Law Commons^™

Labor And Employment Law, W. Melvin Haas Iii, William M. Clifton Iii, W. Jonathan Martin Ii

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys recent developments in state statutory and common law that affect labor and employment relations of Georgia employers. Accordingly, it surveys published decisions from the Georgia Court of Appeals and Georgia Supreme Court from June 1, 2005 to May 31, 2006. This Article also highlights specific revisions to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

Labor’S Human Rights: A Review Of The Nature And Status Of Core Labor Rights As Human Rights, Roy J. Adams

Human Rights & Human Welfare

© Roy J. Adams. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author.

Fragmenting Work And Fragmenting Organizations: The Contract Of Employment And The Scope Of Labour Regulation, Judy Fudge

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article diagnoses the conceptual and normative crisis of the scope of labour protection as resulting from the conception of employment as a personal and bilateral contract between an employee and a unitary employer that is characterized by the employee's subordination. It argues that the related fragmentation of organizations and fragmentation of work reveals the extent of the problem with this legal conceptualization of employment. The article offers an approach to reconceptualizing the scope of labour protection that is based on an understanding of personal work arrangements and enterprises as activities. It justifies this approach in terms of the goals …

There's No "I" In "League": Professional Sports Leagues And The Single Entity Defense, Nathaniel Grow

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that outside of labor disputes, sports leagues should be presumed to be single entities. Part I argues that professional sports leagues are single entities in disputes regarding league-wide, non-labor policy. In particular, the focus of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence on economic reality rather than organizational form necessitates a finding that professional sports leagues are single entities in non-labor disputes. Part II argues that professional sports leagues are not single entities for purposes of labor disputes; sports leagues, on the whole, do not involve a unity of interest for labor matters. More importantly, existing precedent outside of the …

Conscripting Attorneys To Battle Corporate Fraud Without Shields Or Armor? Reconsidering Retaliatory Discharge In Light Of Sarbanes-Oxley, Kim T. Vu

Michigan Law Review

This Note advocates that federal courts should allow attorneys to bring retaliatory discharge claims under SOX. Traditional rationales prohibiting the claims of retaliatory discharge by attorneys do not apply in the context of Sarbanes-Oxley. This Note contends that the Department of Labor and the federal courts should interpret the whistleblower provisions of § 806 as protecting attorneys who report under § 307. Assuring reporting attorneys that they have protection from retaliation will encourage them to whistleblow and thereby advance SOX's policy goal of ferreting out corporate fraud. Part I explores the legal landscape of retaliatory discharge suits by attorneys. This …

Revisiting The Scrap Heap: The Decline And Fall Of Smith V. F.W. Morse & Co., Parker B. Potter Jr.

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "One of the more difficult tasks facing a federal court is trying to predict how a state’s highest court would rule on a question of law it has not yet addressed. That difficulty is well illustrated by the history of Wenners v. Great State Beverages, Inc., and in particular, the interpretation of that opinion contained in Smith v. F.W. Morse & Co. [ . . . ]

This article begins with a close examination of Wenners and the two opinions on which Wenners relied for its now-canonical statement of the relationship between statutory and common law remedies. I continue …

The Union Workplace Meets Big Brother: Advising Clients On Employer Conduct With Regard To Hidden Surveillance, Jamila Asha Johnson

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Hidden cameras may guide a union employer to find employee misconduct, but at what cost? Since the late 1990s, two federal appeals courts and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have required employers to bargain with unions before using hidden video surveillance to observe employees. Until more recently, however, it was less apparent how lawyers should advise clients when an employer wished to use hidden cameras or had already installed non-disclosed video surveillance. In August 2005, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case surrounding surveillance at an Anheuser-Busch facility, which provided further guidance on these issues. This Article …

Federal Employment Law: Current Problems And A Call For Reform, Joseph Prud'homme

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination, Peter Reed Corbin, John E. Duvall

Mercer Law Review

The 2005 survey period saw a continuation of the diminished number of published decisions by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the area of employment discrimination. However, it is interesting to note that the Eleventh Circuit also handed down at least 141 unpublished opinions in employment discrimination cases. Accordingly, while this trend may mean that the topic of employment discrimination is still very much alive and well within the Eleventh Circuit, it may also indicate that there are fewer unsettled questions of law in this area. However, this does not mean that the 2005 survey period was insignificant

