Law Commons^™

Salary History And The Equal Pay Act: An Argument For The Adoption Of “Reckless Discrimination” As A Theory Of Liability, Kate Vandenberg

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) purports to prohibit employers from paying female employees less than male employees with similar qualifications; however, the affirmative defenses provided in the EPA are loopholes that perpetuate the gender pay gap. In particular, the fourth affirmative defense allows for wage differentials based on a “factor other than sex.” Many federal circuits have read this defense broadly to include wage differentials based on salary history. That is, an employer can pay a female employee less than her male counterparts because she was paid less by her previous employer. While salary history was once viewed as an …

Ethical Imperatives Critical To Effective Disease Control In The Coronavirus Pandemic: Recognition Of Global Health Interdependence As A Driver Of Health And Social Equity, George A. Gellert Md, Mph, Mpa

Journal of Health Ethics

Ethical imperatives critical to effective disease control in the coronavirus pandemic: Recognition of global health interdependence as a driver of health and social equity

George A. Gellert MD, MPH, MPA

ABSTRACT

Decades into the era of emerging infectious diseases, the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic has caught the world, and the United States in particular, poorly prepared to engage effective public health disease prevention and control measures. In part, this reflects poor public health planning, response, logistical preparation and pandemic readiness, and complacency by governments and disease control agencies. In terms of future responses to emerging infection pandemics, these deficiencies can be …

Day Worker Center: Employer And Client Engagement, Anayeli Avalos

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz County is a component of the Community Action Board (CAB), a non-profit organization that has been providing services to eliminate poverty. CAB offers the program, administrative, and fiscal oversight to the Day Worker Center. The County of Santa Cruz is facing a high rate of unemployment, which is affecting the community. What contributes to the problem is low awareness of community knowledge about employment services. Also, the undocumented community that finds it hard to trust services because they think they can get deported. In addition, the issue can cause consequences such as health …

Toward Fair And Sustainable Capitalism: A Comprehensive Proposal To Help American Workers, Restore Fair Gainsharing Between Employees And Shareholders, And Increase American Competitiveness By Reorienting Our Corporate Governance System Toward Sustainable Long-Term Growth And Encouraging Investments In America’S Future, Leo E. Strine Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

To promote fair and sustainable capitalism and help business and labor work together to build an American economy that works for all, this paper presents a comprehensive proposal to reform the American corporate governance system by aligning the incentives of those who control large U.S. corporations with the interests of working Americans who must put their hard-earned savings in mutual funds in their 401(k) and 529 plans. The proposal would achieve this through a series of measured, coherent changes to current laws and regulations, including: requiring not just operating companies, but institutional investors, to give appropriate consideration to and make …

The Oppressive Pressures Of Globalization And Neoliberalism On Mexican Maquiladora Garment Workers, Jenna Demeter

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The international economic trends of globalization and neoliberalism have exposed and enabled the exploitation of Mexican workers, especially women in the maquiladora garment industry. During the 1950s, globalization gave rise to the new international division of labor and transnational corporations (TNCs) that have offshored labor-intensive phases of production to developing countries, many of which have pursued export-led industrialization. Export processing in Mexico was encouraged in the 1960s by Item 807 of the U.S. Tariff Code and Mexico’s Border Industrialization Program. Especially following the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, advanced capitalist countries and International Financial Institutions foisted neoliberal structural …

A Philosophical Basis For Judicial Restraint, Michael Evan Gold

Michael Evan Gold

The purpose of this article is to establish a principled basis for restraint of judicial lawmaking. The principle is that all findings of fact, whether of legislative or adjudicative facts, must be based on evidence in the record of a case. This principle is grounded in moral philosophy. I will begin with a discussion of the relevant aspect of moral philosophy, then state and defend the principle, and finally apply it to a line of cases.

