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Labor and Employment Law

Florida A&M University College of Law

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Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Female Body In The Workplace: Judges And The Common Law, Maritza I. Reyes Jan 2019

The Female Body In The Workplace: Judges And The Common Law, Maritza I. Reyes

Journal Publications

If the common law serves to liberate women, everybody, including judges, should understand the role they do play and should play in the development of the common law. As a career law clerk in the federal courts, I witnessed the decision-making process inside the chambers of federal judges and in the courtrooms. I came to the conclusion that judges, more than statutory law, influence what happens to female bodies in the workplace. Litigants initially drive the common law by filing complaints. However, judicial decisions affect not only the litigants in their individual cases, they also serve as precedent for future …

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Cronyism, Corruption, And Political Intrigue: A New Approach For Old Problems In Public Sector Employment Law, Jonathan Fineman Jan 2013

Cronyism, Corruption, And Political Intrigue: A New Approach For Old Problems In Public Sector Employment Law, Jonathan Fineman

Journal Publications

This article argues that the best interest of the public is served when at least some public employees receive some degree of job protection. However, there is also value in the argument that we no longer can justify the retention of a uniform system of traditional civil service protections for all public employees. Therefore, this article takes the position that this debate should not be framed as an "either/or" proposition between a rigid system of job protections for all (or most) employees on one hand and unfettered managerial discretion on the other. Instead, job protections should be context-based, varied depending …

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The Vulnerable Subject At Work: A New Perspective On The Employment At-Will Debate, Jonathan Fineman Jan 2013

The Vulnerable Subject At Work: A New Perspective On The Employment At-Will Debate, Jonathan Fineman

Journal Publications

This article applies recent "vulnerability" scholarship to employment law issues. A vulnerability approach argues that the autonomous liberal legal subject at the heart of much of political and legal thought fails to capture the material, social, and developmental realities of the human condition and thus should be replaced with a "vulnerable subject." Importantly, and in contrast to the autonomous, independent, and self sufficient abstraction of the liberal legal subject, the vulnerable legal subject is theorized as embodied and as embedded in social contexts. The idea of the vulnerable subject has been described as providing a needed intervention into U.S. policy …

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The Inevitable Demise Of The Implied Employment Contract, Jonathan Fineman Jan 2008

The Inevitable Demise Of The Implied Employment Contract, Jonathan Fineman

Journal Publications

In this article, Professor Fineman argues that courts' decision in the early 1980s to apply implied contract doctrine to employment relationships did not have the intended results. Employers immediately began restructuring their employment documents, and eventually found a way to essentially avoid liability through careful drafting of personnel documents. Professor Fineman further argues that the failure of contract law was inevitable based on the limitations of contract theory. Finally, Professor Fineman suggests a method to more successfully enforce workplace norms by looking to broader-based norms prevalent in the industry or applicable to the type of job position at issue,

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Retaliatory Harassment: Sex And The Hostile Coworker As The Enforcer Of Workplace Norms, Rhonda Reaves Jan 2007

Retaliatory Harassment: Sex And The Hostile Coworker As The Enforcer Of Workplace Norms, Rhonda Reaves

Journal Publications

This Article focuses on the legal treatment of retaliatory harassment claims. It argues that retaliatory harassment is an often misunderstood and underanalyzed concept in the law of workplace harassment. This Article seeks to distinguish the legal treatment of retaliatory harassment from sexual harassment. Part I of this Article describes the use of harassment as a method of enforcing workplace norms; it details how harassment is used not just to further a worker's own individual sexist (or racist) agenda, but how it is used to keep women (and minority groups) in subordinate positions. Part II describes the current legal frameworks for …

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Job Reference Immunity Statutes: Prevalent But Irrelevant, Markita D. Cooper Jan 2001

Job Reference Immunity Statutes: Prevalent But Irrelevant, Markita D. Cooper

Journal Publications

This Article posits that current reference immunity statutes are of little use in encouraging employers to provide references. Although legislation ostensibly protects employers in most states, "name, rank and serial number," "no-comment," and neutral reference policies continue to prevail as standard practice regarding job references. Generally, the existing statutes leave the common law in place, so that reference claims may be adjudicated under statutory standards and common law standards. This Article proposes that the field would be clarified if the statutes were the exclusive law governing liability for job reference claims under state law.

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The Indentured Servants Of Academia: The Adjunct Faculty Dilemma And Their Limited Legal Remedies, John C. Duncan, Jr. Jan 1999

The Indentured Servants Of Academia: The Adjunct Faculty Dilemma And Their Limited Legal Remedies, John C. Duncan, Jr.

Journal Publications

In this half of the twentieth century, the academic equivalent of the indentured servant is the adjunct faculty member in higher education. Adjuncts cannot say or do much about their plight. The dilemma of adjunct faculty leads to what should be considered a violation of due process rights. This Article first examines who are the adjunct faculty, what are their dilemmas, and how are they viewed in the academic world. The heart of the paper then explores the limited legal remedies available. The essential problems of lack of due process and minimal protection through collective bargaining and contractual agreements are …

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The Pebble In The Shoe: Making The Case For The Government Employee, Joan R. Bullock Jan 1993

The Pebble In The Shoe: Making The Case For The Government Employee, Joan R. Bullock

Journal Publications

This Article addresses the issue of whether federal government employees should be able to use the False Claims Act, also known as the "federal whistleblower statute," to personally benefit from uncovering fraud against the government during the course of their employment. The Article addresses, therefore, the apparent collision between two policies: on the one hand, the federal government has a compelling interest in vigorously pursuing those contractors who defraud it; on the other hand, the government has an interest in not encouraging its own investigators to enrich themselves by bringing personal suits for damages against the target of their investigations.

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