Labor And Employment, Jerry C. Newsome, K. Alex Khoury

Mercer Law Review

Several significant opinions affecting labor and employment law in the Eleventh Circuit were handed down by the Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit's trial and appellate courts during this survey period (January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005). For example, the United States Supreme Court clarified the meaning of a continuous workday in IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, expanding the amount of nonproductive time for which employers must pay their workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). Further, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida enforced a strict standard …

Mark(Et)Ing Nondiscrimination: Privatizing Enda With A Certification Mark, Ian Ayres, Jennifer Gerarda Brown

Michigan Law Review

People in the United States strongly support the simple idea that employers should not discriminate against gays and lesbians. In a 2003 Gallup poll, eighty-eight percent of respondents said that "homosexuals should . . . have equal rights in terms of job opportunities." Even prominent social conservatives- such as George W. Bush-give lip service to the idea that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is wrong. But gay rights advocates have achieved only modest legal reform on this issue. Seventeen states have prohibited employment discrimination against gays and lesbians. A seemingly modest bill, the Employment Non Discrimination Act …

Money Talks: The Influence Of Economic Power On The Employment Laws And Policies In The United States And France, Carole A. Scott

San Diego International Law Journal

Money talks. Money changes everything. There is nothing money cannot buy. These are all familiar phrases used to describe the desirable, and undesirable, effects of money. Money can also mean power, and more specifically, economic power. Indeed, economic power is becoming an increasingly important concept for a wide range of academic disciplines. For example, the concept of economic power has heavily influenced a new theory of international relations, namely globalization. Many globalization theorists argue that economic power is replacing military power in global politics. Other scholars contend that globalization is creating a new world order where economics are the central …

Finding The Sex In Sexual Harassment: How Title Vii And Tort Schemes Miss The Point Of Same-Sex Hostile Environment Harassment, Yvonne Zylan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

It has been nearly a quarter century since the United States Supreme Court first recognized the cause of action for a sexually hostile work environment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Court essentially adopted the view offered by legal academician Catharine MacKinnon that harassment taking the form of a sexually hostile work environment is a manifestation of gender-based power. In so doing, the Court created a remedy for many aggrieved employees, permitting redress in the federal courts for a problem that makes many workplaces unbearable. At the same …

The Welding Fume Case And The Preemptive Effect Of Osha's Hazcom Standard On Common Law Failure-To-Warn Claims, Richard C. Ausness

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Four Pillars Of Work Law, Orly Lobel

Michigan Law Review

In our contemporary legal landscape, a student wishing to study the law of the workplace has scarce opportunity to encounter an integrated body of scholarship that analyzes the labor market as the subject of government regulation, contractual duties, collective action, and individual rights. Work law developed in the American legal system as a patchwork of common law doctrine, federal and state statutes, and evolving social norms. Typical law school curricula often include courses relating to the four pillars of work law: "employment law," "labor law," "employment discrimination," and some variation of a tax-oriented "employee-benefits law." Employment law, in most categorizations, …

Pennsylvania State Police V. Suders, Letoyia C. Brooks

Mercer Law Review

In Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders, the United States Supreme Court reached two conclusions. First, the Court wrote that an employee who resigns as a result of sexual harassment may assert a Title VII constructive discharge claim where the employee can show that the "working conditions became so intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee's position would have felt compelled to resign." Second, the Court held that an employer may assert the affirmative defense established in Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, ("Ellerth/Faragher") in a situation where an employee …

Nickel And Dimed: North Carolina Court Blocks Carolina Panthers' Attempt To Avoid Payment Of Workers' Compensation Benefits To Injured Athletes, Casey N. Harding

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Understanding Change In International Organizations: Globalization And Innovation In The Ilo, Laurence R. Helfer

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the growing cacophony of voices heralding or contesting the many facets of globalization, international organizations ("Os") are playing an increasingly prominent role. Government officials, advocacy groups, and scholars are heatedly contesting the merits and demerits of using IOs to promote interstate cooperation and to resolve the many transborder collective action problems that globalization has fostered. These controversies raise important questions about how IOs are designed and how they respond to the uncertainties and changing circumstances that are endemic to international affairs. In the debates over globalization and institutional change, one IO-the International Labor Organization ("ILO")-has been given surprisingly short …

