Law Commons^™

In Support Of Ureaa: The Case For Timely, Uniform, And Comprehensive Action Against Restrictive Employment Agreements, Ryan Greenberg

University of Miami Business Law Review

Tens of millions of American workers across a range of occupations are bound by restrictive employment agreements. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused people to leave their jobs in search of more money, flexibility, and happiness—deemed the Great Resignation—shining a new light on the volatility of labor markets. But restrictive employment agreements limit workers’ exit options and stymie competition, in tension with our nation’s antitrust laws. The effects of these agreements are particularly damaging to low-wage workers. Rightfully so, policymakers across jurisdictions and political ideologies are increasingly introducing measures to curtail the abuse of these agreements. This area of the law …

How To Pay Off Hard Work, Juliette Hernandez

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protective Styles, A Protected Class: Revisiting Eeoc V. Catastrophe Management Solutions, Staci Campbell

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

For years, Black people have been forced to place extra thought into their appearance, especially in the workplace. Extra thought and extra effort all to avoid being looked down upon as unkept or unprofessional. Finally, there is a wave of legislation being introduced and passed to rectify this problem. While strides are being made, there is still much work to be done. The amount of work left to be done is illustrated by a slew of unfavorable federal cases brought in the face of discrimination against Black hair and hairstyles. This paper explores one of those cases as well as …

The End “Goal” To The U.S. Women’S Soccer Team Equal Pay Lawsuit: Proposing A Resolution For Gender Equality By Examining The Equal Pay Laws For Male And Female Sports, Veronica Adams

University of Miami Business Law Review

In March 2019, on International Women’s Day, 28 women on the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team filed a lawsuit against The U.S. Soccer Federation claiming gender discrimination, specifically in unequal payment between the men’s team and the women’s team. Players based the lawsuit on two grounds: (1) that U.S. Soccer violated the Equal Pay Act by paying the WNT less than the MNT; and (2) that the federation discriminated against the WNT under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in regard to workplace conditions. The Federation claims that the men and women are paid equally and the discrepancy in pay …

A More Pixelated Union: A Look At The Path To Unionization In The Video Game Industry Under Trump’S National Labor Relations Board, William C. Selfridge

University of Miami Business Law Review

In the past twenty years, the video game industry has become one of the largest entertainment industries not only in the United States but in the entire world. Yet as video game sales continue to increase at massive rates, it seems the conditions for those making the games have not improved with it, at least according to some in the know. While other entertainment industries have moved to unionize, those in the video game industry have yet to take that leap. To make matters worse, during the administration of President Donald J. Trump, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) shifted …

Unvested: How Equity And The Deferred Payment Gamble In Startups Shortchange Employees Targeted By Discrimination, Katie Black

University of Miami Law Review

The new American Dream is not limited to Silicon Valley. Startups span the nation. They exist in a vast array of sizes and ideologies. Nonetheless, by their very nature, startups are boundary-pushing enterprises. For all the world-altering good they can do, sometimes, that crashing-into-walls mentality comes at the price of pushing human and legal boundaries as well. While the entity tries to grow and create, almost hydraulically using what little human and financial capital it may have to build the once-impossible, startup employees can be left to bear the cost when it is their boundaries that are broken. Discrimination is …

Whistling In The Wind: Why Federal Whistleblower Protections Fall Short Of Their Corporate Governance Goals, Meera Khan

University of Miami Business Law Review

Teetering on the line between hero and villain, whistleblowers have a remarkably unusual role in contemporary American society. Those who blow the whistle on public sector activities, like Edward Snowden and the Watergate Scandal’s “Deep Throat”, are often vilified in history as treasonous and unprincipled rogues. In the private sector, however, whistleblowers are seen as moral compasses for corporate behavior, and are even afforded federal protections for speaking out against internal malfeasance. The piecemeal evolution of whistleblower legislation including the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 created regulatory and enforcement …

The Final Rule: A Call For Congressional Action To Return The Flsa And The Middle Class To Its Former Glory, Ashley Singrossi

University of Miami Business Law Review

2017 was full of change in America. But not for the middle class. The middle class remained stagnant, if not shrinking—as it has been for decades. Many scholars and economists theorize why the class that is the backbone of America—that once flourished as the beacon of hope for hard–working people around the world—has steadily declined over the past few decades. The answer lies in labor regulation. Federal labor regulations helped build America’s robust middle class. But those regulations are outdated and ineffective. If we want to see the middle class restored to its prosperity, and stop it from slowly slipping …

Deflategate Pumped Up: Analyzing The Second Circuit’S Decision And The Nfl Commissioner’S Authority, Josh Mandel

University of Miami Law Review

Deflategate was one of the most controversial scandals in NFL history, and while many became fascinated due to their love of football, Deflategate was ultimately rooted in law. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Tom Brady, the legendary quarterback for the New England Patriots, for four games for engaging in “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football.” More specifically, Goodell suspended Brady because he was generally aware of Patriots staff deflating footballs prior to the 2015 AFC Championship game, and because he failed to cooperate with the investigation into the deflated footballs.

