Law Commons^™

New Nip In The Bud: Does The Obama Board's Preemptive Strike Doctrine Enhance Tactical Employment Law Strategies?, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

In this essay I revisit the classic debate concerning when worker activity is sufficiently “concerted” to be covered by the National Labor Relations Act, a statute covering certain private sector protected “concerted” activity by workers. When workers are obviously engaged in concerted “labor” activity — classically activity like striking, picketing, or even just complaining about working conditions — they are generally protected against employer reprisal for doing so. Over the last few decades there has been disagreement about the definition and limits of “concert.” My renewed interest in this dormant but not dead subject was piqued by the “Obama Board’s” …

Decoupling Employment, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

The protected class approach to employment discrimination has not solved the problem of discrimination or of a just distribution of resources. Not only do race and sex prejudice continue to exist, but material and subjective disadvantage continues to be strongly linked to race and sex. While our laws have made social changes, progress on those changes stalled in the 1980s. Some might even say that the protected class approach to discrimination has actually entrenched inequality more deeply into our social fabric.

This Article seeks a purpose-driven approach to finding solutions to the problems of discrimination, asking why it is that …

Workplace Reform In A Jobless Recovery, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

In 2012, the United States was recovering from a recession and policy makers were debating how to solve the country’s economy. This essay looks at the labor and employment reforms (or lack thereof) of President Obama’s first term, and the differing views of the role of government in creating jobs. The article challenges us to think beyond the two solutions commonly discussed: de-regulation and a “New Deal” program.

There are ways current lawmakers could come together to help protect jobs. Some of the solutions offered by the article include using automatic contribution plans, promoting part-time work, and giving employees more …

Gender, Family, And Work, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

The country has prohibited sex discrimination since the 1960’s, but society continues to view women and men differently because women give birth, breastfeed, and are traditional caregivers. This article takes a historical look at court decisions and legislative efforts to address equality where men and women are not similarly situated and also explores recent developments and current debates, such as caregiver discrimination, lactation rooms and breaks, and the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. Despite the abundance of legislation and court decisions over the past forty years, much progress still needs to be made.

Virtual Whistleblowing, Miriam A. Cherry

All Faculty Scholarship

With the advent of YouTube, blogs, social networking, and whistleblower websites such as WikiLeaks, the paradigm of whistleblowing is changing. The new paradigm for “virtual whistleblowing” is increasingly online, networked, and anonymous. While whistleblowing can take place in many contexts, this symposium article concentrates on the impact of technological changes on employment law whistleblowing. My contention for some time has been that existing regulation has been inadequate to cover existing forms of whistleblowing. Therefore, it is not surprising that existing whistleblowing laws have also failed to keep pace with the changes brought by modern technology. If older laws cannot be …