Law Commons^™

Wartime Prejudice Against Persons Of Italian Descent: Does The Civil Liberties Act Of 1988 Violate Equal Protection?, Joseph C. Mauro

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Most people know that the United States interned persons of Japanese descent during World War II. Few people know, however, that the government interned persons of German and Italian descent as well. In fact, the internment was part of a larger national security program, in which the government classified non-citizens of all three ethnicities as "enemy aliens" and subjected then to numerous restrictions, including arrest, internment, expulsion from certain areas, curfews, identification cards, loss of employment, and restrictions on travel and property. Four decades after the war, Congress decided to compensate persons of Japanese descent who had been "deprived of …

If Women Don't Ask: Implications For Bargaining Encounters, The Equal Pay Act, And Title Vii, Charles B. Craver

Michigan Law Review

Last spring, Jennifer and Richard graduated from the same law school with similar backgrounds. Both were offered associate positions with the same law firm and a $75,000 starting salary. Jennifer enthusiastically accepted the firm's offer, but Richard was hesitant. He informed the hiring partner that comparable firms in this area were paying new associates $80,000 per year. The partner offered Richard a starting salary of $80,000, which he accepted. Felicia and Harold manage similar departments for an e-commerce business. They have similar backgrounds, and have been with this firm for the same number of years. When Harold meets with the …

Pay Equity For Coaches And Athletic Administrators: An Element Of Title Ix?, Barbara Osborne, Marilyn V. Yarbrough

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, Professors Osborne and Yarbrough address the issue of gender discrimination in the compensation of coaches and athletic administrators. They discuss the application of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII to pay inequity claims and conclude that both have proven to be inadequate as a means of addressing the problem. Professors Osborne and Yarbrough then present Title IX as a way of countering the problem of gender discrimination in the compensation of coaches. They also discuss the prospects for gender equality in compensation by considering several cases addressing the issue. Finally, they offer recommendations both …

"Supervisor" Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment Claims, Liability Insurance, And The Trend Towards Negligence, Amanda D. Smith

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A lack of settled standards for determining liability in supervisor hostile environment sexual harassment lawsuits combined with similar uncertainty in the context of employer liability insurance coverage has resulted in increased litigation in this area. This Note argues that the current predominant standard in the employer liability context, which is based on negligence principle should be rejected in favor of an apparent authority standard, which more appropriately strikes a balance between encouraging employers to identify harassing behaviors and exonerating them from liability when they do so and take appropriate remedial action. It further argues that in order to develop effective …

The Breath Of The Unfee'd Lawyer: Statutory Fee Limitations And Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel In Capital Litigation, Albert L. Vreeland Ii

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that fee limitations deprive indigent defendants of their right to effective assistance of counsel. Part I of this Note reviews state court decisions that address Sixth Amendment challenges to fee limitations, yet fail to address the broader concerns about the appointed counsel system. Part II considers the inherent disincentives and burdens fee limitations impose on attorneys and suggests that the limits threaten the indigent accused's right to effective assistance of counsel. A comparison of the fee limitations and the time required to prepare and try a capital case reveals the gross inadequacy of statutory fee provisions. In …

Introduction, Winn Newman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Symposium helps to explain that "comparable worth" is merely a euphemism for garden variety discrimination that violates express prohibitions of federal antidiscrimination law and severely limits job-related opportunities and benefits for women and minorities. Hopefully, the message of this Symposium will not be lost on reasonable people: that wage discrimination is unlawful and that our energies must now be turned to developing effective means for eliminating it.

Pay Equity--The Minnesota Experience, Nina Rothchild

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The concept of comparable worth is simple: jobs should be paid according to their value, whether the jobs are performed by men or by women. It says that pay should be based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions required to do the job. It is hard to believe that such a common sense idea could generate such an emotional reaction.

