder Activist: Building Coalitions To Promote Worker Capitalism, Marleen A. O'Connor

University of Richmond Law Review

In the past, the traditional question posed by unions was: "which side are you on?"--presenting a clear choice between labor and capital. As membership and bargaining power fall, however, unions are asserting their rights as shareholders to influence corporate decision making outside the conventional labor law framework. Because the National Labor Relations Act does not adequately protect workers' rights, unions have devised innovative methods as shareholders to exercise unprecedented power over managers. In only a few years, labor-shareholders have become highly visible players in the institutional shareholder movement. As a group, labor-shareholders submit one of the largest numbers of shareholder …

Esop's Fables: Leveraged Esops And Their Effect On Managerial Slack, Employer Risk And Motivation In The Public Corporation, Hunter C. Blum

University of Richmond Law Review

Shareholder rights and their influence on corporate governance have become an increasingly important topic in corporate law. The recent wave of corporate downsizing in the early 1990's has disturbed our collective equilibrium. Many now challenge the basic corporate law tenet that the directors hold a fiduciary duty to the shareholders only and the traditional idea that the proper corporate goal is shareholder wealth maximiza- tion.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Bankruptcy Law, Michael A. Condyles

University of Richmond Law Review

This survey article reviews and analyzes legislative and judicial developments that have occurred in bankruptcy law between April 1989 and April 1991. This article intends to alert the general practitioner to significant recent developments in the bankruptcy area. The article focuses on legislative changes that have been made to the Bankruptcy Code and to Virginia statutory law, along with federal bankruptcy decisions issued within the Fourth Circuit. Where appropriate, Virginia state court cases dealing with bankruptcy issues are also addressed.

The Status Of The At-Will Employment Doctrine In Virginia After Bowman V. State Bank Of Keysville, Gary S. Marshall, Maris M. Wicker

University of Richmond Law Review

The development of the employment-at-will doctrine has tracked the changing character of the work force from the days of simple master-servant domestic relations to the commercial realities of twentieth-century industrial capitalism. The rule grew out of the humane principle that it would be unjust to employ a laborer during the planting and harvesting months, only to discharge that laborer during the harsh winter. Hence, the realities of the agrarian economy of the British Isles and the closeness of the master and domestic servant relationship shaped the yearly hiring rule. This rule developed into a presumption that a hiring for an …

Qualified Plans Under Erisa: Tax Shelter Or Bureaucratic Paper Chase?, Louise Cobb Boggs

University of Richmond Law Review

The enactment of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 has had a profound and far-reaching impact upon existing employee benefit plans and upon those which have since been created. ERISA, as the act is commonly designated, is a comprehen- sive federal statute with strong consumer protection overtones which sets up strict requirements for regulating most aspects of the operation and administration of private employee benefit plans. Its primary goals are: (1) to protect benefit rights and to provide retirement security for the participants of employee benefit plans by setting out minimum standards for nondiscriminatory participation, vesting, benefit accrual, and …

Prepaid Legal Services: A New Frontier, Joseph R. Winston

University of Richmond Law Review

During its 1978 regular session, the Virginia General Assembly continued its efforts to regulate prepaid legal services. Enacted was a bill designed to regulate certain legal services plans not covered by Virginia or federal statute.

The Professional Corporation: An Overview, Halford I. Hayes

University of Richmond Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to provide a newly formed, moderate-sized legal firm or the beginning legal individual practitioner with a broad overview of the benefits and problems that a professional corporation [hereinafter PC] offers when compared to a partnership or individual proprietorship structure. The emphasis here will be on the availability of in-depth material in the field along with the governing Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations sections.

The Taxation Of Distributions From Qualified Employee Benefit Plans, Louis A. Mezzullo

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the most confusing aspects of employee benefit plans is the federal tax treatment of distributions to the participants of these plans and to the beneficiaries of deceased participants. The issues frequently involve not only income taxation, but estate and gift taxation as well. While the average practitioner may never be called upon to draft a pension or profit-sharing plan, he may be asked by his client about the consequences of the various alternative methods

of receiving a benefit from such a plan. Many employee benefit plans, particularly profit-sharing plans, offer a participant upon his retirement from the plan …

The "Elaborate Interweaving Of Jurisdiction:" Labor And Tax Administration And Enforcement Of Erisa And Beyond, John W. Lee

University of Richmond Law Review

On Labor Day 1974, President Ford signed into law~the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly known by its acronym ERISA. The genesis of ERISA is found in a study released in 1965 by the President's Committee on Corporate Pension Fund and Other Private Retirement and Welfare Programs, titled "Public Policy and Private Pension Programs-A Report to the President on Private Employee Retirement Plans." The Committee had been established in 1962 by President Kennedy in recognition of the growth of the pension industry and the need for reform. The report made recommendations as to vesting; funding; termination insurance and …