Law Commons^™

North American Border Wars: The Role Of Canadian And American Scholarship In U.S. Labor Law Reform Debates, Michael J. Zimmer, Susan Bisom-Rapp

Faculty Scholarship

The economies of Canada and the United States and the organization of their societies are deeply interrelated but significant differences exist. This article briefly traces the interaction between the two countries in the development of labor relations laws with a particular emphasis on the impact of scholarly work on U.S. labor law reform debates in the last two decades. Instructive for that purpose is the work of Professor Paul Weiler, a prominent figure in labor law policy discussions in both countries. A significant architect of labor law in Canada, Professor Weiler came to Harvard Law School in 1978 and brought …

Just Notice: A Paradigm-Shifting Solution To Economic Dismissals, Anne M. Lofaso

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Religion Anti-Discrimination And The Decline Of Labor Law, Nathan B. Oman

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Mandatory Disclosure In The Market For Union Representation, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

For over sixty years, the National Labor Relations Board has followed the “laboratory conditions” doctrine in its regulation of representation elections. According to the doctrine, the Board must provide workers with an electoral “laboratory” in order to determine the “uninhibited desires” of the employees. Elections are vacated and conducted anew if the winning party violated the laboratory conditions. The laboratory conditions doctrine suggests an active and vigorous role for the Board in providing employees with the proper election environment. However, the Board’s regulation has largely focused on keeping out electoral impurities and has done little to make sure employees have …

Judicial Amendments Treating Citizen And Immigrant Workers Equally . . . Badly: Labor Rights Without Effective Remedies, Anne M. Lofaso

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Free Labor Today, James G. Pope

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

During the first half of the 20th Century, the period when all of the United States’ major workers’ rights statutes were enacted, the American labor movement claimed the rights to organize and strike under the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S Constitution. Beginning in 1909, it was the official policy of the American Federation of Labor that a worker confronted with an unconstitutional injunction had an “imperative duty” to “refuse obedience and to take whatever consequences may ensue.” At a time when union institutions were as weak as they are today, every attack on workers’ rights was met with an impassioned …

Review Of 'Understanding Labor And Employment Law In China' By Ronald C. Brown, Nicholas C. Howson

Law & Economics Working Papers

Review of Ronald C. Brown's UNDERSTANDING LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW IN CHINA (Cambridge University Press, 2010) which review describes an alternative way of describing and analyzing law and legal institutions in contemporary China generally, and labor law specifically.

The Evolving Schizophrenic Nature Of Labor Arbitration, Martin H. Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Canadian Auto Workers--Magna International 'Framework For Fairness' Agreement: A U.S. Perspective (Symposium), Martin H. Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Solomon And Strikes: Labor Activity, The Contract Doctrine Of Impossibility Or Impracticability Of Performance, And Federal Labor Policy, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Show Me The Money The Applicability Of Contract Laws Ratification And Tenderback Doctrines To Title Vii Releases, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Leaving Maryland Workers Behind: A Comparison Of State Employee Leave Statutes, Michael Hayes

All Faculty Scholarship

Maryland law is not quite a blank slate for employee leave rights-but it is close. While the state forbids employers from terminating employees for job time lost for jury service or attending a court proceeding in response to a subpoena or pursuant to victim's rights laws, Maryland is one of a "select few" that does not require any breaks for adult workers, including time off for meals. Maryland law does not require family or medical leave for private sector workers. In fact, the state's most generous leave law stems from repealing antiquated "blue laws" that required businesses to be closed …

The Paradox Of Public Sector Labor Law, Martin H. Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Of Labor Inspectors And Labors Judges: Chilean Labor Law Enforcement After Pinochet (And What The United States Can Do To Help) (Symposium), César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Seiu's Failed Bid In Puerto Rico, César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Do Cognitive Biases Affect Adjudication?: A Study Of Labor Arbitrators (With Monica Biernat), Martin H. Malin, Monica Biernat

All Faculty Scholarship

Labor arbitrators were presented with four cases to decide, each involving a challenge to discipline or discharge of an employee resulting from a work-family conflict. Arbitrators were randomly given versions of the cases in which the gender and one other characteristivc of the employee were varied. The results showed little evidence of direct gender bias in decision-making but did reflect bias against single parents and employees with eldercare, as opposed to childcare, responsibilities. Implications for other adjudicators, including judges, jurors and administrative agency officials are discussed.

