Law Commons^™

Structural Labor Rights, Hiba Hafiz

Michigan Law Review

American labor law was designed to ensure equal bargaining power between workers and employers. But workers’ collective power against increasingly dominant employers has disintegrated. With union density at an abysmal 6.2 percent in the private sector—a level unequaled since the Great Depression— the vast majority of workers depend only on individual negotiations with employers to lift stagnant wages and ensure upward economic mobility. But decentralized, individual bargaining is not enough. Economists and legal scholars increasingly agree that, absent regulation to protect workers’ collective rights, labor markets naturally strengthen employers’ bargaining power over workers. Existing labor and antitrust law have failed …

Merrick Dodd And The Great Depression: A Few Historical Corrections, Charles R. T. O'Kelley

Seattle University Law Review

Merrick Dodd is remembered primarily for his role as coprotagonist, with Adolf Berle, in the famous Berle–Dodd debate. Dodd’s contribution to that debate—For Whom are Corporate Managers Trustees?—has generally been interpreted as the inspiration for modern stakeholder theory. Berle’s contribution has generally been viewed as the foundation on which shareholder primacy rests. Both of these views have been clarified by the nuanced work of Bratton and Wachter. Oddly, while scholars have devoted a great deal of attention to Berle’s actual life story, there is almost no scholarship that sheds light on Merrick Dodd, the historical person.

Politics At Work After Citizens United, Ruben J. Garcia

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

There are seismic changes going on in the political system. The United States Supreme Court has constitutionalized the concentration of political power in the “one percent” in several recent decisions, including Citizens United v. FEC. At the same time, unions are representing a shrinking share of the workforce, and their political power is also being diminished. In order for unions to recalibrate the balance of political power at all, they must collaborate with grassroots community groups, as they have done in several recent campaigns. There are, however, various legal structures that make coordination between unions and nonunion groups difficult, …

Dialogic Labor Regulation In The Global Supply Chain, Kevin Kolben

Michigan Journal of International Law

In May 2006, the government of Jordan was facing a crisis. A small U.S. labor-rights activist group had just released a damning report documenting extensive labor abuses in Jordan’s fledgling garment industry. Adding fuel to the fire, the New York Times published a front-page story about the report with its own field work that corroborated some of the allegations, such as long and abusive working hours, the confiscation of passports of foreign workers, horrendous living conditions, and sexual harassment. Although garment manufacturing was new to Jordan, after just several years of existence it already constituted an important part of Jordan’s …

Beyond Crosby V. Beam: Ohio Courts Extend Protection Of Minority Stockholders Of Close Corporations, Kathleen L. Kuhlman

Akron Law Review

This Comment explores the possible ramifications of viewing working minority shareholders as term employees on both close corporation law and at-will-employment law in Ohio. Part I discusses the background and emergence of the heightened fiduciary duty owed by the majority stockholders to the minority stockholders in closely held corporations and the resultant protection of the minority. Part II discusses the current standing of the employment at-will doctrine and what protections exist for at-will employees in Ohio. Part III examines recent Ohio case law that compares close corporation employment with at-will-employment and analyzes the courts' reasoning behind creating a new exception …

Eliminating Arbitrary Age Descrimination In 401(K) And Pension Plan Eligibility Requirements: A Simple Fix To Encourage Younger Workers To Save For Retirement, Andrew J. Clopton

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Current federal law allows companies to exclude their youngest workers from participating in 401(k) and other pension plans. Public policy should encourage young workers to contribute to retirement as early as practicable, rather than impose obstacles to saving. Workers who begin saving even a few years earlier improve their retirement security and reduce the likelihood they will be dependent on the government later in life. While “age discrimination” is conventionally thought of as the mistreatment of older workers, this concept applies equally to employees who are differentiated based solely on their young age. Thus, Congress should amend the Internal Revenue …

Protecting Whistleblower Protections In The Dodd-Frank Act, Samuel C. Leifer

Michigan Law Review

In 2008, the United States fell into its worst economic recession in over seventy years. In response, Congress enacted the near-comprehensive Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Section 922 of Dodd–Frank, in particular, includes specific provisions designed to incentivize and protect corporate whistleblowers. These provisions demonstrated Congress’s belief that a comprehensive and robust whistleblower protection scheme was essential to preventing many of the abuses that caused the financial crisis. Unfortunately, this section’s inconsistent language has produced conflicting decisions within the federal judiciary. In accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)’s own reading of Section 922, several district …

Shareholder Demands For Higher Corporate Earnings Have Their Price: How Courts Allow Employers To Fire Older Employees For Their Achievements, Kester Spindler

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Roberts Court Gets Down To Business: The Business Cases, Kenneth W. Starr

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Offshoring-Why The United States Should Keep Enforcement Of Human Rights Standards "In-House", John Mckenzie

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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 …

