Law Commons^™

Carlisle V. Consolidated Rail Corp. And Justice Ginsburg's Dissent: Striking An Equitable Compromise Between The Interests Of Labor And Management Regarding Fela Liability For Work-Related Stress, Christopher M. Shields

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination: Recent Developments In The Supreme Court (Symposium: The Supreme Court And Local Government Law: The 1992-93 Term), Eileen Kaufman

Scholarly Works

At a symposium entitled, “The Supreme Court and Local Government Law; The 1992/93 Term”, Professor Eileen Kaufman spoke about the cases involving employment discrimination that were decided during that particular Term, Hazen Paper Company v. Biggins and St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks. While Hazen is an age discrimination case and St. Mary's is a Title VII case, they can be viewed as companion cases which serve to explain what an employment discrimination plaintiff must now establish when attempting to prove disparate treatment by indirect evidence. By way of preview, suffice it to say that plaintiff's task has been made …

Enforcing Lawyers' Covenants Not To Compete, Glenn S. Draper

Washington Law Review

Courts uphold most post-employment covenants not to compete if they meet a three part reasonableness test that balances the interests of the employer, the employee, and the public. Lawyers' covenants not to compete, however, are treated differently. Courts hold lawyers' agreements that prohibit competition with their former firms per se invalid, in order to preserve clients' unrestricted freedom to choose their attorneys. Courts have split on whether to apply the per se rule to invalidate lawyers' agreements that discourage rather than prohibit post-employment competition. The California Supreme Court's recent decision in Howard v. Babcock, applying the familiar reasonableness test to …

Insulating Sexual Harassment Grievance Procedures From The Chilling Effect Of Defamation Litigation, Ruth A. Kennedy

Washington Law Review

The threat of defamation liability may undermine the push to encourage private employers to establish internal grievance procedures for handling sexual harassment complaints. Courts have recognized two defenses to defamation claims arising out of employers' sexual harassment investigations: the qualified privilege and the intracorporate immunity rule. Neither of these defenses adequately balances the need to insulate grievance procedures against the desire to protect the reputation of the employee accused of harassment. This Comment proposes the adoption of a new grievance procedure privilege which would ensure the integrity of grievance procedures while maximizing the protection afforded an accused employee.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Employment Law, Paul G. Beers

University of Richmond Law Review

The focus of this article is upon employment law in Virginia during 1993 and the first half of 1994. In addition, significant judicial decisions from 1992 are covered. Workers' compensation and unemployment compensation are excluded as topics. Public sector employment law also lies outside the scope of this article. Nevertheless, two decisions of the Supreme Court of Virginia which involve public employees are analyzed. The most turbulent and rapidly evolving area of Virginia employment law lies in tort. The decisions discussed below indicate that employees stand only a modest chance of recovering against their employers in wrongful discharge suits based …

Between The Buttons: Employer Distribution Of Antiunion Insignia, John W. Teeter Jr

Faculty Articles

Employers should be forbidden from offering antiunion insignia to their workers. This is not contrary to current labor rules that allow employers and their supervisors to wear insignia. The workers' rights would still be safeguarded because employees would remain free to buy or create their own antiunion insignia. The goal is to protect the right of workers to debate, campaign, and vote on unionization with no harm to legitimate needs for self expression.

Generally, workers are entitled to wear campaign insignia regardless of whether it supports or decries unionization. In this manner, workers can openly proclaim their beliefs and seek …

Watch Your E-Mail - Employee E-Mail Monitoring And Privacy Law In The Age Of The Electronic Sweatshop, 28 J. Marshall L. Rev. 139 (1994), Laurie Thomas Lee

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beware The Toothless Tiger: Critique Of The Model Employment Termination Act, Kenneth A. Sprang

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Job Site Safety In Washington: Requiring Actual Control When Imposing Statutory Duties On Job Site Owners, Gregory J. Duff

Seattle University Law Review

The subject of this Comment is whether the actual control requirement in Hennig should also be employed to find liability in cases involving asserted statutory violations. This Comment argues that Washington courts should employ the same case-by-case control analysis used to impose the common law duty to provide a safe workplace to impose similar statutory duties on a job site owner. Part II of this Comment briefly identifies the possible sources of a job site owner's duties, including common law, contract, and statute. Part III explains the current status of job site owner liability in Washington. This Part carefully distinguishes …

Chaos And The Law Of Borrowed Servant: An Argument For Consistency, J. Dennis Hynes

Publications

No abstract provided.