Securities Disclosure As Soundbite: The Case Of Ceo Pay Ratios, Steven A. Bank, George S. Georgiev

Faculty Articles

This Article analyzes the history, design, and effectiveness of the highly controversial CEO pay ratio disclosure rule, which went into effect in 2018. Based on a regulatory mandate contained in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the rule requires public companies to disclose the ratio between CEO pay and median worker pay as part of their annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The seven-year rulemaking process was politically contentious and generated a level of public engagement that was virtually unprecedented in the long history of the SEC disclosure regime. The SEC sought to minimize compliance costs by providing …

Anticompetitive Mergers In Labor Markets, Ioana Marinescu, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Mergers of competitors are conventionally challenged under the federal antitrust laws when they threaten to lessen competition in some product or service market in which the merging firms sell. Mergers can also injure competition in markets where the firms purchase. Although that principle is widely recognized, very few litigated cases have applied merger law to buyers. This article concerns an even more rarefied subset, and one that has barely been mentioned. Nevertheless, its implications are staggering. Some mergers may be unlawful because they injure competition in the labor market by enabling the post-merger firm anticompetitively to suppress wages or salaries. …

No-Hire Provisions In Mcdonald's Franchise Agreements, An Antitrust Violations Or Evidence Of Joint Employer?, Andrele Brutus St. Val

Articles

As the archetypical franchisor and industry leader, McDonald’s has come under much public and legal scrutiny in recent years for its business practices and its effects on low-wage and unskilled employees. Its no hire provision—which is a term included in its franchise agreements with franchisees that bars franchisees from hiring each others employees—has been found by economist to suppress wages and stagnate growth. This provision is being challenged under antitrust law while its employment practices are being disputed under labor law. McDonald’s is defending its business practices by presenting two seemingly contradictory defenses. This article explores how McDonald’s position in …

Adapting To $15: As The Minimum Wage Approaches $15 In Nyc, Business Owners Are Finding Ways To Make It Work, Alexandra Semenova, Sharif Paget

Capstones

This project examines the impact of minimum wage increases across major industries in New York City and State and concludes they have been manageable and even fueled broader economic growth. Since the incremental wage hikes were first signed into law in 2015, data and anecdotal evidence has shown business owners have been able to make it work and many of critics' concerns that the higher labor costs would lead to disemployment have been misplaced. The story provides an in-depth analysis of how restaurant and food establishments, health care and retail employers have adapted to higher labor costs by innovating their …

Divorcing Your Job French Style: An Argument To End At Will Employment In The United States, Vincent Agnello, Nicole Stolowy, Joseph F. Winter

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

The United States and France are at opposite ends of the spectrum in protecting employees from employment termination. France has developed an elaborate regulatory and judicial scheme to protect workers, while the U.S. still allows workers to be in an at will relationship with their employers. In France employment is deemed to be permanent. In the U.S., workers are employed at the whim of their employer. In a major shift of policy, France adopted legislation allowing parties to enter into voluntary employment separation agreements. To protect against abuse, all settlement agreements are subject to court review for approval of the …

Comparing Parental Leave Packages Across Countries, Angel Alls-Hall

Honors Projects

This project focuses on parental leave, which is a combination of maternity and paternity leave, and compares the existing policies in the United States to the United Kingdom, Norway, and Japan.

Between Support And Shame: The Impacts Of Workplace Violations For Immigrant Families, Shannon Gleeson

Shannon Gleeson

Purpose - This study examines the conditions that lead to workplace violations for low-wage immigrant workers, and how family life shapes their decision to speak up. I also highlight how both employer abuse and the claims making process can impact individuals and their families.

