Law Commons^™

Developing Workplace Law Programming: A Labor Of Love, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

Professor Green reflects and comments on his work in developing workplace law programming as a key component of the annual SEALS program.

The Audacity Of Protecting Racist Speech Under The National Labor Relations Act, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

This Article, written for a symposium hosted by the University of Chicago Legal Forum on the Disruptive Workplace, analyzes the most recent failures of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to determine a thoughtful and balanced approach in addressing racist speech. Imagine two employees in the private sector workplace are discussing the possibility of selecting a union to represent their interests regarding wages and working conditions. During this conversation, a black employee notes the importance of using their collective voices to improve working conditions and compares the activity of selecting a union with the Black Lives Matter protests aimed at …

Reconsidering Prejudice In Alternative Dispute Resolution For Black Work Matters, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

In the 1985 foundational article Fairness and Formality: Minimizing the Risk of Prejudice in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Richard Delgado and his co-authors identified major concerns with the growing use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to resolve disputes involving people of color. The seminal findings from that article highlighted the power differentials exacerbated by informal dispute resolution, and the article contributed immediately to a surge of robust critiques of the increasing use of alternative dispute resolution for those most vulnerable in our society.

More than thirty years after the Delgado article, a community of respected and prominent ADR and discrimination scholars, …

Tackling Employment Discrimination With Adr: Does Mediation Offer A Shield For The Haves Or Real Opportunity For The Have-Nots, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

This paper explores the benefits of using mediation in addressing employment discrimination disputes. It highlights the difficulties for those who expect too much out of mediation by expecting it to transform relations while exposing concerns with those who limit mediation's potential by supporting mythical notions about mediators being neutral. The paper suggests that employers develop comprehensive conflict resolution systems and include mediation as a process that is case-specific and focused on the needs of all parties and not the needs of the mediator.

Finding Lawyers For Employees In Discrimination Disputes As A Critical Prescription For Unions To Embrace Racial Justice, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

At such a crucial time in our history, major concerns exist regarding the viability of labor unions and the capability of employees to pursue racial justice in the workplace with any success. Continued improvement within both movements may depend upon finding a cohesive intersection between them. With the race and class divide affecting relations between organized labor and black workers (a dilemma which must be explored in more detail), this Article offers the thesis that there remains an area of opportunity for justice where interests of unions and black employees may coalesce: providing legal assistance to unrepresented black employees in …

Can Nfl Players Obtain Judicial Review Of Arbitration Decisions On The Merits When A Typical Hourly Union Worker Cannot Obtain This Unusual Court Access?, Michael Z. Green, Kyle T. Carney

Michael Z. Green

Several recent court cases, brought on behalf of National Football League (NFL) players by their union, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), have increased media and public attention to the challenges of labor arbitrator decisions in federal courts. The Supreme Court has established a body of federal common law that places a high premium on deferring to labor arbitrator decisions and counseling against judges deciding the merits of disputes covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). A recent trend suggests federal judges have ignored this body of law and analyzed the merits of labor arbitration decisions in the NFL setting.

NFL …

"Just Another Little Black Boy From The South Side Of Chicago": Overcoming Obstacles And Breaking Down Barriers To Improve Diversity In The Law Professoriate, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

As I reflected on my personal experience to help address the persistence of discrimination in legal academia, I chose to focus on five areas of discussion for the open mic portion of the program held at the Association of American Law Schools Cross-Cutting Program, “The More Things Change ...: Exploring Solutions to Persistent Discrimination in Legal Academia,” held on January 4, 2015, in Washington, D.C. First, I decided to address my personal development as an only child and male in a family of mostly black women struggling through the socioeconomic challenges of being poor and black. To add to that …

Measures To Encourage And Reward Post-Dispute Agreements To Arbitrate Employment Discrimination Claims, Michael Z. Green

Michael Z. Green

Since the Gilmer decision in 1991, the vast potential from using arbitration to resolve statutory employment discrimination has expanded into a burgeoning reality. Although employers rushed in to adopt so-called mandatory pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate statutory discrimination claims, advocates for employees criticized these agreements as being unfair and primarily because the agreements were made before any dispute arose. Employers could use their bargaining power to require as a condition of employment that employees opt out of the jury trial system allowing compensatory and punitive damage awards by requiring arbitration before knowing anything about an actual dispute. Because of continuing criticism …