Revisiting The Meltzer-Howlett Debate On External Law In Labor Arbitration: Is It Time For Courts To Declare Howlett The Winner?, Martin H. Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

No Right (To Organize) Without A Remedy: Evidence And Consequences Of Failure To Provide Compensatory Remedies For Unfair Labour Practices In British Columbia, Sara Slinn

Articles & Book Chapters

Employees and unions encounter significant risks during union organizing and often see their efforts thwarted by employers. Labour law regimes attempt to minimize these risks by rendering unlawful a number of unfair labour practices (ULPs) employers can use to prevent unionization. But labour relations boards (LRBs) in Canada often avoid awarding full compensation for the harm ULPs cause, leading employers to still view ULPs as advantageous courses of action with only moderate associated costs.The author argues that this problem can be solved or greatly mitigated without the need for formal reforms, LRBs rather must come to embrace the full range …

Construing The National Labor Relations Act The Nlrb And Method Of Statutory Construction, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Captive Audience Meetings And Forced Listening: Lessons For Canada From The American Experience, Sara Slinn

Articles & Book Chapters

Widespread adoption of mandatory representation votes and express protection of employer speech invite employer anti-union campaigns during union organizing, including employer-held captive audience meetings. Therefore, the problem of whether and how to restrict employers’ captive audience communications during union organizing is of renewed relevance in Canada. Captive meetings are a long-standing feature of American labour relations. This article considers how treatment of captive meetings evolved in the U.S., including the notion of employee choice, the “marketplace of ideas” view of expression dominating the American debate, and the central role of the contest between constitutional and statutory rights. It also considers …

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,

Hybrid Class Actions, Dual Certification, And Wage Law Enforcement In The Federal Courts, Andrew Brunsden

Articles & Chapters

Hybrid wage-and-hour class actions, which combine a Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA ') opt-in collective action and a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23 opt-out class action in a single civil action, demonstrate the unusual interplay of opt-in and opt-out rules. The hybrid class action, and its viability as a mechanism for wage law enforcement, raises fundamental questions as to who participates in lawsuits, how we should hold employers accountable for wage-and-hour noncompliance, and the role of the federal courts in enforcing public rights. An opt-in rule tends to produce low participation rates, while an opt-out rule tends to …

Toward A Foundational Theory Of Workers' Rights: The Autonomous Dignified Worker, Anne M. Lofaso

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Derecho Laboral Y Organización Sindical En Puerto Rico, César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Derechos Mancos Para Manos Obreras: Cómo El Derecho Laboral Y La Economía Impactan La Organización Sindical En Puerto Rico, César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Solidarity Or Colonialism? The Polemic Of "Labor Colonialism", César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Labor Unions: A Corporatist Institution In A Competitive World, Michael L. Wachter

All Faculty Scholarship

Union membership, as a percentage of the private sector workforce, has been in decline for 50 years. I argue that the cause of this unrelenting decline is a single, fundamental factor – the change in the United States economy from a corporatist-regulated economy to one based on free competition. Most labor commentators have explained the decline by a confluence of unrelated economic and legal forces. Labor economists typically stress economic explanations, which vary from compositional shifts in the job structure to increased competition both domestically and internationally. On the other hand, labor law commentators naturally focus on labor law explanations, …

Reform Suggestions On Sample Labor Contracts In China, Lin Li

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

The labor relationship is the predominant and fundamental relationship in human society. The regulation of this relationship is the most important to human being’s development.

The regulation of the labor relationship is closely linked to personal basic rights and individual destiny.

To regulate the labor relationship, that is, to establish labor rights and duties, depends on labor laws and labor contracts. But in the long history of China, there has been no labor law and labor contract. Since the open door policy was implemented, labor law and the system of labor contract began slowly. However the situation is still far …

First National Maintenance Corp. V. National Labor Relations Board: Eliminating Bargaining For Low-Wage Service Workers, Alan Hyde

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court decision finds an employer privileged not to bargain with the union over a decision to eliminate a portion of operations (by not renewing a contract with a particular customer), undertaken entirely for economic reasons turning not at all on labor costs, and without animus to the union. No such case has ever been presented to the National Labor Relations Board, and interviews with the principals reveals that these were not the facts of First National Maintenance either. The case was a carefully-constructed hypothetical that omitted key facts, such as the employer's history of illegal conduct to avoid …

New International Human Rights Standards On Unauthorized Immigrant Worker Rights: Seizing An Opportunity To Pull Governments Out Of The Shadows, Beth Lyon

Working Paper Series

Governments cannot ignore international human rights standards for unauthorized migrant workers forever. This chapter presents a call for comparative work on the issue of the legal regimes affecting unauthorized immigrant workers in order to bring governments into greater awareness and compliance with their obligations to unauthorized immigrant workers.

Global illegal migration by laborers seeking economic opportunities is expanding, resulting in an increasing number of migrants in every country who are working in violation of immigration laws. Unauthorized immigrant workers are numerous enough to form a recognizable group in every major world economy, because most receiving countries have immigration laws that …