Law Commons^™

Targeted Job Advertisements On Social Media: An Age-Old Practice In A New Suit, Joseph Nelson Jr.

Global Business Law Review

This Note argues that an employer’s use of social media sites to "micro-target" potential job applicants is not per se unlawful under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Rather, recruitment practices that target a specific age group are permissible under the ADEA when those recruitment practices are part of a broader recruitment strategy. When analyzing job advertisements on social media platforms, courts should not only consider the context of the advertisement, but also whether the advertisements are available through other resources. Such an analysis would allow employers to take advantage of the streamlined recruitment platforms available through social media …

Reducing The Governance Gap For Corporate Complicity In International Crimes, Seunghyun Nam

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

With increasing reports of corporations involved in serious human rights abuses that amount to international crimes, there are greater calls for states to hold these corporations accountable. Still, many obstacles and challenges remain when it comes to holding corporations accountable. Complex corporate structures, the extraterritorial dimension of the abuses, competition among states and businesses, lack of institutional capacity on the part of states, and lack of legal coordination among states collectively create an impunity gap. The case studies of the situation in Burma and the Democratic Republic of Congo involving foreign companies aim to illustrate this governance gap. With growing …

Looking To The United Kingdom To Overhaul New York State’S Paid Family Leave Law And Close The Global Gender Gap, John Pietruszka

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The World Economic Forum estimates that mitigating gender-based disparities in the area of economic participation could lead to substantial economic benefits for the global economy. However, the international system of sovereign states requires this effort be piecemeal, as each state must set priorities to achieve greater gender parity within its own economic, political, and cultural contexts. The United States, by virtue of being the largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, undoubtedly has one of the largest roles to play in the effort to mitigate this global problem. Nonetheless, it lags behind other nation-states in several key areas that …

China-Eu Bit And Fta: Building A Bridge On The Silk Road Not Detoured By Labor Standard Provisions, Ronald C. Brown

Washington International Law Journal

It is time for European Union and Chinese leaders to build on the existing EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, quickly conclude on-going negotiations on their EU-China Bilateral Investment Treaty, and begin substantive negotiations on an EU-China Free Trade Agreement? China is now the European Union's second-biggest trading partner behind the United States, and the European Union is China's biggest trading partner. China is reaching to become the leader in globalism and is investing heavily to make it happen. One of the world’s largest projects, the Belt and Road Initiative is a primary driver of China's larger development strategy. A …

Platform Pleading: Analyzing Employment Disputes In The Technology Sector, Joseph A. Seiner

Washington Law Review

The technology sector has created thousands of new jobs for workers across the country in an emerging multi-billion dollar industry. Many companies in this platform-based sector are attempting to characterize their workers as independent contractors rather than employees, thus stripping them of both federal and state workplace protections—including the right to bargain collectively, receive fair compensation, and avoid discrimination. The federal courts, which have always grappled with the question of worker classification, are now struggling to define employment with respect to these gig sector jobs. The result has been scattered court decisions with inconsistent and conflicting analyses. This Essay seeks …

Hiring Algorithms In The Canadian Private Sector: Examining The Promise Of Greater Workplace Equality, Connor Bildfell

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Private-sector employers are increasingly using hiring algorithms as a tool for screening job applicants, comparing qualifications, and ultimately determining which candidates should be selected. Within this context, hiring algorithms make no small promise: a hiring process that is not only more efficient and effective, but also more supportive of workplace equality. This promise rests largely on the notion that traditional human-driven models of hiring are beset by subjective biases and prejudices, whereas hiring algorithms, which are driven by hard data and objective evidence, can eliminate certain human biases and prejudices, thereby promoting workplace equality. But can hiring algorithms deliver on …

Employment Law, Bret G. Daniel, Erin B. Edwards

University of Richmond Law Review

Virginia has historically been regarded as an employer-friendly jurisdiction. However, in recent years, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an increasing number of opinions that tend to favor employees. With a state legislature largely reluctant to interfere in the employer-employee relationship, developments in employment law generally occur via Fourth Circuit jurisprudence. Given the predominance of federal employment law in Virginia, the following discussion regarding developments in this practice area focuses less on state statutes and courts, and more on decisions handed down from the federal bench. This Article provides an update on recent developments in employment law in …

