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Full-Text Articles in Law
Dignity Transacted: Emotional Labor And The Racialized Workplace, Lu-In Wang, Zachary W. Brewster
Dignity Transacted: Emotional Labor And The Racialized Workplace, Lu-In Wang, Zachary W. Brewster
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
In interactive customer service encounters, the dignity of the parties becomes the currency of a commercial transaction. Service firms that profit from customer satisfaction place great emphasis on emotional labor, the work that service providers do to make customers feel cared for and esteemed. But performing emotional labor can deny dignity to workers by highlighting their subservience and requiring them to suppress their own emotions in an effort to elevate the status and experiences of their customers. Paradoxically, the burden of performing emotional labor may also impose transactional costs on some customers by facilitating discrimination in service delivery. Drawing on …
Born Free: Toward An Expansive Definition Of Sex, Laura Palk, Shelly Grunsted
Born Free: Toward An Expansive Definition Of Sex, Laura Palk, Shelly Grunsted
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The State of New York recently issued its first physician-certified “intersex” birth certificate, correcting a 55-year-old’s original birth certificate. This is a positive step towards eliminating the traditional binary approach to a person’s birth sex, but it creates potential uncertainties in the employment discrimination context. Over the past several years, the definition of what constitutes “discrimination on the basis of sex” has both expanded (with the legalization of same-sex marriage) and narrowed (restricting the use of gender specific bathrooms). Until recently it appeared that a broader definition of the term “sex” would become the judicial—and possibly legislative—norm in a variety …
Towards Reasonable: The Rise Of State Pregnancy Accommodation Laws, Stephanie A. Pisko
Towards Reasonable: The Rise Of State Pregnancy Accommodation Laws, Stephanie A. Pisko
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
In light of the recent Supreme Court decision Young v. UPS, pregnancy accommodation in the workplace is once again at the forefront of employment law. Pregnancy is not considered a disability under the ADA, nor is it within the scope of Title VII protections, but states are passing their own pregnancy accommodation laws. These laws will affect employers and employees alike, but exactly how is uncertain. Perhaps the most natural (and obvious) result of the explosion of state pregnancy accommodation laws will be a federal law, or an amendment to the ADA categorizing pregnancy as a disability. But there …
The Disability-Employability Divide: Bottlenecks To Equal Opprotunity, Bradley A. Areheart, Michael Ashley Stein
The Disability-Employability Divide: Bottlenecks To Equal Opprotunity, Bradley A. Areheart, Michael Ashley Stein
Michigan Law Review
Equal opportunity might appear to comprise a relatively simple question: Do similarly situated persons have an equal chance to attain a particular goal, or do obstacles irrelevant to their qualifications or to the desired goal preclude achievement? But equal opportunity is complicated.1 There are descriptive and prescriptive dimensions to this question. Nuances exist when determining who is similarly situated, whether those individuals have the same opportunity, what goals we care about equalizing, and whether the ultimate aspiration is equality of opportunity or equality of outcome. Moreover, what means should we employ to remove obstacles, are these means likely to be …
Griggs At Midlife, Deborah A. Widiss
Griggs At Midlife, Deborah A. Widiss
Michigan Law Review
Not all Supreme Court cases have a midlife crisis. But it is fair to say that Griggs v. Duke Power Co., which recently turned forty, has some serious symptoms. Griggs established a foundational proposition of employment discrimination law known as disparate impact liability: policies that significantly disadvantage racial minority or female employees can violate federal employment discrimination law, even if there is no evidence that the employer “intended” to discriminate. Griggs is frequently described as one of the most important decisions of the civil rights era, compared to Brown v. Board of Education for its “momentous social consequences.” In 1989, …
Coercive Assimilationism: The Perils Of Muslim Women's Identity Performance In The Workplace, Sahar F. Aziz
Coercive Assimilationism: The Perils Of Muslim Women's Identity Performance In The Workplace, Sahar F. Aziz
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Should employees have the legal right to “be themselves” at work? Most Americans would answer in the negative because work is a privilege, not an entitlement. But what if being oneself entails behaviors, mannerisms, and values integrally linked to the employee’s gender, race, or religion? And what if the basis for the employer’s workplace rules and professionalism standards rely on negative racial, ethnic or gender stereotypes that disparately impact some employees over others? Currently, Title VII fails to take into account such forms of second-generation discrimination, thereby limiting statutory protections to phenotypical or morphological bases. Drawing on social psychology and …
The Fourth Trimester, Saru M. Matambanadzo
The Fourth Trimester, Saru M. Matambanadzo