Professional Employee Or Supervisory Employee: Are Nurses Protected By The Nlra? An Analysis Of Nlrb V. Health Care & Retirement Corp., Barbara J. Fick

Journal Articles

This article previews the Supreme Court case NLRB v. Health Care and Retirement Corp. of America, 511 U.S. 571 (1994). The National Labor Relations Act protects employees' right to unionize and their actions aimed at improving working conditions. The Act does not, however, protect supervisory employees on the premise that employers deserve the undivided loyalty of their agents. In this case, the Court is asked to decide if nurses who direct the work of aides and orderlies are employees protected from discharge in their efforts to improve working conditions, or are supervisors who can be fired for such conduct.

Washington's Industrial Safety Regulations: The Trend Towards Greater Protection For Workers, Stephen L. Bulzomi, John L. Messina, Jr.

Seattle University Law Review

This Article argues in support of the trend towards greater protection for workers through the deterrent factor of certain civil liability for WISHA violations resulting in injury. The Article begins by charting the evolution of Washington law on this issue. It then describes the current state of the law on this subject. Finally, it explains how Stute and its progeny are in line with the state's overall trend towards greater worker protection, consistent with the legislative intent of WISHA, and beneficial to not only employees, but employers as well.

Unemployment Insurance: American Social Wage, Labor Organization And Legal Ideology, Kenneth M. Casebeer

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Rawls' Theory Of Liberty And Rights, James W. Nickel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Dealing With Sexual Harrassment In The Workplace: The Promise And Limitations Of Human Rights Discourse, Fay Faraday

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This paper examines the value of liberal rights in launching a political movement against sexual harassment, while reassessing their limitations for changing the practice of harassment. For rights to benefit women, decision makers must mean the same thing women do when speaking of sexual harassment. The paper analyzes how dominant ideology misshapes the delivery of rights against sexual harassment, normalizes male aggression, and reconstructs the struggle into one not about power but about taste, free speech, and a conflict between abstract rights. The paper examines how other rights discourses can empower women to combat harassment in a proactive way.

Divergent Strategies: Union Organizing And Alternative Dispute Resolution, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

The Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations, the so-called "Dunlop Commission," is focusing on three principal subjects: (1) union organizing, (2) worker participation in management decision making, and (3) alternative dispute resolution (ADR). I am going to concentrate on the last, but first I would like to say a few words about union organizing. After all, unionization and collective bargaining - and for that matter, worker participation as well - can fairly be viewed as special forms of alternative dispute resolution.

A Discussion Of The Washington Industrial Safety And Health Act Of 1973 Presented As: A Preface To The University Of Puget Sound Law Review, Mark O. Brown

Seattle University Law Review

This Preface briefly describes WISHA, the problems of worker safety in Washington, and the role of Labor and Industries in working to solve those problems. In Section II, this Preface addresses the status of worker health and safety in Washington. Section III describes some unique Washington programs that are to be used to combat the problems of worker safety. Section IV describes the cooperative steps that employers and workers are taking to help solve safety problems. Section V identifies new legal standards that are coming to bear on the issue of worker safety. Section VI identifies new frontiers upon which …

The Washington Industrial Safety And Health Act: Wisha's Twentieth Anniversary, 1973-1993, Alan S. Paja

Seattle University Law Review

Occupational safety and health did not begin in 1973 in the State of Washington. Although the historical roots of the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act of 1973 (WISHA) run deep, the adoption of the Act significantly affected the lives of all working men and women in the state. This Article will examine that historical perspective, covering both state and federal law, and will comprehensively detail the current law relating to occupational safety and health in the State of Wasington.

Liability For Prenatal Harm In The Workplace: The Need For Reform, Steven S. Paskal

Seattle University Law Review

This Article describes the causes of action available under current Washington law when a workplace hazard contributes to an adverse reproductive outcome such as miscarriage, birth defects, transplacental carcinogenesis, or other prenatal injury. Part II delineates the wide variety of workplace conditions that may lead to an adverse reproductive outcome, ranging from emotional stress, cigarette smoke, and fall hazards to more traditional teratogen exposures such as lead. Part III describes the types of reproductive harm that can form the basis of a lawsuit in Washington. Part IV notes the theories of liability and the potential defendants, including employers, co-employees, consultants, …

Garcia V. Spun Steak Co.: The Ninth Circuit Requires That Title Vii Plaintiffs Prove The Adverse Effect Of A Challenged English-Only Workplace Rule, Dan Clawson

Seattle University Law Review

Although the Spun Steak decision recognizes that English-only rules may impact Title VII in some circumstances, the court held that an employer's good-faith imposition of these rules on fully bilingual employees does not violate Title VII. Section II of this Comment presents an overview of the substantive law and the enforcement mechanisms of Title VII. Section III outlines the development of federal discrimination law regarding English-only rules. Section IV examines the Spun Steak decision, and Section V analyzes the implications of this decision and its effect on discrimination law in the Ninth Circuit.

