Law Commons^™

Justice, Employment, And The Psychological Contract, Larry A. Dimatteo, Robert C. Bird, Jason A. Colquitt

Larry A DiMatteo

The paper is a multidisciplinary collaboration between contract law, employment law and management scholars and draws from the fields of law, management, and psychology. After reviewing and noting the gaps in the employment and justice literatures, this paper presents the findings of a survey of 763 participants to measure whether certain variables—procedural and substantive fairness, as well as educating employees on the principle of employment at will—impact the propensities of employees to retaliate and litigate at the time of discharge. The survey results are significant and striking. We find statistically significant reductions in retaliation and litigation rates when survey respondents …

Employment At Will In Ohio: Working From Within, Brian Wilson

Akron Law Review

This comment seeks to measure the parameters of Ohio's exceptions to the at-will rule in relation to other states' views on this issue. Also included is an examination of the interplay between the legislature and the judiciary in affecting change in Ohio. A proposal designed to "solidify" the public policy exception to the at-will rule after Phung v. Waste Management, Inc., a recent Ohio Supreme Court case, will also be presented.

Employment At Will And Public Policy, Frank J. Cavico

Akron Law Review

The purposes of this article are to examine the current public policy case law, commentary, and related statutes, to explain and interpret in detail this significant area of employment law, and to propose a just principle to govern the discharge aspect of the employment relation.

Panel Discussion Of The Excuse Factory, Stewart J. Schwab

Stewart J Schwab

No abstract provided.

Life-Cycle Justice: Accommodating Just Cause And Employment At Will, Stewart J. Schwab

Stewart J Schwab

No abstract provided.

What Does Social Equality Require Of Employers? A Response To Professor Bagenstos, Brishen Rogers

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Individual employment law can appear a bit like tort law did in the late nineteenth century: an "eclectic gallery of wrongs" united largely by the fact that they do not fit into another doctrinal category. The field has emerged interstitially and today includes an array of state and federal common law and statutory claims not covered by labor law or employment discrimination law. These other subfieldshave foundational statutes: the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, respectively. Each was passed in response to a major social conflict, and each defines some …

Advice To California Employers: An Overview Of Wrongful Discharge Law And How To Avoid Potential Liability, Teresa Howell Sharp

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Law And Social Equality, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Michigan Law Review

What is the normative justification for individual employment law? For a number of legal scholars, the answer is economic efficiency. Other scholars argue, to the contrary, that employment law protects against (vaguely defined) imbalances of bargaining power and exploitation. Against both of these positions, this Article argues that individual employment law is best understood as advancing a particular conception of equality. That conception, which many legal and political theorists have called social equality, focuses on eliminating hierarchies of social status. This Article argues that individual employment law, like employment discrimination law, is justified as preventing employers from contributing to or …

Employment Arbitration 2011: A Realist View, Laura J. Cooper

Indiana Law Journal

Labor and Employment Law Under the Obama Administration: A Time for Hope and Change? Symposium held November 12-13, 2010, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana.

Justice, Employment, And The Psychological Contract, Larry A. Dimatteo, Robert C. Bird, Jason A. Colquitt

UF Law Faculty Publications

The paper is a multidisciplinary collaboration between contract law, employment law and management scholars and draws from the fields of law, management, and psychology. After reviewing and noting the gaps in the employment and justice literatures, this paper presents the findings of a survey of 763 participants to measure whether certain variables—procedural and substantive fairness, as well as educating employees on the principle of employment at will—impact the propensities of employees to retaliate and litigate at the time of discharge.

The survey results are significant and striking. We find statistically significant reductions in retaliation and litigation rates when survey respondents …

Investing In Work: Wilkes As An Employment Law Case, Deborah A. Demott

Faculty Scholarship

This Article begins by introducing the doctrine of employment at-will and its contemporary operation, and applying the doctrine to the facts in Wilkes. The point of the exercise is making clear the impact of Wilkes from the standpoint of employment law. The Article next turns to scholarship examining the at-will rule as a default rule and the circumstances under which a default rule may become sticky. Against this background, the Article concludes by reexamining the holding in Wilkes along with subsequent developments in Massachusetts and other jurisdictions. These include the implications of buy-sell and comparable provisions in shareholder agreements. In …

Turner V. Anheuser-Busch, Inc.: California Supreme Court Provides Employers With A More Favorable Constructive Discharge Standard, Joseph A. Meckes

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Turner v. Anheuser Busch, Inc. the California Supreme Court held that James Turner's claim for constructive wrongful discharge in violation of public policy failed as a matter of law. The court held Turner could not show either objectively intolerable aggravated conditions on the job or that his employer violated public policy. Because Turner did not state a cognizable claim, the court reinstated the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Turner's employer AnheuserBusch, Incorporated (hereinafter "ABI"). In reaching this conclusion, the court significantly modified the constructive discharge test by no longer allowing a plaintiff to use the …

Response To Working Group On Chapter 2 Of The Proposed Restatement Of Employment Law: Putting The Restatement In Its Place, Rachel Arnow-Richman

UF Law Faculty Publications

Like most of the contributors to this symposium, I come to bury the Restatement, not to praise it. A fair reading of the ALI’s proposed Chapter 2, on termination and employment at will, reveals a document deeply, if not irretrievably, flawed in both its conception and execution. Principal among my complaints is that the draft neither presents an integrated approach to contractual terms of employment, nor takes a position on the appropriateness of contract as a vehicle for creating employment terms. Thus, in the most benign terms, the draft repackages the common law, adding nothing of value in the process.