An Analysis Of Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress Claims In The Virginia Workplace, Stephen Allred

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article first traces the development of the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress as applied to the workplace in the Commonwealth of Virginia in Part I, and offers some observations about the significant hurdles a plaintiff may face in trying to successfully hold an employer accountable for conduct that many in our society would deem unacceptable. After reviewing the evolution of the doctrine since it was first recognized in Virginia nearly fifty years ago in Part II, Part III returns to the incident described above involving Linda Bodewig and her employer, and offers an analysis of how her …

Unfit To Be Seen: Customer Preferences And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Craig Westergard

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Arbitration Agreements – What Is The Employee Actually Signing Up For?, Kennedy Poe

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This note will examine the various effects and implications the Supreme Court’s decision concerning the legality of class action waivers within employee-employer contracts will have on employers, employees, and the contracts made between them. Part I will identify class action waivers within an employment contract’s arbitration agreement and will further elaborate upon the legal implications of such waivers being present in the contract. Part II will then discuss the history of the NLRA and assess its present-day role in employee–employer contract formation, in order to provide clarity as to the dispute that has arisen between the NLRA and class action …

Bad Company? The Rise (Again) Of Association Health Plans, Brendan Williams

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This article first examines the rule adopted by the DOL and the criticism it has drawn. It then assesses the state of the small-group insurance market for small businesses, and the flawed approach that the ACA took to assisting them. Finally it takes a look at the uncertain future for small businesses and health insurance, and it suggests new approaches

Protecting The Little Guys: How To Prevent The California Supreme Court’S New “Abc” Test From Stunting Cash-Strapped Startups, Braden Seibert

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

California startups and independent contractors are in desperate need of a lifeline before they are gone for good. This state has long favored the employee over the employer, but the California Supreme Court’s new “ABC” test tips the scales even further by making it practically impossible for startups to compensate their workers. As a remedy, I propose exemptions to the test for sophisticated contractors who do not need the state’s protection, certified owners who have demonstrated fair play, and small businesses which are still in the developmental stages. Though the Court based its decision largely on a policy of protecting …

A Structural-Purposive Interpretation Of “Employment” In The Platform Economy, E. Gary Spitko

Florida Law Review

The considerable growth of the platform economy has focused attention on the issue of whether a provider engaged through a transaction platform should be classified as an employee of the platform operator, and therefore within the purview of workplace protective legislation or as an independent contractor, thus outside the scope of such legislation’s protections. This Article focuses specifically on whether the operator’s reservation of the right to impose quality control standards on the provider ought to give rise to employment obligations running in favor of the provider and against the operator. This narrow issue is of great importance to the …

The Declining Fortunes Of American Workers: Six Dimensions And An Agenda For Reform, Stephen F. Befort

Florida Law Review

At the turn of the century, I undertook an assessment of the then-current state of workplace rights and obligations. I concluded that the balance of power between employers and workers was “badly skewed” in favor of employers. This Article revisits that topic for the purpose of assessing twenty-first-century trends through the lens of six workplace dimensions. They are: workforce attachment, union–management relations, employment security, income inequality, balancing work and family, and retirement security. An examination of these dimensions reveals that the status of U.S. workers has significantly declined during the first sixteen years of the twenty-first century. This Article then …

The Return Of The Technical Mcdonnell Douglas Paradigm, Katie Eyer

Washington Law Review

For many anti-discrimination plaintiffs, the McDonnell Douglas paradigm will determine the success or failure of their claims. And yet, for decades, most lower courts have applied a technical version of McDonnell Douglas—under which plaintiffs invariably lose. Thus, instead of asking the factual question of whether the defendant’s action was “because of” protected class status, the lower courts rely on a host of technical rules to dismiss even factually strong anti-discrimination claims. This is not the first time the lower courts have attempted to adopt a technical version of the McDonnell Douglas paradigm. In the 1970s and 1980s, the lower courts …