Methodology/approach - This research adopts a mixed-method approach that includes a survey of 453 low-wage workers seeking pro bono legal assistance and 115 follow-up interviews with claimants. I also conduct a five-year ethnography of both a monthly state workshop provided for injured workers and a pro bono legal aid clinic in a predominantly Latino agricultural community …

Workers, Families, And Immigration Policies, Shannon Gleeson

Shannon Gleeson

[Excerpt] Unauthorized immigration to the US has a long and varied history shaped by a number of shifts in immigration policy. Of the global immigrant stock, 10–15 % is estimated to be undocumented (20–30 million; International Organization for Migration 2008). Today, undocumented immigrants comprise roughly 40 % of the immigrant flow to the US. Although immigrants often come to this country as a result of complex factors that were initiated or supported by the US—including free trade agreements and wars that devastated immigrants’ home countries and their national economies—once they become unauthorized, they find themselves in extremely vulnerable positions. Besides …

Contracts With Community College Adjunct Faculty Members And Potential Supplemental Benefits To Increase Satisfaction, Kimberly Ann Page

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

ABSTRACT

As state funding to community colleges has fluctuated, many community colleges have hired more adjunct faculty (Desrochers & Hurlburt, 2014).

This qualitative research explored supplemental benefits, which could be included in adjunct faculty contracts with community colleges in order to promote workplace satisfaction, without causing stress on budgets. Adjunct faculty who realize greater job satisfaction are more beneficial to their institutions because they promote student learning and retention (CCCSE, 2014b; Hollenshead, 2010; Jacoby, 2006).

The descriptive study included three phases: record reviews, interviews with key informants and elite informants, and a reflective questionnaire. New England was selected as the …

The History Books Tell It? Collective Bargaining In Higher Education In The 1940s, William A. Herbert

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This article presents a history of unionization and collective bargaining in higher education during and just after World War II, decades before the establishment of statutory frameworks for labor representation. It examines the collective bargaining program adopted by the University of Illinois in 1945, along with contracts negotiated at other institutions, which demonstrated support for employee self-organization. It will also presents counter-examples of institutions using the courts and congressional investigators to defeat unionization efforts. . Lastly, the article will examine the role of United Public Workers of America (UPWA) and its predecessor unions in organizing and negotiating on behalf of …

Narratives Of Deservingness And The Institutional Youth Of Immigrant Workers, Shannon Gleeson

Shannon Gleeson

This article speaks to the special issue’s goal of disrupting the deserving/undeserving immigrant narrative by critically examining eligibility criteria available under two arenas of relief for undocumented immigrants: 1) the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary deportation relief and work authorization for young adults who meet an educational requirement and other criteria, and 2) current and proposed pathways to legal status for those unauthorized immigrants who come forward to denounce workplace injustice, among other crimes. For each of these categories of “deserving migrants,” I illuminate the exclusionary nature each of these requirements, which pose challenges …

A New Approach To Migrant Labor Rights Enforcement: The Crisis Of Undocumented Worker Abuse And Mexican Consular Advocacy In The United States, Xóchitl Bada, Shannon Gleeson

Shannon Gleeson

This paper examines the genesis and evolution of consular efforts to enforce the workplace rights of immigrant workers in the United States. We draw on a survey of 52 Mexican consulates in the United States, in-depth interviews with the initial cohort of 15 consular participants in the Semana de Derechos Laborales/Labor Rights Week, and several key informants who helped coordinate these efforts in the community. Our findings confirm a shift from “limited” to “active” engagement over the last decade on the part of the Mexican government (Délano 2011), placing special emphasis on the role played by non-governmental actors in producing …

From Rights To Claims: The Role Of Civil Society In Making Rights Real For Vulnerable Workers, Shannon Gleeson

Shannon Gleeson

This article examines the contextual factors driving legal mobilization of workers in the United States through an analysis of national origin discrimination charges under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (2000-2005). Consistent with previous studies, this analysis confirms that high unemployment levels and weak labor protections promote legal mobilization. The findings also highlight the positive role that civil society may play in promoting claims-making. I argue that nongovernmental organizations fill the gap in places where organized labor is weak, and may help support claims-making particularly in places with a larger vulnerable workforce. The article concludes by offering suggestions …

Digital Media And Unionization In The “Guilded" Age: How Labor Organizations In The Entertainment Industry Are Swimming Against The Current Of Streaming New Media And Technology, Jacqueline G.H. Kim

Prize Winning Papers

No abstract provided.

