Law Commons^™

Maryland's New Remedy For Wage Theft, Martha M. Ertman, Doris N. Weil

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Restorative Workplace: An Organizational Learning Approach To Discrimination, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

On the fiftieth anniversary of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, many employers continue to search for ways to implement the law’s antidiscrimination and equal opportunity mandates into the workplace. The current litigation-based approach to employment discrimination under Title VII and similar laws focuses on weeding out “bad apples” who are explicitly prejudiced. This “victim-villain” paradigm may fail to correct the complex, nuanced causes of workplace discrimination, or exacerbate the problem. This article explores an alternative approach—restorative practices—that may integrate the policy goals of antidiscrimination laws into the practical realities of managing an organization. Restorative practices engage everyone in …

The Market Myth And Pay Disparity In Legal Academia, Paula A. Monopoli

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Colorism Among South Asians: Title Vii And Skin Tone Discrimination, Taunya L. Banks

Faculty Scholarship

In 2013 Nina Davuluri, an Asian Indian from Syracuse, NY, became the first South Asian-American Miss America. The largely congratulatory comments from South Asian bloggers while reveling in the significance of her win, also commented on her skin tone, characterizing the new Miss America as dark brown, some adding that Davuluri would have never won the Miss Indian America USA title because she is “too dark.” Early discussions of colorism, skin tone bias, by legal scholars focus on how the practice impacts black Americans or other persons with some African ancestry. Yet the comments from South Asians about Davuluri’s skin …

Regulation By Amicus: The Department Of Labor's Policy Making In The Courts, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the practice of “regulation by amicus”: that is, an agency’s attempt to mold statutory interpretation and establish policy by filing “friend of the court” briefs in private litigation. Since the United States Supreme Court recognized agency amicus interpretations as a source of controlling law entitled to deference in Auer v. Robbins, agencies have used amicus curiae briefs—in strategic and at times aggressive ways—to advance the political agenda of the President in the courts.

Using the lens of the U.S. Department of Labor’s amicus activity in wage and hour cases, this Article explores the tension between the …

Wal-Mart Stores V. Dukes: Lessons For The Legal Quest For Equal Pay, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes provides a unique opportunity to reflect on whether and how the legal system should address unjustified pay disparities between men and women who perform similar jobs. This Article describes the Court’s decision and analyzes the insights it offers about the legal quest for equal pay. First, Wal-Mart demonstrates the tension between Title VII’s focus on the employer’s intent and the economic realities of how pay discrimination happens in the modern workplace. As the women at Wal-Mart experienced and research confirms, pay disparities tend to be the greatest when employers delegate …

Money, Sex, And Sunshine: A Market-Based Approach To Pay Discrimination, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

The Equal Pay Act had a distinct market purpose. Congress made a policy choice to modify the existing compensation market so that employees who perform jobs requiring substantially “equal skill, effort, and responsibility” earn equal wages, regardless of sex. The Act aimed not simply to promote individual fairness, but to foster a more efficient, equitable wage market on a systemic level. Congress recognized that paying lower wages to women constituted “an unfair method of competition,” burdened “commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce,” and prevented the “maximum utilization of available labor resources.” Over time, however, the “market” in …

Shattering The Equal Pay Act's Glass Ceiling, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

This Article provides the first empirical and rhetorical analysis of all reported Equal Pay Act (EPA) federal appellate cases since the Act’s passage. This analysis shows that as women climb the occupational ladder, the manner in which many federal courts interpret the EPA imposes a wage glass ceiling, shutting out women in non-standardized jobs from its protection. This barrier is particularly troubling in light of data that shows that the gender wage gap increases for women as they achieve higher levels of professional status. The Article begins by examining data regarding the greater pay gap for women in upper-level jobs. …

Ruminations On The Past, Present And Future Of International Labor Standards: Empowering Law In The Brave New Economic World, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

International labor standards are among the oldest international standards pertaining to the conduct of private, as well as public, economic actors. Far from being settled, however, nearly every aspect of the current international labor standards regime is in flux: the role of labor standards in the international legal, economic, political, and social order, as well as in the parallel domestic orders; the modes by which standards are brought into being; the manner and means of their implementation and enforcement; the degree to which they may be binding solely on nation-state parties, and enforceable only at their behest; and the extent …

The Temporally-Flawed Concept Of Binding Promises In American Collective Bargaining And Employee Benefits Law: A Source Of The Concurrent Crises In The U.S. Industrial Relations, Retirement, And Health Care Systems, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

The American collective bargaining system is in serious trouble, as is the employee benefits system providing pensions and health care benefits for millions of non-union as well as unionized workers and retirees. The portion of the labor force covered by collective bargaining has dropped so low that one can barely refer to it as a system. Simultaneously, the American private employer-based pension system is moving towards a crisis. Large employers with the finest pension plans, covering thousands of workers and retirees, in industry after industry, are terminating their pension plans, or replacing them with cheaper, weaker retirement programs, often while …

Kentucky River At The Intersection Of Professional And Supervisory Status: Fertile Delta Or Bermuda Triangle?, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of The Work Performance Relationship: Independent Contractors, Labor Subcontractors, And Joint Control Over An Employment-Like Relationship, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

I. Introduction. II. Who is covered and who is excluded from the protective scope of labor law, and the legal consequences for those excluded as independent contractors or owners. III. Benefits and burdens of the “employment relationship” characterization compared to a contract for services. IV. Speculations about solutions to the work relationship problem.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back- Or Vice Versa: Labor Rights Under Free Trade Agreements From Nafta, Through Jordan, Via Chile, To Latin America, And Beyond, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Colorism: A Darker Shade Of Pale, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, Professor Banks argues that colorism, skin tone discrimination against dark-skinned but not light-skinned blacks, constitutes a form of race-based discrimination. Skin tone discrimination coexists with more traditional forms of race discrimination that impact all blacks without regard to skin tone and phenotype, yet courts seem unwilling to recognize this point. Professor Banks uses employment discrimination cases to illustrate some courts' willingness to acknowledge subtler forms of race-based discrimination, like skin tone discrimination, for white ethnic and Latina/o plaintiffs, but not for black plaintiffs. The inability of courts to fashion coherent approaches to colorism claims involving black claimants …

The Right To Strike In Essential Services Under United States Labor Law, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

SUMMARY: I. Introduction. II. A Brief History of U.S. Collective Labor Relations Laws. III. The Structure of Labor-Management Relations in The U.S. IV. The Right to Strike. V. Private Sector “Essential Services” Provisions: LMRA National. VI. Conclusion.

Toward A Global Critical Feminist Vision: Domestic Work And The Nanny Tax Debate, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court 1997- 1998 Labor And Employment Law Term (Part Ii): The Nlra, Takings Clause, And Ada Cases, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Innovations In Collective Bargaining: Nummi - Driven To Excellence, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The European Community On Labor Law: Some American Comparisons, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Look At Labor Law In The Land Down Under: Industrial Relations In Australia, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Recent Decisions Of The Supreme Court In Labor Law, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Recent Decisions, Phoebe A. Haddon

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.