Law Commons^™

The Impact Of Banning Confidential Settlements On Discrimination Dispute Resolutio, Blair D. Bullock -- Assistant Professor Of Law, Joni Hersch -- Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor Of Law And Economics

Vanderbilt Law Review

The #MeToo movement exposed how workplace harassment plagues employment in the United States. Several states responded by passing legislation aimed at curbing harassment and employment discrimination in the workplace. One of the most common legislative efforts was to ban confidentiality provisions in certain settlement agreements. These bans, in part, attempted to stop "secret settlements" by shining light on workplace discrimination and exposing serial harassers as a means to motivate firms to actively deter workplace discrimination.

But do bans on confidentiality agreements deter the bad act? For these laws to have a deterrent effect, claims must be revealed in a public …

Something To Talk About, Joni Hersch, Jennifer Bennett Shinall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

To avoid the appearance of sex discrimination that would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, both Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance and a common misunderstanding of the law have resulted in little or no information about family status being provided in pre-employment interviews. To investigate whether concealing family information actually improves women’s employment prospects, we conduct an original experimental study fielded on more than 3,000 subjects. Our study provides the first ever evidence that concealing personal information lowers female applicants’ hiring prospects. Subjects overwhelmingly preferred to hire candidates who provided information, regardless of content. Any explanation improved …

Against Immutability, Jessica A. Clarke

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Courts often hold that antidiscrimination law protects “immutable” characteristics, like sex and race. In a series of recent cases, gay rights advocates have persuaded courts to expand the concept of immutability to include not just those traits an individual cannot change, but also those considered too important for anyone to be asked to change. Sexual orientation and religion are paradigmatic examples. This Article critically examines this new concept of immutability, asking whether it is fundamentally different from the old one and how it might apply to characteristics on the borders of employment discrimination law’s protection, such as obesity, pregnancy, and …

The Use And Misuse Of Econometric Evidence In Employment Discrimination Cases, Joni Hersch, Blair Druhan Bullock

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Experts routinely criticize three aspects of regression analyses presented by the opposing party in employment discrimination cases: omitted explanatory variables, sample size, and statistical significance. However, these factors affect the reliability of the regression results only in very limited circumstances. As a result, valid regression analyses do not provide the critical guidance that they should in employment discrimination cases. Our own statistical analyses of seventy-eight Title VII employment discrimination cases find that merely raising these critiques, even if spurious, reduces plaintiffs’ likelihood of prevailing at trial. We propose that courts adopt a peer-review system in which court-appointed economists, compensated by …

Ambivalence And Activism: Employment Discrimination In China, Timothy Webster

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Chinese courts have not vigorously enforced many human rights, but a recent string of employment discrimination lawsuits suggests that, given the appropriate conditions, advocacy strategies, and rights at issue, victims can vindicate constitutional and statutory rights to equality in court. Specifically, carriers of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) have used the 2007 Employment Promotion Law to ground legal challenges against employers who discriminate against them in the hiring process. Plaintiffs' relatively high success rate suggests official support for making one prevalent form of discrimination illegal. Central to these lawsuits is a broad network of lawyers, activists, and scholars who actively …

The Title Vii Tug-Of-War: Application Of U.S. Employment Discrimination Law Extraterritorially, Latoya S. Brown

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Companies around the world increasingly are engaging in cross-border business transactions. Globalization is a must if companies want to continue to be competitive in the marketplace--indeed it is an inevitable reality. However, in the midst of this reality is another reality: the legal implications of establishing operations abroad. Transnational expansion introduces companies to an interesting game of tug-of-war in which companies may find themselves torn between compliance with U.S. law and compliance with the laws of the host country. This Note discusses this tug-of-war in the context of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Over 15 years …

Employment Discrimination By Religious Institutions: Limiting The Sanctuary Of The Constitutional Ministerial Exception To Religion-Based Employment Decisions, Laura L. Coon

Vanderbilt Law Review

A religious organization enters a contract with a builder to construct a new facility and breaches the contract; a student at a private, religiously-affiliated school slips on a patch of ice and is seriously injured because of the school maintenance crew's negligence. The builder and the student are aggrieved by the actions of the respective religious institutions. Consequently, they seek to re- solve their disputes through the judicial system, as would any other individual with a potential legal claim. Although the adjudicative process would involve church and state, the First Amendment Religion Clauses would not likely be implicated, because the …

God, Labor, And The Law: The Pursuit Of Religious Equality In Northern Ireland's Workforce, Jane H. Thorpe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In Northern Ireland, a Catholic man is twice as likely to be unemployed as his Protestant counterpart. This employment differential can be attributed directly to the religious sectarianism that has plagued Northern Ireland for almost 400 years. Traditionally, the Protestant community has used economic rights and employment opportunities to maintain its power and authority over the Catholic community. Resolution of this employment differential would be a key step toward achieving peace and unity in Northern Ireland; however, no progress can be made toward this goal until both communities share economic benefits and hardships. In 1989, the British Parliament passed the …

