Law Commons^™

Whose Ledger Is Really Red? Confidential Arbitration Killed The Black Widow, Daniel Charles Smolsky

Duquesne Law Review

After filing a complaint against the Walt Disney Company in July 2021, Scarlett Johansson ensured that she would follow through with litigation to protect other Hollywood talent. Despite that assurance, Johansson settled her suit with Disney only sixty-three days after filing her complaint. This Article explores what Johansson's shockingly swift settlement reveals about not only the entertainment industry, but the majority of modern employment disputes. Did Disney abuse its power and intentionally sacrifice box-office profits at Johansson's expense, or did Johansson leverage her public influence to compel an unwarranted settlement? Whose ledger is really red and perhaps more importantly why …

Increasing Representation: Expanding Intersectional Claims In Employment Discrimination, Anna Maria Sicenica

Duquesne Law Review

The trend of globalization has only continued to bring workers from different races, religions, and countries to the United States. Moreover, in a country where women continue to become a larger part of the workforce every year, and as the age of retirement continues to grow, there will inevitably be more women who will face discrimination on multiple grounds: specifically, for their age and sex. Thus, it is no wonder that "intersectional claimants," or claimants that belong to least two or more protected classes under the law, now make up the majority of the workforce.

However, despite the fact that …

Transaction Cost Economics, Labor Law, And The Gig Economy, Seth C. Oranburg, Liya Palagashvili

Law Faculty Publications

The rapid growth of technology not only is creating innovative goods and services, but it is also altering the workplace and the traditional understanding of relationships between employee and employer. This can be seen today with the rise of the gig economy and alternative work arrangements. Our paper seeks to explain how technology has reduced the transaction costs of contracting in the market. In particular, we identify the innovations that have led to reductions in triangulation, transfer, trust, and measurement costs. These costs are relevant for creating greater exchanges between consumers and labor suppliers and, hence, more work for contractors …

Ai Report: Humanity Is Doomed. Send Lawyers, Guns, And Money!, Ashley M. London

Law Faculty Publications

AI systems are powerful technologies being built and implemented by private corporations motivated by profit, not altruism. Change makers, such as attorneys and law students, must therefore be educated on the benefits, detriments, and pitfalls of the rapid spread, and often secret implementation of this technology. The implementation is secret because private corporations place proprietary AI systems inside of black boxes to conceal what is inside. If they did not, the popular myth that AI systems are unbiased machines crunching inherently objective data would be revealed as a falsehood. Algorithms created to run AI systems reflect the inherent human categorization …

Reconsidering The Immutability Of "Race": An Examination Of The Disconnect Between "Race" In Title Vii Jurisprudence And Social Science Literature, Natalie Tupta

Graduate Student Research Symposium

This paper discusses reconceptualizing racial discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in light of modern social science theories on racial identity. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and the judiciary calls these bases for discrimination “protected classes.” To bring a successful legal claim under Title VII, a person must demonstrate that she actually belongs to a protected class. In the case of a claim of racial discrimination, this means the plaintiff must belong to a racial group based on immutable characteristics, which are traits that cannot simply …

Labor Law - National Labor Relations Act - Duty To Bargain Over Partial Closings, Carol A. Behers

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Supreme Court had held that although an employer who terminated a contract with one of its commercial customers purely for economic reasons was required to bargain with the union about the effects of its decision, there was no duty to bargain with the union about the decision itself.

First National Maintenance Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, 452 U.S. 666 (1981)

Labor Law - National Labor Relations Act - Managerial Employees - University Faculty, Mary F. Dombrowski

Duquesne Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has held that full-time faculty members at Yeshiva University are managerial employees excluded from the protections of the National Labor Relations Act.

NLRB v. Yeshiva University, 444 U.S. 672 (1980).

Procedural Complexity Of The Age Discrimination In Employment Act: An Age-Old Problem, Robert E. Sheeder

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Veterans' Preference Statutes: Do They Really Discriminate Against Women, Pat Labbadia Iii

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Labor Law - Norris-Laguardia Act - Sympathy Strikes - Injunctions, George C. Werner

Duquesne Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that the Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibits a federal district court from enjoining a sympathy strike, notwithstanding arbitration provisions and an express no-strike clause in the collective bargaining agreement, since the strike is not over a grievance which the parties agreed to submit to arbitration.

Buffalo Forge Co. v. United Steelworkers, 96 S. Ct. 3141 (1976).

Collective Bargaining In Perspective, Bernard Kleiman

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Antitrust Exemption For Labor - Magna Carta Or Carte Blanche?, Allen G. Siegel, Walter B. Connolly Jr., Richard K. Walker

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Developing Labor Relations Law In The Public Sector, Harry T. Edwards

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Labor Law - Racial Discrimination In Employment - Reconciliation Of The Policies Of Title Vii Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 With The Civil Rights Act Of 1866, Mark Joseph Zovko Jr.

Duquesne Law Review

The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that an action seeking relief from racial discrimination by a private employer based on the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is not impliedly barred by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Young v. International Telephone and Telegraph Company, 438 F.2d 757 (3d Cir. 1971).

