Law Commons^™

The Functional Operation Of Workers’ Compensation Covid Presumptions, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

During 2020, a number of U.S. states implemented workers' compensation COVID-19 presumptions. This short informal paper defines and explains legal presumptions generally and then discusses the workers' compensation presumptions. The paper contends that at this juncture it is not clear whether states intended to enact "Thayer-Wigmore" or "Morgan" presumptions; but if they operate as Thayer-Wigmore presumptions they will not do workers' compensation claimants much good in the context of non-jury proceedings presided over by administrative law judges.

The Ideological Roots Of America's Market Power Problem, Lina M. Khan

Faculty Scholarship

Mounting research shows that America has a market power problem. In sectors ranging from airlines and poultry to eyeglasses and semiconductors, just a handful of companies dominate. The decline in competition is so consistent across markets that excessive concentration and undue market power now look to be not an isolated issue but rather a systemic feature of America’s political economy. This is troubling because monopolies and oligopolies produce a host of harms. They depress wages and salaries, raise consumer costs, block entrepreneurship, stunt investment, retard innovation, and render supply chains and complex systems highly fragile. Dominant firms’ economic power allows …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Kirk V. Invesco, Limited, 138 S.Ct. 1164 (2018) (No. 17-762), 2017 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs Lexis 4618, 2017 Wl 5665441, Eric Schnapper, Nitin Sud

Court Briefs

QUESTION PRESENTED The Fair Labor Standards Act provides that covered employees who work more than 40 hours in a week must generally be paid overtime at a rate one and one-half times their regular rate. To assure compliance with that overtime rule, the Act and governing regulations require employers to maintain records of all hours worked by covered employees. If an employer has failed to keep the legally required records, the burden on the employee under Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co. is simply to "produce[] sufficient evidence to show the amount and extent of that work as a matter …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Flowers V. Troup County School District, 136 S.Ct. 2510 (2016) (No. 15-1144), 2016 Wl 1042969, Eric Schnapper, Ruth W. Woodling

Court Briefs

QUESTION PRESENTED Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., held in an action under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, that a plaintiff may ordinarily prove the existence of an unlawful motive by establishing a prima facie case and demonstrating the falsity of the employer’s proffered explanation for the disputed employment, and that a plaintiff who does so need not also offer some other additional evidence of discrimination. The Eleventh Circuit held in this Title VII action that the existence of an unlawful motive may not be established in that manner; a plaintiff who establishes a prima facie case and the …

College Football Coaches' Pay And Contracts: Are They Overpaid And Unduly Privileged?, Randall S. Thomas, R. Lawrence Van Horn

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

College football coaches' employment contracts and compensation garner public attention and scrutiny in much the same way as those of corporate CEOs. In both cases, the public perception is that they must be overpaid and pampered Economic theory claims that for coaches and CEOs to be overpaid, they must be receiving compensation in excess of the value they create for their organizations. However, both receive pay-for-performance compensation, which structurally aligns their compensation with value creation. This means we need to examine the underlying structure of the contract that gives rise to the observed compensation to determine whether they are appropriately …

Embracing Paradox: Three Problems The Nlrb Must Confront To Resist Further Erosion Of Labor Rights In The Expanding Immigrant Workplace, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the Supreme Court's 2002 Hoffman Plastic Compounds opinion, normally considered in terms of its social justice ramifications, from the different perspective of NLRB attorneys tasked with pursuing enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) under the conceptually (and practically) odd rubric that some NLRA employees (unauthorized workers) have no remedy under the NLRA. The article focuses on three problems evincing paradox. First, NLRB attorneys prosecuting cases involving these workers will probably gain knowledge of unlawful background immigration conduct. To what extent must the attorneys disclose it, and to whom? Second, NLRB attorneys are extraordinarily reliant on …

A Matter Of Context: Social Framework Evidence In Employment Discrimination Class Actions, Melissa Hart, Paul M. Secunda

Publications

In litigation disputes over the certification of employment discrimination class actions, social scientists have come to play a central, yet controversial, role. Organizational behavioralists and social psychologists regularly testify for the plaintiffs, offering what is commonly referred to as social framework testimony. These experts explain the general social science research on the operation of stereotyping and bias in decision making and examine the challenged workplace to identify those policies and practices that research has shown will tend to increase and those that will tend to limit the likely impact of these factors. Defendants fight hard against the admission of social …

The Allure And Danger Of Practicing Law As Taxonomy, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

In this article, I hope to contribute to the ongoing debate on how our society treats the problem of discrimination. Many scholars have criticized the types of antidiscrimination statutes we have enacted as well as the ways in which the courts have interpreted those laws. While I agree with many of these critiques, rather than tackle those very large issues at the outset, I focus on the test the courts currently use to evaluate the evidence to determine whether an inference can be made that discrimination has occurred. I argue that lawyers and courts have become so caught up in …

Has Wright Line Gone Wrong? Why Pretext Can Be Sufficient To Prove Discrimination Under The National Labor Relations Act,, Michael Hayes

All Faculty Scholarship

Every year in the United States, thousands of employees are illegally fired for joining or supporting unions. These employees must bring their claims to the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”), which applies its famous Wright Line standard to decide thousands of discrimination cases each year.