Eliminating The Intent Requirement In Constructive Discharge Cases: Pennsylvania State Police V. Suders, Crystal L. Norrick

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Myth Of The Student-Athlete: The College Athlete As Employee, Robert A. Mccormick, Amy Christian Mccormick

Washington Law Review

Grant-in-aid athletes in revenue-generating sports at Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions are not "student-athletes" as the NCAA asserts, but are, instead, "employees" under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). To be an employee under that Act, these athletes must meet both the common law test and a statutory test applicable to university students. In applying the common law test to athletes, we describe their daily lives through interviews with current and former Division I grant-in-aid athletes. These interviews demonstrate that their daily burdens and obligations not only meet the legal standard of employee, but far exceed the …

Stealing The Public Purse: Why Washington's Collective Bargaining Law For State Employees Violates The State Constitution, Christopher D. Abbott

Washington Law Review

In 2002, the Washington legislature passed the Personnel System Reform Act (PSRA), which gives state employees the right to collectively bargain over wages and other economic terms of their employment. Section 302(3) of the PSRA further provides that once the Governor and collective bargaining units reach a proposed collective bargaining agreement, the legislature may not amend the agreement. Instead, the legislature may only express disapproval with any portion of the agreement by rejecting funding of the agreement as a whole. This Comment argues that section 302(3) of the PSRA, now codified at RCW 41.80.010(3), violates the separation of powers doctrine …

Credentialism And The Proliferation Of Fake Degrees: The Employer Pretends To Need A Degree; The Employee Pretends To Have One, Creola Johnson

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

A report from the U.S. General Accounting Office recently exposed 463 federal employees with degrees from schools believed to be "diploma mills" - sham schools that sell college degrees to individuals who complete little or no academic work to earn them. This report, along with other investigative work, confirmed the claims of diploma mill operators: their "graduates" have well-paying jobs in all levels of both the public and private sectors, and employers have subsidized the purchase of fake degrees via tuition reimbursement programs. For a growing number of positions, employers prefer college students and graduates over workers with only high …

Shoring Up The Citadel (At-Will Employment), Matthew W. Finkin

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

The third draft of parts three and four of the proposed Restatement of Employment Law was circulated in April, 2006. The draft was prefaced by a statement of the Executive Director of the American Law Institute explaining the project's purpose: to simplify the law, to clarify the doctrine underpinning it, and to bring the law into line with evolving economic and social developments. This essay takes a hard look at these two parts - governing contractual job security and discharge for reasons violative of public policy - from the perspective of these desiderata. It argues that the rules set out …

Be Our Guest: Synthesizing A Realistic Guest Worker Program As An Element Of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Dennis J. Loiacono, Jillian Maloff

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Inspecting The Mine Inspector: Why The Discretionary Function Exception Does Not Bar Government Liability For Negligent Mine Inspections, Jay Lapat, James P. Notter

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Labor-Management Relations During The Clinton Administration, Robert B. Moberly

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Unilateral-Modification Provisions In Employment Arbitration Agreements, Michael L. Demichele, Richard A. Bales

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

Unilateral-modification clauses give one party the unfettered right to amend or reject the underlying contract, often with neither notice to nor consent from the other party. State and federal courts are divided on the issue of whether employment arbitration agreements subject to such clauses are enforceable (and the courts holding the arbitration agreements are unenforceable are divided on which of several contract law doctrines apply). The majority of courts refuse to compel arbitration when the employer's unilateral-modification rights create a lack of consideration, a non-mutual agreement, an illusory promise to arbitrate, or an unconscionable agreement. A minority of courts find …

Mediation Of A Sexual Harassment Claim, Robert Lewis

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Whistleblower Provision Of Sarbanes-Oxley: Discerning The Scope Of "Protected Activity", Robert P. Riordan, Leslie E. Wood

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Suspension Of The Davis Bacon Act And The Exploitation Of Migrant Workers In The Wake Of Hurricane Katrina, Haley E. Olam, Erin S. Stamper

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.