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article introduces a new conceptual framework to the legal literature on pregnancy and pregnancy discrimination: the fourth trimester. The concept of a fourth trimester, drawn from maternal nursing and midwifery, refers to the crucial three to six month period after birth when many of the physical, psychological, emotional, and social effects of pregnancy continue. Giving this concept legal relevance extends the scope of pregnancy beyond the narrow period defined by conception, gestation, and birth and acknowledges that pregnancy is a relational process, not an individual event. In the United States, however, antidiscrimination law has failed to acknowledge the demands …
Designing A Flexible World For The Many: "Essential Functions" And Title I Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Michael J. Powers
Designing A Flexible World For The Many: "Essential Functions" And Title I Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Michael J. Powers
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note explores how courts interpret the meaning of “essential functions” under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To be protected under the ADA, a plaintiff must be able to perform the “essential functions” of her job with or without a reasonable accommodation. In general, courts follow one of two approaches when interpreting this phrase. The first approach narrowly focuses on the employer’s judgment regarding which functions are essential. The second approach considers the employer’s judgment, but looks beyond to consider the broader employment relationship. This Note argues that these different approaches have led to varying levels of …
Categorically Black, White, Or Wrong: 'Misperception Discrimination' And The State Of Title Vii Protection, D. Wendy Greene
Categorically Black, White, Or Wrong: 'Misperception Discrimination' And The State Of Title Vii Protection, D. Wendy Greene
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article exposes an inconspicuous, categorically wrong movement within antidiscrimination law. A band of federal courts have denied Title VII protection to individuals who allege “categorical discrimination”: invidious, differential treatment on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, or sex. Per these courts, a plaintiff who self-identifies as Christian but is misperceived as Muslim cannot assert an actionable claim under Title VII if she suffers an adverse employment action as a result of this misperception and related animus. Though Title VII expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, courts have held that such a plaintiff’s claim of “misperception …
Bathroom Bias: Making The Case For Trans Rights Under Disability Law, Daniella A. Schmidt
Bathroom Bias: Making The Case For Trans Rights Under Disability Law, Daniella A. Schmidt
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Disability law is one of the more successful tools currently being used to protect trans people fom discrimination. While the use of disability law as a framework for affirming or creating trans rights has come with some success, many in the community remain reluctant to use disability law for fear of the policy implications and stigma associated with medicalization of trans identity. After exploring the current state of the law on both the federal and state level, this Note will argue how disability law both could and should be used more often to further trans protections. In particular, this Note …
Flexible Scheduling And Gender Equiality: The Working Families Flexibility Act Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Lane C. Powell
Flexible Scheduling And Gender Equiality: The Working Families Flexibility Act Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Lane C. Powell
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The Working Families Flexibility Act (“WFFA”) as proposed in 2012 would create a federal right for employees to request flexible work arrangements. However, the bill contains no private right of action for employees to enforce this new right. By reframing the WFFA as an anti-discrimination statute targeting unconstitutional sex discrimination on the part of the States, the WFFA could be upheld under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, allowing Congress to provide a private right of action for both private and state employees. This Note uses the Supreme Court’s decisions on the Family Medical Leave Act in Hibbs and Coleman …
Have A Job To Get A Job: Disparate Treatment And Disparate Impact Of The 'Currently Employed' Requirement, Jennifer Jolly-Ryan
Have A Job To Get A Job: Disparate Treatment And Disparate Impact Of The 'Currently Employed' Requirement, Jennifer Jolly-Ryan
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Countless people struggle to find a job in a competitive job market despite possessing solid qualifications. Although the news media reports that job numbers are improving, the problems of unemployment particularly loom for people of color, older workers, and people with disabilities. These groups are often unemployed longer than other job seekers. These groups also suffer the disparate impact of job advertisements that require "current employment" as a prerequisite for hiring. The harsh reality is that the longer a job seeker is unemployed, the closer a job seeker becomes to becoming permanently unemployed. Job advertisements that require "current employment" exacerbate …