Tempering Title Vii's Straight Arrow Approach: Recognizing And Protecting Gay Victims Of Employment Discrimination, Marie E. Peluso

Vanderbilt Law Review

Consider the following scenario: Jerry, an outstanding graduate of Superior University's business school, has worked for Moneytree & Cashdollar, a prestigious investment banking firm, for three years. In that period, Jerry's hard work and keen instincts helped increase Moneytree's revenues by several million dollars. In addition, Jerry received two awards for landing important new clients. The firm's managing partners have discussed promoting Jerry to junior vice president, an executive position typically reserved for qualified fifth year employees. Jerry's supervisors and peers enthusiastically commend his dedication and skill. Two weeks before the vote on his promotion, Jerry lured a particularly valuable …

Back Pay In Employment Discrimination Cases, James L. Hughes, David R. Jennings, Charles D. Maguire, Jr., Betsy G. Shain, Jay L. Tobin, Jay F. Whittle, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Special Project examines the back pay decisions and analyzes the problems that have confronted the courts dealing with this remedy for employment discrimination in the context of Title VII and section 1981. Because of the enormity of the issues that have arisen in Stage I of the proceedings, however, and the extensive coverage given those problems by the courts and commentators, the Special Project will deal only with the recovery stage, or Stage II, of the litigation. Consequently, the reader should assume that liability for employment discrimination has already been established in each of the cases discussed below. Before …

Congress, The Courts, And Sex-Based Employment Discrimination In Higher Education: A Tale Of Two Titles, Joel W. Friedman

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article will examine the manner in which the federal courts have handled sex-based employment discrimination claims against colleges and universities. Specifically, the Article will suggest that most such judicial opinions have construed and applied the applicable federal laws in a manner inconsistent with Congress' articulated desire to promote equal employment opportunity in, and to remove the taint of sex-biased decisionmaking from, the academic profession. In light of this judicial misconstruction of the remedial statutes, the Article proposes a different framework for analyzing Title VII and Title IX claims that will more adequately promote Congress' twin objectives.

Doing Good The Wrong Way: The Case For Delimiting Presidential Power Under Executive Order No. 11,246, Andrie K. Blumstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Note has demonstrated that the concept of affirmative action as embodied in the Executive Order Program induces race-conscious employment programs by federal contractors in contrast to the norm of race-neutral decision making imposed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Note has also argued that a nexus analysis must define the parameters of executive authority to promulgate the Executive Order Program. In other words, there must be a close relationship between the alleged source of executive authority and the President's actual exercise of that authority...

This Note attempts to refine the Presidential power analysis of Youngstown Steel and …

A Comparative Review Of Public And Private Enforcement Of Title Vii Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964, Robert Belton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The efforts of the EEOC, the Department of Justice, and other federal and state agencies during the first decade of enforcement have been the subject of a great deal of commentary and review. Much of this commentary has been critical. Private enforcement of Title VII has produced the major legal developments, but these efforts have received little attention in the literature. This Article therefore will present a comparative review of governmental and private enforcement efforts under Title VII. A brief overview of the historical efforts to eliminate employment discrimination prior to Title VII is necessary to place private enforcement efforts …

Title Vii - Seniority - The Relevant Scope Of Inquiry For Determining The Legality Of A Seniority System, James D. Spratt, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which became effective on July 2, 1965, was enacted to eliminate artificial barriers to employment that historically have deprived minorities and women of employment opportunities. Section 703 of the Act thus makes discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin an unlawful employment practice. In order to obtain relief from a discriminatory employment practice, an aggrieved party must demonstrate that the defendant intentionally engaged in the unlawful practice. Because the broad language of sections 703(a), 703(c), and 706(g) fails to define the terms "discriminate" and"intentionally," the effectiveness …

Title Vii Seniority Remedies In A Time Of Economic Downturn, Donald R. Stacy

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article will attempt to clarify the application of rules against employment discrimination in a period of rising unemployment by first examining the nature of the seniority system and then explaining the theory and mechanism of the conventional remedy. Next a review of recent problems that have tested that remedy will be undertaken, with special attention devoted to the peculiar problems incident to layoffs. Lastly, the article will consider the means by which an employer can minimize the liability that may result from the discriminatory impact of seniority systems.

Credit Discrimination Against Women: Causes And Solutions, Margaret J. Gates

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article deals both with the laws that cause credit discrimination against women and with those that have been and could be formulated to solve the problem. It first explains the nature and importance of the problem, then discusses the apparent legal and economic bases of the discrimination, and finally explores the adequacy of existing and proposed remedies.

The Use Of Tests In Promotions Under Seniority Provisions, Aubrey L. Coleman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The testing requirements enunciated by the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to eliminate certain types of discrimination through tests will assuredly have application in the further development of sound, overall testing programs for all employees. While at present very few contracts have provisions with respect to testing, undoubtedly most future agreements will. This development should reduce the number of disputes, since requirements now imposed by arbitrators will be written into bargaining agreements. While there will still be disagreements over whether the tests were properly evaluated, controversies as to whether the tests are specifically related to …