The Lawyer As Accomplice: Cannabis, Uber, Airbnb, And The Ethics Of Advising “Disruptive” Businesses,
2019
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
The Lawyer As Accomplice: Cannabis, Uber, Airbnb, And The Ethics Of Advising “Disruptive” Businesses, Charles M. Yablon
Articles
This Article examines the legal and ethical problems of corporate lawyers who advise businesses that operate just beyond the edge of legality. These include manufacturers and sellers of cannabis products (a felony under federal law, even if ostensibly permitted by state statutes) as well as a substantial number of startup companies, like Uber and Airbnb, whose “disruptive” business models involve deliberately violating local laws and ordinances, many of which carry criminal penalties. Under the current Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a lawyer “shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is …
Arbitration Agreements – What Is The Employee Actually Signing Up For?,
2019
Pepperdine University
Arbitration Agreements – What Is The Employee Actually Signing Up For?, Kennedy Poe
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
This note will examine the various effects and implications the Supreme Court’s decision concerning the legality of class action waivers within employee-employer contracts will have on employers, employees, and the contracts made between them. Part I will identify class action waivers within an employment contract’s arbitration agreement and will further elaborate upon the legal implications of such waivers being present in the contract. Part II will then discuss the history of the NLRA and assess its present-day role in employee–employer contract formation, in order to provide clarity as to the dispute that has arisen between the NLRA and class action …
Bad Company? The Rise (Again) Of Association Health Plans,
2019
Pepperdine University
Bad Company? The Rise (Again) Of Association Health Plans, Brendan Williams
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
This article first examines the rule adopted by the DOL and the criticism it has drawn. It then assesses the state of the small-group insurance market for small businesses, and the flawed approach that the ACA took to assisting them. Finally it takes a look at the uncertain future for small businesses and health insurance, and it suggests new approaches
Protecting The Little Guys: How To Prevent The California Supreme Court’S New “Abc” Test From Stunting Cash-Strapped Startups,
2019
Pepperdine University
Protecting The Little Guys: How To Prevent The California Supreme Court’S New “Abc” Test From Stunting Cash-Strapped Startups, Braden Seibert
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
California startups and independent contractors are in desperate need of a lifeline before they are gone for good. This state has long favored the employee over the employer, but the California Supreme Court’s new “ABC” test tips the scales even further by making it practically impossible for startups to compensate their workers. As a remedy, I propose exemptions to the test for sophisticated contractors who do not need the state’s protection, certified owners who have demonstrated fair play, and small businesses which are still in the developmental stages. Though the Court based its decision largely on a policy of protecting …
A Structural-Purposive Interpretation Of “Employment” In The Platform Economy,
2019
University of Florida Levin College of Law
A Structural-Purposive Interpretation Of “Employment” In The Platform Economy, E. Gary Spitko
Florida Law Review
The considerable growth of the platform economy has focused attention on the issue of whether a provider engaged through a transaction platform should be classified as an employee of the platform operator, and therefore within the purview of workplace protective legislation or as an independent contractor, thus outside the scope of such legislation’s protections. This Article focuses specifically on whether the operator’s reservation of the right to impose quality control standards on the provider ought to give rise to employment obligations running in favor of the provider and against the operator. This narrow issue is of great importance to the …
The Declining Fortunes Of American Workers: Six Dimensions And An Agenda For Reform,
2019
University of Florida Levin College of Law
The Declining Fortunes Of American Workers: Six Dimensions And An Agenda For Reform, Stephen F. Befort
Florida Law Review
At the turn of the century, I undertook an assessment of the then-current state of workplace rights and obligations. I concluded that the balance of power between employers and workers was “badly skewed” in favor of employers. This Article revisits that topic for the purpose of assessing twenty-first-century trends through the lens of six workplace dimensions. They are: workforce attachment, union–management relations, employment security, income inequality, balancing work and family, and retirement security. An examination of these dimensions reveals that the status of U.S. workers has significantly declined during the first sixteen years of the twenty-first century. This Article then …
Employer Losses And Deferred Compensation,
2019
Boston University School of Law
Employer Losses And Deferred Compensation, David I. Walker
Faculty Scholarship
Most large public companies offer their executives the opportunity to defer the receipt and taxation of their salary or other current compensation until retirement or some other future date, and equity compensation, which also entails deferral of pay and taxation, constitutes a large fraction of the typical executive pay package. Conventional wisdom holds that employer net operating losses (NOLs) improve the joint economics of deferred and equity compensation (henceforth together "deferred compensation") for the parties. However, empirical studies provide little evidence of an association between employer NOLs and deferred compensation use. This paper focuses on two potential explanations for this …
“Not Yet A Priority:” The Intersectional Exploration Of Labor Market Access For People With Disabilities,
2019
SIT Study Abroad
“Not Yet A Priority:” The Intersectional Exploration Of Labor Market Access For People With Disabilities, Anona Neal
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Approximately one in four families in Morocco are affected by disability. Of those affected by disability, many are in vulnerable situations, because there is an explicit linkage between having a disability and likelihood of experiencing poverty. The primary reasons for this phenomenon include lack of access to education, employment and health care. Following the Arab Spring, the Moroccan government implemented Article 166 which explicitly banned workplace discrimination against people with disabilities (PWD); however, only 13% of those affected by disability of working age can find employment. In this paper, I investigate the obstacles PWD face that prevent them from accessing …