Some Women's Work: Domestic Work, Class, Race, Heteropatriarchy, And The Limits Of Legal Reform, Terri Nilliasca
Some Women's Work: Domestic Work, Class, Race, Heteropatriarchy, And The Limits Of Legal Reform, Terri Nilliasca
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Note employs Critical Race, feminist, Marxist, and queer theory to analyze the underlying reasons for the exclusion of domestic workers from legal and regulatory systems. The Note begins with a discussion of the role of legal and regulatory systems in upholding and replicating White supremacy within the employer and domestic worker relationship. The Note then goes on to argue that the White, feminist movement's emphasis on access to wage labor further subjugated Black and immigrant domestic workers. Finally, I end with an in-depth legal analysis of New York's Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, the nation's first state law to …
Sex Equality's Unnamed Nemesis, Veronica Percia
Sex Equality's Unnamed Nemesis, Veronica Percia
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Sex inequality still exists. However, its manifestations have evolved since the early sex inequality cases were heard in courts and legislatures first began structuring statutory regimes to combat it. In particular, so-called "facial" discrimination against men and women on the basis of sex has no doubt decreased since the advent of this legal assault on sex inequality. Yet the gendered assumptions that structure our institutions and interactions have proven resilient. With sex discrimination now operating more covertly, the problem of sex inequality looks considerably different than it once did. Courts, however, have failed to successfully respond to the changing contours …
Removing Categorical Constraints On Equal Employment Opportunities And Anti-Discrimination Protections, Anastasia Niedrich
Removing Categorical Constraints On Equal Employment Opportunities And Anti-Discrimination Protections, Anastasia Niedrich
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
It has been the "historical tendency of anti-discrimination law to use categories to define protected classes of people." This Article challenges the categorical approach and seeks to change that limited framework. This Article focuses on the flaws with Title VII's categorical approach and discusses why there is a desperate need for change to combat the different types and targets of workplace discrimination today, focusing on the transgender community as one example. After discussing the current framework and operation of Title VII, this Article analyzes the insurmountable flaws inherent in the categorical approach to anti-discrimination law, and specifically considers Title VII's …
Federal Employer Sanctions As Immigration Federalism, Darcy M. Pottle
Federal Employer Sanctions As Immigration Federalism, Darcy M. Pottle
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
For low-skilled workers in much of the world, U.S. admission policies make illegal immigration the most viable means of entering the country. Low average schooling, which disqualifies many potential immigrants from employment-based visas, and long queues affecting family preference immigration from high-traffic countries, make the admission criteria outlined in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibitive for most would-be immigrants to the United States. Perhaps due to this failure of immediate legal avenues, many immigrants enter the country illegally. Though many eventually gain legal status, in the meantime they live and work in the United States without documentation. "Illegal …
Addressing Segregation In The Brown Collar Workplace: Toward A Solution For The Inexorable 100%, Leticia M. Saucedo
Addressing Segregation In The Brown Collar Workplace: Toward A Solution For The Inexorable 100%, Leticia M. Saucedo
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Despite public perception to the contrary, segregated workplaces exist in greater number today than ever before, largely because of the influx of newly arrived immigrant workers to low-wage industries throughout the country. Yet existing antidiscrimination frameworks no longer operate adequately to rid workplaces of the segregation that results from targeting immigrant workers. This Article suggests a new anti-discrimination framework to address workplace segregation. The Article reviews how litigants have attempted to rid the workplace of conditions resulting from segregated departments through existing anti-discrimination frameworks. It then suggests a simple, yet powerful, shift in the inferences that can be drawn from …
"Has The Millennium Yet Dawned?": A History Of Attitudes Toward Pregnant Workers In America, Courtni E. Molnar
"Has The Millennium Yet Dawned?": A History Of Attitudes Toward Pregnant Workers In America, Courtni E. Molnar
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Article will focus on what might be considered the "prehistory" of the PDA in an attempt to shed new light on the equality/difference debate. Beginning as early as the nineteenth century, pregnant workers have been forced into either the equality approach or the difference approach depending mostly on race and class. This Article will show that, at times, both approaches restrained the autonomy of women and even caused harm to individual women and society by contributing to the development of the stereotypes and social attitudes that continue to permit pregnancy discrimination today.