Affirmative Action Dents The National Labor Policy, Aims C. Coney Jr.

Duquesne Law Review

In this author's earlier review of Executive Order 11,246, published in February, 1971, it was predicted that 1971 would be the year in which affirmative action would achieve the awe and the respect of the legal profession. Among the reasons then given for the profession's expanding awareness were the following: (1) the far greater circulation of equal opportunity certification forms among government contractors and subcontractors; (2) the growing tendency of federal, state and local civil rights enforcement agencies to use affirmative action criteria in adjudicating issues of discrimination; (3) the federal government's readiness to use stop orders in the construction …

Employment Contracts - Restrictive Covenants, Joseph B. Green

Duquesne Law Review

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held, in a case of first impression, that a restrictive covenant limiting an employee from practicing optometry within a radius of six miles from the office of his employer for a period of three years from the termination of his employment would not be enforced by an injunction where the three-year period had long since expired and the employer had sold his practice.

Hayes v. Altman, 438 Pa. 451, 266 A.2d 269 (1970).

Dr. Theodore L. Altman, an optometrist, went to work under a written agreement, as an assistant to Dr. Thomas A. Hayes, …

Labor Law - Federal Courts - Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 - Suits Under § 301(A) To Enjoin Strikes In Breach Of A No-Strike Agreement, Richard I. Thomas

Duquesne Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a federal court may enjoin a strike which violates the no-strike provision of a collective bargaining agreement if that agreement contains a mandatory grievance-arbitration procedure.

Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Union, Local 770, 398 U.S. 235 (1970).

In the Boys Market case, the Supreme Court of the United States once again considered the effect of § 4 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act on an action brought in federal court under § 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 to enjoin a strike which violates the no-strike clause of …

Labor Law - Decertification - Union Discipline, Leonard Zapler

Duquesne Law Review

The National Labor Relations Board has held that the union commits an unfair labor practice under Section 8(b)(1)(A) of National Labor Relations Act when it fines a member who is attempting to institute decertification proceedings against it, because the fine is not only a punitive measure which inhibits access by the member to the processes of the Board but is also an ineffective deterrent to decertification.

International Molders and Allied Workers Union, Local 125, AFL-CIO (Blackhawk Tanning Co., Inc.). 178 N.L.R.B. No. 25, 72 L.R.R.M. 1049 (1969).

Enforcement Of Equal Employment Opportunity Under The Civil Rights Act: How About Cease And Desist Powers?, Elmer S. Beatty

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nlrb's Totality Of Conduct Theory In Representation Elections And Problems Involved In Its Application, John J. Cuneo

Duquesne Law Review

At the heart of every representation election campaign lie the communications made by either side to the electorate-the stream of handbills, speeches, conversations and letters that seek to influence the final decision of the voters. It is through these partisan messages that employees obtain the bulk of information from which they must make a reasoned choice in accepting or rejecting unionization. On the one hand, limits have been imposed to restrict the content of what may be said by either party, while on the other, rules have been laid down to guarantee both employers and unions a reasonable opportunity to …

Dilemma In Labor Law: The Right To Own Versus The Right To Know, Joseph Jr. Pass

Duquesne Law Review

From the line of labor decisions beginning with the Cordwainers Case to the most recent ones, one discernible fact is that the effort of labor unions to achieve a power balance with management has been extensive. And, at every step toward this ideal, the unions have been met with opposition by management. While some students of labor law feel that unions have now seen the scales tipped in their favor, others would disagree.

This comment explores one of the most recent conflicts between labor and management. It concerns the National Labor Relation Board's legal justification for requiring management to turn …

Management Rights And Subcontracting, John E. Burns

Duquesne Law Review

If we were a magician and could peer into a crystal ball and read the future, what would we see in the shadowland of managerial prerogatives? Undoubtedly a further shrinking and withering!

The handwriting is already clearly on the wall in large letters and bold face type, stenciled in indelibly in two cases of potentially farreaching decisions of National Labor Relations Board - Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB; and Town and Country Mfg. Co. v. NLRB. These two cases have caused strong repercussions in management circles.

The Unions - "The Implicit Enemy", Ronald R. Davenport

Duquesne Law Review

In a syndicated article, Ralph McGill asks whether the economic plight of the Negro in the United States will continue to be a statistic merely for social workers. The New York Times, recognizing that "Negroes make up one tenth of the civilian labor force," but that "they account for one fifth of the unemployed," recommends a federal works program, similar to that utilized during the depression, to end high Negro unemployment. Civil rights leaders meeting in Washington at the behest of the federal government call for massive federal governmental programs and new and stronger legislation to combat the problem of …

Municipal Employees' Unions: The Climb Up Labor's Ladder, Frank A. Mysliwiec

Duquesne Law Review

For years municipal employees' unions have struggled to stand as equals beside their brother unions in private industry. Periodically, they have ascended many rungs in labor's ladder. However, in many instances their progress has been blocked, not by the municipal government but by courts, who, after considering all the factors involved, not only believed that it was in the public's best interests to have municipal employees join a less powerful union but also outlined the power of the municipality in dealing with the union.

At the present time, the court, the union and the municipality appear lost in a maze. …