Salary History And Pay Parity,
2019
Vanderbilt University Law School
Salary History And Pay Parity, Jennifer Safstrom
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Inquiries about a prospective applicant's salary history are controversial because of the role such inequities play in the broader gender pay equity debate. The use of prior salary to determine compensation can perpetuate pay discrimination for women, especially women of color, and lock them into cycles of underpayment when these inequities are carried over from job to job. Reliance on salary history perpetuates historical discrimination and is antithetical to the language and purpose of Title VII and the Equal Pay Act. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the legal reasoning relied upon to interpret these laws, especially …
Automation And Jobs: When Technology Boosts Employment,
2019
Boston University School of Law
Automation And Jobs: When Technology Boosts Employment, James Bessen
Faculty Scholarship
Will new technologies cause industries to shed jobs, requiring novel policies to address mass unemployment? Sometimes productivity-enhancing technology increases industry employment instead. In manufacturing, jobs grew along with productivity for a century or more; only later did productivity gains bring declining employment. What changed? The elasticity of demand. Using data over two centuries for US textile, steel and auto industries, this paper shows that automation initially spurred job growth because demand was highly elastic. But demand later became satiated, leading to job losses. A simple model explains why this pattern might be common, suggesting that today's technologies may cause some …
The Return Of The Technical Mcdonnell Douglas Paradigm,
2019
University of Washington School of Law
The Return Of The Technical Mcdonnell Douglas Paradigm, Katie Eyer
Washington Law Review
For many anti-discrimination plaintiffs, the McDonnell Douglas paradigm will determine the success or failure of their claims. And yet, for decades, most lower courts have applied a technical version of McDonnell Douglas—under which plaintiffs invariably lose. Thus, instead of asking the factual question of whether the defendant’s action was “because of” protected class status, the lower courts rely on a host of technical rules to dismiss even factually strong anti-discrimination claims. This is not the first time the lower courts have attempted to adopt a technical version of the McDonnell Douglas paradigm. In the 1970s and 1980s, the lower courts …
Algorithmic Advertising Discrimination,
2019
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Algorithmic Advertising Discrimination, Joseph Blass
Northwestern University Law Review
The ability of social media companies to precisely target advertisements to individual users based on those users’ characteristics is changing how job opportunities are advertised. Companies like Facebook use machine learning to place their ads, and machine learning systems present risks of discrimination, which current legal doctrines are not designed to deal with. This Note will explain why it is difficult to ensure such systems do not learn discriminatory functions and why it is hard to discern what they have learned as long as they appear to be performing well on their assigned task. This Note then shows how litigation …
Brief Of Amici Curiae Employment Law Professors In Support Of Respondents,
2019
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Brief Of Amici Curiae Employment Law Professors In Support Of Respondents, Sandra F. Sperino
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
This Court should not interpret section 1981 to require proof of but-for causation, given that statute’s text, history, and purpose. Although Comcast invokes the canon of statutory construction that Congress intends statutory terms to have their settled common-law meaning, that canon does not apply here. Section 1981 has no statutory text that reflects a common-law understanding of causation. Indeed, in 1866, when Congress enacted the predecessor to section 1981, there was no well-settled common law of tort at all. Rather, just as courts have read 42 U.S.C. § 1982, which shares common text, history and purpose, this Court should read …
Table Of Contents,
2019
Seattle University School of Law
Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review
Seattle University Law Review
No abstract provided.
Trying Something Old?: Incorporating The Dodd-Frank Act Into Modern Efforts To Eliminate Workplace Sexual Harassment,
2019
Seattle University School of Law
Trying Something Old?: Incorporating The Dodd-Frank Act Into Modern Efforts To Eliminate Workplace Sexual Harassment, Rosemary Kim
Seattle University Law Review
The recent exposure of public figures such as Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby show that current measures taken to curb sexual harassment in the workplace have not proven to be enough. It is, then, important and worth exploring Acts from different sectors that have proven effective and then applying the provisions from those Acts to address this issue. This Note will explore the Dodd–Frank Act and pick out the provisions that have potentiality to be adopted and applied in addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit …
The Possible Final Word On Employment Discrimination Relief,
2019
William & Mary Law School
The Possible Final Word On Employment Discrimination Relief, Neal Devins
Neal E. Devins
No abstract provided.
Seniority Rights Vs. Racial Quotas,
2019
William & Mary Law School
Reagan Redux: Civil Rights Under Bush,
2019
William & Mary Law School
Reagan Redux: Civil Rights Under Bush, Neal Devins
Neal E. Devins
No abstract provided.
Brief For The Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law; Aarp; The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; The Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center; The National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium; The National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People; The National Employment Lawyers Association; The National Partnership For Women And Families; The National Women's Law Center; And Now Legal Defense And Education Fund; As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondent, Susan Grover, Patricia E. Roberts, Barbara R. Arnwine, Thomas J. Henderson, Michael L. Foreman, Sarah R. Crawford, Audrey Wiggins
Patricia E. Roberts
No abstract provided.
Religion Anti-Discrimination And The Decline Of Labor Law,
2019
William & Mary Law School
Religion Anti-Discrimination And The Decline Of Labor Law, Nathan B. Oman
Nathan B. Oman
No abstract provided.