Probably the most common issue in labor discrimination cases is “pretext.” In virtually every case, an employer claims that it fired an employee not for an illegal anti-union motive, but for a legitimate business reason. The pretext issue arises when the evidence shows that the legitimate reason asserted by the employer was most likely …

Re Abt Building Products Canada Ltd And Cep, Loc 434 (Shatford), Innis Christie

Innis Christie Collection

Employee grievance alleging breach of the Collective Agreement between the parties effective March 9, 1998 — December 15, 2002 in that the Employer breached Article 3 and Appendix "C" of the Collective Agreement by suspending the Grievor for five days with­out sufficient cause and breached the Collective Agreement by defaming the Grievor. The Grievor seeks reimbursement for the five days of wages and consequent benefits lost, and damages and a writ­ten apology for defamation.

The Proper Role Of After-Acquired Evidence In Employment Discrimination Litigation, Rebecca White, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

A new defense to employment discrimination claims has gained acceptance in the lower courts. Employers who allegedly have discriminated against their employees because of race, sex or age are winning judgments on the basis of after-acquired evidence of employee misconduct. The evidence is “after-acquired” in the sense that the misconduct was unknown to the employer at the time the alleged discrimination occurred but was acquired later, often through the use of discovery devices in the employee's discrimination action. Lower courts have accepted the proposition that if the employer would have discharged the plaintiff on the basis of the after-acquired evidence, …

Credulous Courts And The Tortured Trilogy: The Improper Use Of Summary Judgment In Title Vii And Adea Cases, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

Civil rights are under siege. In mid-1989, the United States Supreme Court decided several cases that severely limit the civil rights claims and remedies available to a plaintiff claiming employment discrimination. This Article examines the gradual and continuing erosion of the factfinder's role in federal employment discrimination cases and its replacement by an increasing use of summary judgment through which the courts make pretrial determinations formerly reserved for the factfinder at trial. This trend not only represents a major shift in court procedure and, in the case of age discrimination claims, a transfer of power from juries to judges, but …

Determination Of The Wishes Of The Majority Of The Employees In The Appropriate Bargaining Unit, Innis Christie

Innis Christie Collection

The notion that the wishes of employees with respect to certification should be ascertained primarily through a secret ballot vote hardly originated in Nova Scotia, having been adopted by the U.S. Wagner Act when it was first enacted. However, in the 1950's and 60's Canadian labour policy makers generally moved their labour legislation in the direction of enhancing the importance of "evidence" of union membership as the basis for certification, relegating the vote to secondary status, to be used only where the other evidence did not indicate clear majority support for the union or where employee petitions indicated a change …

Re Corporation Of The City Of Toronto And Canadian Union Of Public Employees, Local 79, Innis Christie, M Tate, Bm W. Paulin

Innis Christie Collection

Supplementary Award relating to remedies for unjust discharge. Reinstatement ordered.

Re Corporation Of The City Of Toronto And Canadian Union Of Public Employees, Local 79, Innis Christie, M Tate, Bm W. Paulin

Innis Christie Collection

Preliminary motion relating to admissibility of evidence.

On October 13, and 14, 1977, Brian Risdon filed grievances un­der the collective agreement between the parties. In the first he alleged that he had been discriminatorily demoted and sought re­instatement to his former position without loss of salary, senior­ity or benefits. In the second he alleged that he had been dismissed without reasonable cause and disciplined twice for the same alleged conduct and sought reinstatement without loss of benefits, wages or seniority and to have the alleged incident stricken from his record. Both grievances were finally denied by letters of January 30, …

Workmen's Compensation - Evidence - Opinion Of Non-Treating Psychiatrist Based On Claimant's Statements Held Inadmissible - Candella V. Subsequent Injury Fund, Kevin F. O'Neill

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Discusses evidentiary requirements in Workers' Compensation cases and circuit court review of Workers' Compensation Commission decisions.

Re United Automobile Workers, Local 195, And East Side Plating Co Ltd, Windsor Bumper Co Ltd And East Side Stamping Co Ltd, Innis Christie

Innis Christie Collection

The grievor contested with another employee which of them was to do certain work, which led to the grievor's assaulting the other employee. The company discharged the grievor, thus bringing about the present arbitration, the sole issue being whether, in view of the grievor's record, his participation in the fight constituted just cause for his dismissal. There was no direct evidence that the grievor had in fact started the fight and his discharge seems to have resulted from an alleged agreement between the union and company to dis­charge the employee who seemed to have started the fight. The sole arbitrator …