Bilingualism And Equality: Title Vii Claims For Language Discrimination In The Workplace, James Leonard
Bilingualism And Equality: Title Vii Claims For Language Discrimination In The Workplace, James Leonard
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Linguistic diversity is a fact of contemporary American life. Nearly one in five Americans speak a language other than English in the home, and influxes of immigrants have been a constant feature of American history. The multiplicity of languages in American society has touched nearly all aspects of American culture, and specifically has added new and important challenges to the American workplace. Chief among these new concerns are the growing number of legal claims centered around language discrimination in the workplace. The common vehicle for these claims has been Title VII, and there is considerable support in the academic literature …
Intentional Job Discrimination-New Tools For Our Oldest Problem, Alfred W. Blumrosen, Ruth G. Blumrosen
Intentional Job Discrimination-New Tools For Our Oldest Problem, Alfred W. Blumrosen, Ruth G. Blumrosen
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The roots of employment discrimination lie deep in our history. By the 18th century, race slavery was the underpinning of wealth in the southern colonies. Black slaves were considered property - subhumans who had no rights in themselves or their offspring. In 1765, the British imposed "stamp taxes" on the colonies; the colonies resisted. In 1766, Parliament claimed the power to govern the colonies in all matters, but by 1770 it had repealed almost all the taxes that offended the colonists. "Business as usual" returned to the relations between the colonies and Britain.
Envisioning A Future For Age And Disability Discrimination Claims, Alison Barnes
Envisioning A Future For Age And Disability Discrimination Claims, Alison Barnes
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article considers the reasons for reinterpretations of age and disability and examines the fundamental reasons for changes in the implementation of both the ADA and ADEA. Part I presents the basic structure and relevant requirements of the two statutes and comments on the reasons their legislative purposes are not often seen as overlapping. Part II discusses the recent Supreme Court decisions that have undermined the purposes and implementation of both the ADA and ADEA and chilled causes of action based on the ADA and ADEA. Part III projects the current problems with anti-discrimination causes into the future, when older …
The Attachment Gap: Employment Discrimination Law, Women's Cultural Caregiving, And The Limits Of Economic And Liberal Legal Theory, Laura T. Kessler
The Attachment Gap: Employment Discrimination Law, Women's Cultural Caregiving, And The Limits Of Economic And Liberal Legal Theory, Laura T. Kessler
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Title VII has prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy since 1978, when Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA"), but it does not require employers to recognize women's caregiving obligations beyond the immediate, physical events of pregnancy and childbirth. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ("FMLA ") also does little more than provide job security to some relatively privileged women in the case of childbirth. Neither of these statutes, which constitute the bulk of the United States' maternity and parental leave policies, provides for the most common employment leave needs of caregivers, who by all measures …
"Reverse Discrimination" And Higher Education Faculty, Joyce A. Hughes
"Reverse Discrimination" And Higher Education Faculty, Joyce A. Hughes
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
In this Article, the author critiques the use of "reverse discrimination" claims by White plaintiffs to challenge the hiring of Blacks in institutions of higher education. The author argues that "reverse discrimination" is a myth since no such claim is possible when one White candidate is selected over another; assumptions of inferiority are implicit where such a claim is made when a Black candiate is selected over a White candidate. In other words, allowing such a claim, even if ultimately unsuccessful, implies a presumption of superiority on the part of the White candidate. For this reason, the author argues that …
Are Non-English-Speaking Claimants Served By Unemployment Compensation Programs? The Need For Bilingual Services, Mary K. Gillespie, Cynthia G. Schneider
Are Non-English-Speaking Claimants Served By Unemployment Compensation Programs? The Need For Bilingual Services, Mary K. Gillespie, Cynthia G. Schneider
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article examines the need for interpreters and translated written materials in unemployment compensation programs for those claimants who do not read, understand, or speak English well or at all. Thousands of employable persons in the United States do not read, understand, or speak English. These persons may be unable to receive unemployment compensation benefits or may receive delayed benefits solely because they are unable to comprehend English. The authors examine how ten states with substantial populations of limited-English-proficient speakers have provided these persons access to their state's unemployment compensation programs. The authors find varying practices among the states in …
