Law Commons^™

An Overview Of The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards At The Bottom Of America’S Labor Market, Annette Bernhardt, Heather Boushey, Laura Dresser, Chris Tilly

Center for Social Policy Publications

When we talk about the “gloves-off economy,” we are identifying a set of employer strategies and practices that either evade or outright violate the core laws and standards that govern job quality in the U.S. While such strategies have long been present in certain sectors, such as sweatshops and marginal small businesses, we argue that they are spreading. This trend, driven by competitive pressures, has been shaped by an environment where other major economic actors—government, unions, and civil society—have either promoted deregulation or been unable to contain gloves-off business strategies. The result, at the start of the 21st century, is …

Extended Time Off Overview, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Memos and Fact Sheets

Workplace Flexibility 2010 defines Extended Time Off (EXTO) as time taken off from work for a single reason that extends for more than five days but less than one year.

EXTO may be brief in nature (e.g., a few weeks), when taken, for example, for a vacation, to recover from minor surgery, or to comply with a public health quarantine request. EXTO may also be longer in nature (e.g., a month or more), when taken, for example, for maternity/paternity purposes, for elder care, for military duty, or for a sabbatical from work.

EXTO (either brief or prolonged) may be unpaid …

Fact Sheet On Extended Time Off (Exto), Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center, Urban Institute

Memos and Fact Sheets

The Need for Extended Time Off (EXTO):

1. New children: More women and mothers are working, and there is an increase in the number of couples with children in which both parents work.
2. Health issues: According to a 2000 survey of employees regarding the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA), among those who took FMLA leave, more than half, 52.4%, of workers used the leave to attend to their own health conditions. Thirteen percent reported taking leave to care for a parent and nearly 12% reported using leave to care for an ill child.
3. The need for paid EXTO: Despite the …

Reconceiving Labour Law: The Labour Market Regulation Project, Andrew D. Frazer

Faculty of Law - Papers (Archive)

This paper reviews the recent work by Australian labour lawyers that has embraced the ‘new regulation’ and in particular the idea of law as regulation. This approach has recast the academic study of labour law as being concerned with regulation of the labour market. While much of this work has concentrated on expanding the field of labour law to include many areas of law affecting the labour market (beyond the employer-employee relationship), the work has also developed the view of law as a mechanism of state regulation. The paper examines how the ‘regulatory turn’ in Australian labour law has affected …

Restoring The Right To Organize: Impacts Of The Employee Free Choice Act, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

There has been growing controversy over a proposed new labor relations law called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as the “card check” bill. This briefing paper provides an overview of the Employee Free Choice Act, its context and rationale, and its implications for both workers’ abilities to organize and democratic rights in the workplace.

Short Term Time Off: What We Know, Anna Danziger, Shelley Waters Boots

Memos and Fact Sheets

Short Term Time Off (STO) refers to job-protected time away from the workplace to address anticipated or unexpected needs of limited duration. STO may be scheduled or unscheduled, depending on the underlying need. STO enables workers to address both the routine and emergency situations that occur in everyday life.

The need for STO may arise, for example, because a worker or worker’s child is sick or has a routine doctor’s appointment, because a worker has to wait for the plumber or apply for public benefits or go to court, or because a worker needs to attend a school conference or …

Sources For Statistical Data On Flexible Work Arrangements, Shelley Waters Boots, Anna Danziger

Memos and Fact Sheets

From the Department of Labor, the best survey for flexibility data comes from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of 60,000 households that provides data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, and persons not in the labor force.

The benefit of the CPS is that it is large, reliable, and the sample is carefully weighted to provide nationally representative estimates. It also has a significant amount of other data, including a large amount of information on employee characteristics, occupation and industry classifications, and work schedules. The drawbacks however, are that the questions on flexibility are …

A Comparison Of Men’S And Women’S Access To And Use Of Fwas, Anna Danziger, Shelley Waters Boots

Memos and Fact Sheets

This fact sheet contains information about men's and women's access to and use of certain types of flexible work arrangements (FWAs). The data also includes information about men's and women's attitudes and preferences concerning flexibility. The data suggests far more similarities than differences in men's and women's access to and use of these FWAs.