Algorithmic Advertising Discrimination, Joseph Blass

Northwestern University Law Review

The ability of social media companies to precisely target advertisements to individual users based on those users’ characteristics is changing how job opportunities are advertised. Companies like Facebook use machine learning to place their ads, and machine learning systems present risks of discrimination, which current legal doctrines are not designed to deal with. This Note will explain why it is difficult to ensure such systems do not learn discriminatory functions and why it is hard to discern what they have learned as long as they appear to be performing well on their assigned task. This Note then shows how litigation …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trying Something Old?: Incorporating The Dodd-Frank Act Into Modern Efforts To Eliminate Workplace Sexual Harassment, Rosemary Kim

Seattle University Law Review

The recent exposure of public figures such as Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby show that current measures taken to curb sexual harassment in the workplace have not proven to be enough. It is, then, important and worth exploring Acts from different sectors that have proven effective and then applying the provisions from those Acts to address this issue. This Note will explore the Dodd–Frank Act and pick out the provisions that have potentiality to be adopted and applied in addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit …

Janus, Union Member Speech, And The Public Employee Speech Doctrine, M. Linton Wright

Pace Law Review

In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”), the Supreme Court held that public sector unions can no longer collect fees from nonmembers to fund the costs of representing them in collective bargaining and grievance proceedings. The Court determined that virtually all union speech is political speech and that collection of these fees is impermissible compelled speech under the First Amendment. However, not everything in Janus harms public union interests. The Janus Court’s discussion of Garcetti v. Cabellos and Connick v. Myers actually helps protect union member speech in the context of First Amendment retaliation cases. …

The Inclusion Rider: Constitutional Analysis And Practical Application Of Demanding Diversity Throughout Hollywood, Jonathan Cappiello

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Opposite Sides Of The Same Coin: Worker Classification In The New Economy, Griffin Toronjo Pivateau

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

Massive changes have disrupted the institution of employment. The growth of the service sector, technological advancements, and developments in the finance market have created a demand for new employment models. Employers have responded by increasingly utilizing independent contractors to fill positions traditionally held by employees.

Designating a worker as either "employee" or "independent contractor" determines the degree to which employment law applies to the worker. An independent contractor falls outside many of the benefits and protections that the law provides employees. Currently, courts, states, and administrative agencies use a confusing array of employment tests, created for different purposes and different …

Front Matter

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Student Evaluations Of Teaching: An Unlawful Barrier To Women's Professional Advancement In Australian Universities, Britt P. Tevis, K. E. Powell

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Labor Origins Of Birthright Citizenship, Michael H. Leroy

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ban The Box: Breaking Barriers To Employment In The Private Sector, Melissa Pascualini

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Where The Law Ends - Part 2: A Ceremonial Approach To The Interpretation Of Collective Bargaining Agreements In Tackett And Reese, Roger J. Mcclow

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Therapist Can't See You Now: How Paid Sick Leave Policy Can Accommodate Mental Illness In The Workplace, Maddy Goss

Arkansas Law Review

Restaurants have become the “poster child” for why employers should adopt paid sick leave. Advocates suggest that employees without access to paid sick leave often show up to work ill due to their inability to sacrifice pay. Clever protest signs read, “No Boogers in my Burger” and “No Coughing in my Coffee.” Any rational customer would not appreciate the thought of a flu-ridden chef assembling their main course. However, the benefits of paid leave legislation and policies go beyond protecting cheeseburgers from flu germs. Just as employees with the flu require time off for medical attention, employees with mental illness …

Accommodating Capital And Policing Labor: Antitrust In The Two Gilded Ages, Sandeep Vaheesan

Maryland Law Review

In enacting the antitrust laws, Congress sought to prevent big businesses from maintaining and augmenting their power through collusion, mergers, and exclusionary and predatory practices and also aimed to preserve the ability of workers to act in concert. At times, the antitrust laws have benefited ordinary Americans. Antitrust achievements include the restructuring of the oil industry in 1911, the creation of competitive market structures in the mid-twentieth century, and the termination of AT&T’s telecommunications monopoly in 1984.

Yet, the history of antitrust in the United States is not one of uninterrupted successes. Over two forty-year periods, the executive branch and …

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 …

Due Process Supreme Court Appellate Division Third Department

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.