Hostile Environent Sexual Harassment Claims And The Unwelcome Influence Of Rape Law, Janine Benedet
Hostile Environent Sexual Harassment Claims And The Unwelcome Influence Of Rape Law, Janine Benedet
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This article considers the unwelcomeness requirement of the plaintiff’s prima facie case. In particular, it examines the discussion of unwelcomeness found in the decision of the Supreme Court in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, and the content given to this element by the subsequent decisions of lower courts. Such an inquiry reveals several parallels between the approach of courts to sexual harassment claims and their traditional treatment of the criminal offense of rape. The same biases and erroneous assumptions that have hampered an effective response to the physical violation of women have permeated the application of the purported remedy …
An Administrative Battle Of The Forms: The Eeoc's Intake Questionnaire And Charge Of Discrimination, Laurie M. Stegman
An Administrative Battle Of The Forms: The Eeoc's Intake Questionnaire And Charge Of Discrimination, Laurie M. Stegman
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that the EEOC's interpretation of Title VII as reflected in its regulations is consistent with underlying statutory intent and strikes an appropriate balance between the needs of employers and employees. Therefore, Congress should amend section 706(b) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide that a charge must be verified prior to the commencement of an EEOC investigation but not necessarily within the statutory filing period. Part I examines the legislative history of Title VII and its integrated procedures for obtaining administrative and judicial relief. Part II critiques the various ways in which …
Germany's Legal Protection For Women Workers Vis-À-Vis Illegal Employment Discrimination In The United States: A Comparative Perspective In Light Of Johnson Controls, Carol D. Rasnic
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article will review the major German laws affecting women in the workplace, including clarification of the rationales of the German Bundestag (parliament). Comparative remarks regarding U.S. law and an analysis of Johnson Controls will place the two bodies of law in juxtaposition. Finally, an explanatory historical overview will allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions as to the preferred view of the legal status of the working woman.
Feminizing Unions: Challenging The Gendered Structure Of Wage Labor, Marion Crain
Feminizing Unions: Challenging The Gendered Structure Of Wage Labor, Marion Crain
Michigan Law Review
In this article, I argue that labor unions can be an effective, central tool in a feminist agenda targeting the gendered structure of wage labor. Collective action is the most powerful and expedient route to female empowerment; further, it is the only feasible means of transforming our deeply gendered market and family structure. Others have laid the groundwork by showing how existing individual-model challenges have been unable to accomplish such broad-based reform. I begin where they leave off.
English-Only Rules And The Right To Speak One's Primary Language In The Workplace, Juan F. Perea
English-Only Rules And The Right To Speak One's Primary Language In The Workplace, Juan F. Perea
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article analyzes the issues raised by English-only rules and the decisions discussing these rules. Part I reviews the leading cases on English-only rules. The Article then explores several issues that must be considered in deciding any English-only rule case under Title VII. Part II addresses whether speaking one's primary language should constitute a protected right as an aspect of national origin under Title VII. This Article argues that primary language should be protected under Title VII for several reasons: the courts and the EEOC construe the term "national origin" broadly; primary language constitutes a fundamental aspect of ethnicity and …
Improving Handicappers' Civil Rights In Michigan--Preventing Discrimination Through Accommodation, Aldebaran Bouse Enloe
Improving Handicappers' Civil Rights In Michigan--Preventing Discrimination Through Accommodation, Aldebaran Bouse Enloe
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Part I of this Note explains the development of· the current state of handicappers' civil rights law in Michigan, beginning with legislative initiatives and progressing to administrative and judicial decisions. Part II analyzes traditional antidiscrimination theory and suggests how that theory can be adapted to handicappers. By examining hypothetical situations, Part III exposes the disparity between the current state of the law in Michigan and the proposed theoretical analysis and suggests amendments to the MHCRA to reconcile this disparity.