Commissioner …

Uber In The U.S. And Canada: Is The Gig-Economy Exploiting Or Exploring Labor And Employment Laws By Going Beyond The Dichotomous Workers’ Classification?, Yasaman Moazami

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Aspectos Laborales En Los Tratados De Libre Comercio Y Acuerdos De Integración Regional: Entre Normas Internacionales Del Trabajo Y “Cláusulas Sociales” En El Derecho Estatal, Inter-Estatal Y Transnacional. Del Nafta Al Tpp, Marlon M. Meza-Salas

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Labor Violations In Mexico: Can New Trade Agreements Effectuate Change?, Nicole Downey Moss

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

Child labor and forced labor remain pervasive problems on Mexican farms. Millions of workers on these farms are forced to work and live in inhumane conditions, only to leave the season’s harvest just as poor as they were before. To date, human rights and labor treaties and agreements that Mexico is party to have failed to protect workers. In early 2016, however, negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”) concluded and, if ratified, the party-countries claim that the TPP will hold Mexico to higher standards than previously faced because the TPP will link labor rights with trade law. However, this was …

What Makes Parties Joint Employers? An Analysis Of The National Labor Relations Board’S Redefining Of The “Joint Employer” Standard And Its Potential Effect On The Labor Industry, Deepti Orekondy

University of Miami Business Law Review

Multiple cases decided before the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) have continuously narrowed the scope of the joint employer doctrine. Most recently, in the case of Browning-Ferris Indus., 362 N.L.R.B. No. 186 (August 27, 2015), the NLRB overturned decades of precedent and adopted a much more expansive standard that reverts the doctrine back to its original understanding in 1965. Prior to this decision, the joint employer doctrine established a joint employer relationship when both entities had meaningful control over the terms and conditions of employment and actually exercised that authority. After Browning-Ferris, the new standard now only requires “indirect” …

A Faulty Federal Standard: A Call For A Federal Minimum Wage That Is Actually “Fair” Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, Amanda Rose Kapur

University of Miami Business Law Review

When the average American works 40 hours a week on the federal minimum wage and their family unit is still under the poverty line, there is something inherently wrong. In America, one has to work 93 hours a week just to accommodate a basic level of living on minimum wage. Working the standard 40 hours a week should grant the worker the right to live above the poverty line.

Section I of this Comment will discuss the need for minimum wage reform by looking at the living wage gap and the benefits of raised minimum wages. This section will also …

Workers’ Rights As Natural Human Rights, Anne Marie Lofaso

University of Miami Law Review

We live in an increasingly polarized world: one summed up by President Clinton, “we’re all in this together;” the other summed up by then-presidential candidate Trump, “I alone can fix it.” These world views have implications for workers and how the future workplace is ordered. In this Article, I explore the idea that a natural human rights approach to workplace regulations will tend to favor the we’re-all-in-this-together view, whereas the Lochnerian or neo-liberal view tends to favor an individualistic world view.

The Article’s six-step analytical approach starts with a historical analysis of labor law jurisprudence, concluding that U.S. labor laws …

One Of These Interns Is Not Like The Others: How The Eleventh Circuit Misapplied The “Tweaked Primary Beneficiary” Test To Required Clinical Internships, Samuel C. Goodman

University of Miami Law Review

Today’s ever-changing business environment continues to challenge the traditional educational model, further blurring the line between learning and labor. This has resulted in great uncertainty as to the proper legal treatment of the student intern, specifically the unpaid student intern.

This Note is intended to introduce a new perspective to the unpaid internship debate and highlight the need for courts to focus on the specific type of internship at issue before formulating an approach to best assess whether the intern should be classified as an employee entitled to wages. Part I of the Article will discuss the Fair Labor Standards …

Mandating The Supersize Option: The Legality Of Government Intervention In The Fast Food Industry To Address Insufficient Wages And Close The Public Assistance Gap, Joshua A. Berman

University of Miami Business Law Review

Several prominent studies have recently highlighted how the federal government tacitly subsidizes insufficient wages paid in certain industries–notably, major corporations within the fastfood sector. Historically, the government addressed insufficient wages by implementing a minimum standard-of-living wage. Since the New Deal inception of this remedy, the Judiciary has regularly upheld the minimum wage in the face of challenges to its constitutionality. Given the recent passage of a substantial increase in the minimum wage and the toxic political cloud hovering over the United States Congress, President Obama likely will have a difficult time in passing another increase, as he has promised since …

On The Construction Of Section 203(O) Of The Flsa: Exclusion Without Exemption, Victor M. Velarde

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Still In 'The Jungle': Labor, Immigration, And The Search For A New Common Ground In The Wake Of Iowa's Meatpacking Raids, Khari Taustin

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consumer And Employment Arbitration Law In Comparative Perspective: The Importance Of The Civil Jury, Stephen J. Ware

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Light Of Circuit City Stores, Inc. V. Adams, What Is The Fate Of Employment Law? Does An Analysis Of Consumer Law Shed Light On The Future Of Employer/Employee Relations?, Jaime Ellen Sopher

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Immigration, The Servant Problem, And The Legacy Of The Domestic Labor Debate: "Where Can You Find Good Help These Days!", Mary Romero

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The First American Case Under The North American Agreement For Labor Cooperation, Sarah Lowe

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Labor Law Scholarship And Its Discontents: The Reveries Of Monsieur Verog, Matthew W. Finkin

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Partners As Employees Under The Federal Employment Discrimination Statutes: Are The Roles Of Partner And Employee Mutually Exclusive?, Troy D. Ferguson

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vested Seniority Rights: A Conceptual Approach, Francis A. Citera

University of Miami Law Review

Under contemporary jurisprudence, vested seniority rights are considered creatures of contract. As such, they generally are subject to "divestiture" with the termination of the collective-bargaining agreement. Relying upon Zdanok v. Glidden Co. and Locke's labor theory of property, the author argues that seniority rights are property rights derived from the worker's employment independent of the contract.