In this essay I will describe Minnesota's experience with pay equity at the state and local levels. Our experience leads us to believe that the arguments of the opposition are pure conjecture and that the scare …

Comparable Worth -- The Theory, Its Legal Foundation, And The Feasibility Of Implementation, Carin Ann Clauss

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

County of Washington v. Gunther was decided by the Supreme Court over five years ago. In that case, the Court, resolving a conflict among the circuits, ruled that sex-based wage discrimination claims could proceed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 without regard to the limiting "equal work" standard of the Equal Pay Act. Following this decision, it was generally assumed that the courts would become the major forum for redressing sex-based wage discrimination. The anticipated litigation explosion never took place. Few wage discrimination suits have been filed, and even fewer have been successful. What progress has …

Remedies For Wage Discrimination, Ruth Gerber Blumrosen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The thesis of this Article is that wage discrimination can be remedied by the federal courts through a process that is both practical and efficient. This can be done, without turning the federal courts into wage control agencies or bankrupting the nation's employers, by treating the problem of wage discrimination in precisely the same manner as other forms of discrimination are treated. Our experience with different types of wage discrimination now permits us to generalize about the types of remedies that are appropriate to correct those typical forms of wage discrimination that have now been fully identified.

Thoughts On Comparable Worth Litigation And Organizational Strategies, Nancy Gertner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

To watch the evolution of Title VIP is to watch the gradual constricting of a law that many had heralded as a tool of social change for women. Its passage represented a statement that the so-called free market had not worked for women. Women were denied access to higher paying and high-status positions. Even when a job was integrated, women's work was undervalued and their wages frequently depressed. With the passage of Title VII came the hope that the law would do what the market could not-break the cycle of discrimination.

Sex discrimination, in contrast with other forms of discrimination, …

The Attainment Of Pay Equity Between The Sexes By Legal Means: An Economic Analysis, George E. Johnson, Gary R. Solon

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of this Article is to present an analysis of the gap between men's and women's wages with particular emphasis on the likely effects of various existing and proposed legal remedies. Part I sets out a simple "ideal" statistical model of wage determination. Its purpose is to identify carefully the potential impact of alternative legal remedies such as the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and proposed policies like comparable worth. This model is ideal in the sense that, although it could be estimated in principle, there is no data set currently available with which it could actually be estimated. …

The Deduction Of Unemployment Compensation From Back-Pay Awards Under Title Vii, Eric A. Martin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that federal courts should not deduct unemployment insurance benefits from Title VII back-pay awards. Part I reviews the legislative history and purposes behind the remedial provisions of Title VII. Part I also presents the arguments that courts have advanced regarding the deduction of unemployment benefits from Title VII back-pay awards. Part II assesses these arguments in light of analogous common law doctrine and the legislative objectives of Title VII, and advances arguments not yet considered by the courts. Finally, Part II concludes that federal courts should resolve this division of authority by not deducting unemployment benefits from …

Set-Offs Against Back Pay Awards Under The Federal Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes a theory to govern set-offs against ADEA damage awards that best effectuates congressional ~tent. It suggests that courts should set off those types of benefits received after a violation that, had they been lost because of a violation, would have been included in the damage award. Part I identifies the proper measure of damages under the ADEA as the net loss of 'job-related benefits," doubled in cases of willful violation. It explains first that job-related benefits should be broadly defined to include unemployment compensation and social security benefits as well as wages, and second that the congressional …

Contribution Between Parties To A Discriminatory Collective Bargaining Agreement, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines rules of title VII back pay liability and apportionment. Part I argues that all signatories to a discriminatory collective bargaining agreement should be jointly and severally liable to injured persons for back pay. Although a union or employer may object to joint and several liability if its opponent in collective bargaining proposed and bargained for the discriminatory term, the purposes of title VII require that the parties become jointly and severally liable upon signing the agreement. Since joint and several liability fully serves the compensatory purpose of the statute, Part II of the Note looks to deterrence …

Developing "Tort" Standards For The Award Of Mental Distress Damages In Statutory Discrimination Actions, Harold J. Rennett

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The relation between tort remedies and discrimination has been examined extensively, yet there has been little consideration of this relationship with respect to appropriate evidentiary standards for the award of mental distress damages in discrimination cases. This article will consider such standards. After briefly tracing the history of mental distress award standards in discrimination cases, this article will critically examine present compensatory approaches in such cases and suggest an alternative philosophy more consonant with tort compensation principles.

Presumption Of Dependence In Workers' Compensation Death Benefits As A Denial Of Equal Protection, A. Russell Localio

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This note will examine the sex bias prevalent in many workers' compensation statutes and the constitutionality of these statutes in light of recent Supreme Court decisions on sex discrimination. After this examination, alternative methods for effecting reform of the sex-biased death benefit provisions will be analyzed.