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Full-Text Articles in Law
Echazabal V. Chevron: A Direct Threat To Employers In The Ninth Circuit, Deborah Leigh Bender
Echazabal V. Chevron: A Direct Threat To Employers In The Ninth Circuit, Deborah Leigh Bender
Washington Law Review
Although Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in part to protect disabled individuals from paternalism, the ADA permits employers to adopt a requirement that individuals not pose a direct threat to others in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has determined that this direct threat defense also protects an employer who discharges or refuses to hire individuals who pose a direct threat to their own health or safety in the workplace. In Echazabal v. Chevron, the Ninth Circuit struck down the EEOC interpretation of direct threat on the ground that it was paternalistic and inconsistent …
Closing A Discrimination Loophole: Using Title Vii's Anti-Retaliation Provision To Prevent Employers From Requiring Unlawful Arbitration Agreements As Conditions Of Continued Employment, Sidney Charlotte Reynolds
Closing A Discrimination Loophole: Using Title Vii's Anti-Retaliation Provision To Prevent Employers From Requiring Unlawful Arbitration Agreements As Conditions Of Continued Employment, Sidney Charlotte Reynolds
Washington Law Review
Courts have long viewed mandatory arbitration agreements (MAAs) as contract provisions that employees may accept or decline based on the common law doctrine of employment at-will. However, employees may see such MAAs as attempts to curtail Title VII rights and may refuse to sign them. Title VII prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who oppose discriminatory employment practices. A legal loophole has developed where some employers seek explicitly or implicitly to exempt themselves from Title VII's provisions by drafting MAAs that eliminate statutory rights and remedies from the arbitration process or deter employees from filing discrimination claims altogether. The U.S. …
A Shield, Not A Sword: Involuntary Leave Under The Family And Medical Leave Act, Megan E. Blomquist
A Shield, Not A Sword: Involuntary Leave Under The Family And Medical Leave Act, Megan E. Blomquist
Washington Law Review
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), covered employers must grant an eligible employee's request for up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave to care for a new baby or an ill family member, or to accommodate the employee's own serious health condition. The statute prohibits employers from interfering with, restraining, or denying an employee's right to FMLA leave. Neither the statute itself nor its regulations directly address the practice of involuntary leave, a term that has been used to describe instances where an employer designates the leave of a qualifying employee as FMLA leave without an …
Two Wrongs Do Not Make A Defense: Eliminating The Equal-Opportunity-Harasser Defense, Shylah Miles
Two Wrongs Do Not Make A Defense: Eliminating The Equal-Opportunity-Harasser Defense, Shylah Miles
Washington Law Review
Sexual harassment is a prevalent problem in the American workplace that accounts for nearly sixty-four percent of all gender discrimination claims under Title VII. The equal-opportunity-harasser defense allows harassers who target both males and females to escape liability. Courts have allowed the defense because they have interpreted the "because of sex" element of a sexual harassment claim to require disparate treatment or a showing that the plaintiffs would not have been harassed if they were members of the opposite sex. An equal-opportunity harasser harasses both sexes and, therefore, plaintiffs cannot prove disparate treatment. This Comment argues that the disparate-treatment requirement …
Qualifying Immunity: Protecting State Employees' Right To Protect Their Employment Rights After Alden V. Maine, Raymond J. Farrow
Qualifying Immunity: Protecting State Employees' Right To Protect Their Employment Rights After Alden V. Maine, Raymond J. Farrow
Washington Law Review
Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have barred state employees from bringing private suits against their state employers to recover back wages due them as a result of having been paid in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This Comment proposes that the only method by which state employees may protect their FLSA rights on their own behalf is to bring suits against responsible state supervisory personnel in their individual capacities. Although such actions are not barred by sovereign immunity, the potential ability of state agents to invoke a defense of "qualified immunity" would severely impair state employees' ability …
Roberts V. Dudley: An Unnecessary Broadening Of The Public Policy Exception To The Employment-At-Will Doctrine In Washington, Brian Hersey
Roberts V. Dudley: An Unnecessary Broadening Of The Public Policy Exception To The Employment-At-Will Doctrine In Washington, Brian Hersey
Washington Law Review
In Roberts v. Dudley, the Supreme Court of Washington dramatically expanded the previously narrow public policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine and created a dangerous precedent. The court held that small employers, explicitly exempt from the Washington Law Against Discrimination (VLAD), could be liable at common law for the tort of wrongful discharge in violation of Washington's public policy against sex discrimination as found in the WLAD. The tort of wrongful discharge in violation of public policy requires a finding of a "clear mandate of public policy." This Note argues the court should not have found in the WLAD …
Victimized Twice -- The Intersection Of Domestic Violence And The Workplace: Legal Reform Through Curriculum Development, Lea B. Vaughn
Victimized Twice -- The Intersection Of Domestic Violence And The Workplace: Legal Reform Through Curriculum Development, Lea B. Vaughn
Articles
Domestic violence is at least a two-fold problem for American society. On the one hand, it is one of the leading causes of violence at the workplace against women. On the other, it prevents many women from attaining the economic security that would enable them to escape violence. After describing the background of this problem, this paper will canvass current legal remedies that are available to help battered women achieve economic security. This survey leads to the conclusion that the current pastiche of remedies is often ineffective because of their piecemeal approach to the problem, or because current doctrine does …