The Faces Of Coercion: The Legal Regulation Of Labor Conflict In Ontario, 1880-1889, Eric Tucker

Articles & Book Chapters

This article is part of a larger study of Canadian labor law before the advent of statutory collective bargaining, which questions the traditional periodization and the meanings of the categories. It is often an un-articulated premise that the exercise by employers of their superior economic power, as imparted and structured through the law of property and contract, is not coercion. Rather, the analysis is restricted to direct state coercion, exercised through the criminal law, the police, and the injunction. This framework produces a partial view of the role of law and interferes with an analysis of the strategic choices made …

The Americans With Disabilities Act In The Unionized Workplace, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the issues raised by application of the ADA in the organized employment setting. The Article begins with an overview of the statute and then analyzes its applicability in the unionized workplace. In addition to recommending changes in the statute and regulations to clarify the obligations of employers and unions under the ADA, the Article makes recommendations with respect to judicial interpretation of the statute in three major areas. In Sections III C through E, the Article analyzes the circumstances under which the union should be held liable for discrimination, recommending that courts assess liability based on the …

A Call For Bright-Lines To Fix The Fair Labor Standards Act, Robert D. Lipman, Allison Plesur, Joel Katz

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Standard For Punitive Damages Under Title Vii, Judith J. Johnson

Journal Articles

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the plaintiff in an employment discrimination case who alleges intentional discrimination may recover punitive damages if she demonstrates that her employer engaged in the discriminatory practice with "malice" or "reckless indifference" to federally protected rights. To prove a case of disparate treatment under Title VII, the plaintiff bears the burden of persuading the trier of fact that her employer intended to discriminate against her. In other words, to be liable in a disparate treatment case, the employer has to specifically intend to treat the plaintiff differently based, for example, on her sex. If …

Maintaining Order In The Post-Strike Workplace: Employee Expression And The Scope Of Section 7, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

In the aftermath of a typical strike, management often seeks to restore order to the workplace by imposing restrictions on employee expression. Although in principle employee expression is protected by section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, courts, relying on outdated notions of workplace organization, often accept ad hoc management justifications for restrictions on employee expression. The author argues that after a strike, it is crucial for employees to be able to express their grievances or vent their frustrations at exactly the same time that employers feel it necessary to restrict expression as a way of re-imposing order in …

Legal Problems Of Vocational And Professional Training During The Soviet Period Of Stagnation, Yuri I. Luryi

Cleveland State Law Review

This article investigates the legal methods used to regulate professional training under Soviet labor law. It will examine relevant norms of labor legislation, the views of Soviet labor law specialists, and existing practice.

The Making Of The Model Employment Termination Act, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Courts in about 45 states have ameliorated the harshness of employment at will, but the common-law modifications still exhibit serious deficiencies. Legislation is needed. The Model Employment Termination Act proposes a balanced compromise. It would protect most employees against discharge without good cause and it would relieve employers of the risk of devastating financial losses When liability is imposed. Arbitration procedures under the Model Act would also be simpler, faster, and cheaper than existing court proceedings.

Single-Employer Profit Sharing Plans: Should A Break In Service That Occurs Because Of A Natural Disaster Result In The Forfeiture Of A Plan Participant's Nonvested Profit Sharing Benefit, Marie Ellen Haynes

Cleveland State Law Review

Most profit sharing plans provide that the nonvested portion of an employee's profit sharing benefit can be forfeited when the employee incurs a break in service. A break in service often results in termination. Employees can also break their service with an employer by quitting, retiring, dying, becoming disabled, getting laid-off, or being discharged for cause. Some of these methods of incurring a break from service are voluntary while others are involuntary. Whether an employee's profit sharing benefit can be forfeited may depend on whether his break in service was voluntary or involuntary. The issue that will be addressed here …

Struggling Through The Thicket: Section 301 And The Washington Supreme Court, Mark Adams

Articles

No abstract provided.

Struggling Through The Thicket: Section 301 And The Washington Supreme Court, Mark L. Adams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this article, Professor Adams examines preemption doctrine under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, focusing primarily on the Washington Supreme Court's 1992 decision in Commodore v. University Mechanical Contractors, Inc. The author traces the history of section 301 cases, comparing two different theories regarding its correct application. Under one theory, an employee's state law claim will be preempted if the underlying right is negotiable or if the employer's defenses implicate the collective bargaining agreement. Under the second theory, an employee's state law claim is preempted only when the right at issue derives from the provisions of a …