A Subjective Approach To Contracts?: How Courts Interpret Employee Handbook Disclaimers, Natalie Bucciarelli Pedersen

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

Although employment law in America generally operates under the presumption that employment for an unspecified term is at-will, recently courts have been creating exceptions to this rule in order to afford employees more legal protections. This paper will focus on the judicially created handbook exception under which courts find that an employee handbook can be contractually binding on an employee and, therefore, may transform an employment relationship from one that is at-will to one that is for-cause. Specifically, the paper will examine cases where courts have analyzed employee handbooks which include a disclaimer enunciating that the handbook is, indeed, not …

Discrimination At Will: Job Security Protections And Equal Employment Opportunity In Conflict, Julie C. Suk

ExpressO

The conventional wisdom amongst scholars and advocates of employment discrimination law is that the success of Title VII is significantly hampered by the enduring doctrine of employment at will. As long as employers have broad discretion to fire employees for any reason, no reason, or a bad reason, employers can easily get away with terminating or refusing to promote racial minorities and women as long as some credible nondiscriminatory reason, such as personal animosity, can be presented. This account feeds the widely accepted view that employment at will and the goals of Title VII, namely equal employment opportunity, are at …

Bloggers Beware: A Cautionary Tale Of Blogging And The Doctrine Of At-Will Employment, Tracie Watson, Elisabeth Piro

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Money Talks: The Influence Of Economic Power On The Employment Laws And Policies In The United States And France, Carole A. Scott

San Diego International Law Journal

Money talks. Money changes everything. There is nothing money cannot buy. These are all familiar phrases used to describe the desirable, and undesirable, effects of money. Money can also mean power, and more specifically, economic power. Indeed, economic power is becoming an increasingly important concept for a wide range of academic disciplines. For example, the concept of economic power has heavily influenced a new theory of international relations, namely globalization. Many globalization theorists argue that economic power is replacing military power in global politics. Other scholars contend that globalization is creating a new world order where economics are the central …

Shoring Up The Citadel (At-Will Employment), Matthew W. Finkin

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

The third draft of parts three and four of the proposed Restatement of Employment Law was circulated in April, 2006. The draft was prefaced by a statement of the Executive Director of the American Law Institute explaining the project's purpose: to simplify the law, to clarify the doctrine underpinning it, and to bring the law into line with evolving economic and social developments. This essay takes a hard look at these two parts - governing contractual job security and discharge for reasons violative of public policy - from the perspective of these desiderata. It argues that the rules set out …

Bad Facts, Bad Law: Feliciano V. 7-Eleven, Inc. And Self-Defense As A Substantial Public Policy, Thomas H. Ewing

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Tort Of Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress In The Private Employment Sector, Frank J. Cavico

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Striking Bargains: The At-Will Employment Of Permanent Strike Replacements, Michael D. Moberly

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Employment Contract, Ian Ayres, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article consists of Professors Ian Ayres and Stewart Schwab 's presentation given at the Economic Analysis of State Employment Law Issues Symposium. Following the presentation, audience members and the presenters participated in a discussion concerning employment contracts. The Journal staff and Professors Ayres and Schwab compiled and edited some of these questions and responses.

Panel Discussion Of The Excuse Factory, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Development Of The Employment At Will Rule Revisited: A Challenge To Its Origins As Based In The Development Of Advanced Capitalism, Deborah A. Ballam

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Free Speech And Due Process In The Workplace, Cynthia L. Estlund

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Making Of The Model Employment Termination Act, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Courts in about 45 states have ameliorated the harshness of employment at will, but the common-law modifications still exhibit serious deficiencies. Legislation is needed. The Model Employment Termination Act proposes a balanced compromise. It would protect most employees against discharge without good cause and it would relieve employers of the risk of devastating financial losses When liability is imposed. Arbitration procedures under the Model Act would also be simpler, faster, and cheaper than existing court proceedings.

Life-Cycle Justice: Accommodating Just Cause And Employment At Will, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Life-Cycle Justice: Accommodating Just Cause And Employment At Will, Stuart J. Schwab

Michigan Law Review

The goal of this article is to articulate a coherent framework for understanding the default rules for employment termination. While most observers see chaos here, I find a certain logic in the leading cases. The courts have been boldest when job protection is most appropriate, and they have hesitated precisely when at will plays its most useful role.

The Law And Arbitration: The Model Employment Termination Act, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

The Model Employment Termination Act(META), which the Uniform Law Commissioners have recommended for adoption by all state legislatures, could provide the most significant legal change of this quarter century in the American workplace. In addition, if the annual case load of grievance arbitrations in this country now stands at somewhere around 65,000, the Act holds the potential for at least quadrupling that figure. Our colleague Jack Stieber has calculated that there are 60 million U.S. employees who are not protected by union contracts or civil service laws, and are thus subject to the employment-at-will doctrine. They can be fired for …

Employment-At-Will—Is The Model Act The Answer?, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Over the last quarter century, the most significant development in the field of labor and employment law has been a nationwide movement toward a revision of the at-will employment doctrine. Courts in over forty-five jurisdictions have used one or more of three main theories to carve out exceptions to the previously allpervasive principle. Unfortunately, though one can applaud the values embodied in these decisions, there are serious deficiencies in the common law modifications. The purpose of this Article is to outline those defects and to demonstrate that the interests of employees and employers alike would be better served by new …