Building Multilateral Anticorruption Enforcement: Analogies Between International Trade & Anti-Bribery Law, Rachel Brewster, Christine Dryden

Faculty Scholarship

In the last twenty years, the United States government has put substantial resources behind the fight against .foreign bribery by using the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to prosecute unilaterally foreign and domestic companies who engage in corruption abroad. The United States is not entirely alone in this effort, but other countries have been far less vigorous in investing resources in investigations and prosecuting cases. Because of the unilateral and extraterritorial nature of FCPA prosecutions, these cases are sometimes controversial as foreign governments resist American influence in their commercial relations.

In response to this international tension, as well as a …

Saying Goodbye To Unions In Higher Education: The Yale Hunger Strike In Perspective, Raymond L. Hogler

Academic Labor: Research and Artistry

No abstract provided.

Replantar Un Campo: Derecho Internacional Del Trabajo Para El Siglo Xxi, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

No abstract provided.

Re-Planting A Field: International Labour Law For The Twenty-First Century, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] In this talk I want to trace the development of the field and how international labour law has taken root in five areas: 1) trade legislation (namely, the US and EU Generalized System of Preferences), 2) trade agreements, 3) international organizations, 4) corporate social responsibility, and 5) lawsuits in national courts. In each, I try to give one or two examples of how international labour law works in practice. But first, some background on the international labour law field and my involvement with it.

The Politics Of Shorter Hours And Corporate-Centered Society: A History Of Work-Time Regulation In The United States And Japan, Keisuke Jinno

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Shorter working hours drew much attention as a means of fighting unemployment and crisis in capitalism during the first half of the twentieth century. Nowadays, shorter work-time is rarely considered a policy option to fix economic or social issues in the United States and Japan. This dissertation presents a history of work-time regulation in the United States and Japan to examine how and why its developments and stalemate took place.

In the big picture, developments of work-time regulation during the first half of the twentieth century were a part of concessional modifications of class relations, a common phenomenon in many …

To Solve It Aright: Rerum Novarum And New Jersey's Answer To Catholic Bishop Of Chicago, Daniel T. Paxton

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Enduring Power Of Collective Rights, In Labor Law Stories, Catherine L. Fisk, Laura J. Cooper

Catherine Fisk

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Strategic Attorney Behavior In The Increase In Federal Wage And Hour Litigation, Rwanda Smith, Sunmi Hirata, Monica Shen

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

The Power Of A Presumption: California As A Laboratory For Unauthorized Immigrant Workers’ Rights, Kati L. Griffith

Kati Griffith

In recent years, California has served as the primary laboratory for policy experimentation related to unauthorized immigrant workers’ rights. No other state, to date, has advanced comparable policy initiatives that preserve state-provided workers’ rights regardless of immigration status. Through close examination of two open Supremacy Clause questions under California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the article illustrates that states can, as a constitutional matter, and should, as a policy matter, serve as laboratories for unauthorized immigrant worker rights. Exploring the outer boundaries of state action in this area is particularly compelling given the significant labor force participation of unauthorized immigrants in …

The Matriculation Of The Micro-Unit On The College Campus, Barnett L. Horowitz

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

To the extent the world of higher education was following the National Labor Relations Board there was probably limited focus on the Board’s Specialty Healthcare case allowing for the so-called “micro-unit”. Board decisions as to the employee status of tenure track faculty or football players or graduate teaching or research assistants were likely to be of greater interest. Yet the recent holding in Columbia University that students providing instructional services were also employees subject to the Act’s coverage put the micro-unit in play on the college campus. Almost immediately after this decision petitions were filed at Yale seeking representation of …