Government Incentives To Change Employer Behavior, Anna Danziger, Shelley Waters Boots

Memos and Fact Sheets

Through various incentive mechanisms, the U.S. government has sought to shape and change the ways in which American businesses operate in a wide range of industries.

This fact sheet discuss a few examples of the ways the government can incentivize employer behavior through recognition and awards programs, and through government financing.

Memo On The Impact Of The United Kingdom's Flexible Working Act, Anna Danziger, Shelley Waters Boots

Memos and Fact Sheets

Since taking effect in 2003, the United Kingdom’s Flexible Working Act has granted parents with children under the age of 6, or with disabled children under the age of 18, the right to request flexible working arrangements from their employers if they have been employed for at least 6 months. This legislation’s provisions were expanded to include employees with adult caregiving responsibilities beginning in 2007, and the government is in the process of planning formal public consultations to extend the law further to include parents of older children.i The law was enacted following a process of consultation with employees and …

Hot Jobs Update: 2008 Outlook For Maine's Women Workers, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

This paper on the occupational outlook for Maine’s women workers is intended as an update to the Bureau of Labor Education’s previous briefing papers on this topic. These earlier papers showed that despite many upbeat analyses of the best “hot new jobs” that will be available to women workers in the next decade, the largest occupations available to women workers in Maine will continue to be primarily jobs with low wages and little economic security. What do more recent data suggest about these issues?

Attaining Occupational Health And Safety Through Education, Engineering, And Enforcement, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

Every year, many workers in Maine and elsewhere in the United States are injured or killed on the job, or develop work-related illnesses. While most injured workers may have access to Workers’ Compensation benefits, such compensation does not make up for extended and sometimes permanent pain and disability. Clearly it is more sensible for employers and workers to focus on the prevention of occupational accidents, injuries and illnesses than to deal with the consequences after the fact.

Privatization Pitfalls Update, 2008, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

Policymakers at the local, state, and federal government levels often struggle to balance the imperatives of providing necessary public services with the constraints of shrinking funds to pay for services such as transportation, prisons, and human services. Among the many possible solutions public entities may consider is the strategy of privatization, defined as “any process that is aimed at shifting functions and responsibilities, in whole or in part, from the government to the private sector through such activities as contracting out or asset sales.” This briefing paper is an update to an earlier publication by the Bureau of Labor Education …

A Maine Guide To Employment Law, Gabrielle Berube, James Davitt

Bureau of Labor Education

This second edition of A Maine Guide to Employment Law is both a continuation and evolution of five previous editions of A Workers’ Guide to Labor Law, first published by the Bureau of Labor Education in 1974. This present work, representing the collective efforts and contributions of many of the Bureau’s staff—past and present, seeks to retain the readability and clarity that has been the hallmark of past editions. Our continuing objective is to provide important information on employee rights, protections, and responsibilities at the workplace or site, in easy-to-understand language.

On Beyond Calpers: Survey Evidence On The Developing Role Of Public Pension Funds In Corporate Governance, Stephen Choi, Jill E. Fisch

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Guest Workers And Justice In A Second-Best World, Howard F. Chang

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay offers a defense of guest-worker programs and a critique of the objections raised by Michael Walzer and by other critics of such programs. Although critics commonly complain that guest workers are vulnerable to exploitation by employers, we can design guest-worker programs that minimize the risk of such exploitation. Ready access for relatively unskilled guest workers to citizenship and to public benefits, however, generates a fiscal burden for the public treasury. A right to equal treatment for aliens yields perverse results unless aliens are also entitled to equal concern when the host country decides whether to admit the alien …

Phased Retirement And The Age Discrimination In Employment Act: Legal Standards And Risks, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Memos and Fact Sheets

Under current law there is no definition of “phased retirement.” However, employers currently devise a variety of ways in which to implement such programs -- by either allowing critical employees to reduce their schedules rather than retire or by allowing retired employees to return as independent contractors. In either case, employers who implement either formal or informal phased retirement programs must make sure that such programs comply with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).