Is U.S. Ceo Compensation Inefficient Pay Without Performance?, John E. Core, Wayne R. Guay, Randall S. Thompson

Michigan Law Review

In Pay Without Performance, Professors Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried develop and summarize the leading critiques of current executive compensation practices in the United States. This book, and their highly influential earlier article, Managerial Power and Rent Extraction in the Design of Executive Compensation, with David Walker offer a negative, if mainstream, assessment of the state of U.S. executive compensation: U.S. executive compensation practices are failing in a widespread manner, and much systemic reform is needed. The purpose of our Review is to summarize the book and to offer some counterarguments to try to balance what is becoming …

Human Rights, Health, And Corporations, Gerald Montgomery

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Unfettered economic policies have had a notable effect on the state of human rights. With the increasing spread of transnational corporations (TNCs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a major role in setting ethical and moral standards for with the quality of life in the developing states where TNCs do business. Many TNCs are trying frantically to implement strategies that would alleviate labor injustices and corrupt practices in order to meet the standards argued for by NGOs.

The New Cultural Diversity And Title Vii, Steven A. Ramirez

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article will show that the most progressive diversity initiatives taking hold in the business community are facially neutral in their approach, merit-driven, and fundamentally culture-conscious (as opposed to race-conscious). These initiatives do not allow for any racial preference or gender preference and draw any such bias not from the inherent values of diversity but from the largely segregated pre-existing corporate tradition: hiring culturally aware minorities unleashes value because they bring insights previously unavailable to segregated businesses. In other words, White males can be and are hired in the name of cultural diversity when they bring cultural insights to the …

Labor Rights, Globalization And Institutions: The Role And Influence Of The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, James Salzman

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article has four sections. The first recounts the history of the OECD, from its creation as the overseer of the Marshall Plan to its current prominence as global economic analyst, and explains its operations. The second section explores its influence on the development of labor rights, examining the well-known OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, publications on trade and labor by the Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Directorate, and the events surrounding South Korea's accession to the OECD. Each of these activities, though quite different from one another (and, in combination, very different from the activities of other IGOs), provided …

Labor Law Successorship: A Corporate Law Approach, Edward B. Rock, Michael L. Wachter

Michigan Law Review

In this article, we take an approach fundamentally different from that of the labor law commentators. We start from a broader perspective than is common: successorship is as important an issue for corporate law as it is for labor law. Given that the two principal inputs to the firm are labor and capital, it would be surprising if the laws for labor law successorship were completely different from the laws for corporate law successorship. To the extent that differences exist, those differences should hinge upon differences between the employees' and the creditors' relationships with the firm.

Germany's Legal Protection For Women Workers Vis-À-Vis Illegal Employment Discrimination In The United States: A Comparative Perspective In Light Of Johnson Controls, Carol D. Rasnic

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will review the major German laws affecting women in the workplace, including clarification of the rationales of the German Bundestag (parliament). Comparative remarks regarding U.S. law and an analysis of Johnson Controls will place the two bodies of law in juxtaposition. Finally, an explanatory historical overview will allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions as to the preferred view of the legal status of the working woman.

Labor Law's Alter Ego Doctrine: The Role Of Employer Motive In Corporate Transformations, Gary Alan Macdonald

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the differing judicial approaches for reviewing NLRB alter ego findings, and concludes that a fundamental problem with all of the current approaches is the unwarranted consideration of motive in varying degrees. This Note proposes a modified "reasonably foreseeable benefit" standard which does not depend in any degree on the employer's motive for changing its corporate form. Part I discusses the origin and evolution of the alter ego doctrine, including its genesis in Southport Petroleum, the well-settled Crawford Door factors, and the related "successorship" doctrine. Part II analyzes the conflict among the federal courts of appeals over …

Reckless Endangerment Of An Employee: A Proposal In The Wake Of Film Recovery Systems To Make The Boss Responsible For His Crimes, Anne D. Samuels

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that the traditional regulatory, civil, and criminal mechanisms are both ineffective and inappropriate to deter or punish corporate decisionmakers for decisions that pose risks to the safety or health of employees in the workplace. The Note proposes a new criminal offense to prevent and punish culpable corporate decisionmaking that results in employee deaths or injuries. Part I explains the novel application of the traditional murder offense in Film Recovery Systems and demonstrates that the case fails to lay the foundation for a standardized response to employee endangerment. Part II analyzes the traditional responses of the regulatory and …

The Case For Employee Ownership In Overseas Operations Of U.S. Multinational Enterprises In Central America, William G. Hopping

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part II of this note explains the relevance of using U.S. direct investment in Central America as a starting point for encouraging employee ownership. Part III describes the essential legal framework of the ESOP in the U.S., providing a framework from which to adapt the ESOP to other countries. Part IV argues that all parties participating in this form of expanded ownership will realize significant short and long-term benefits, but points out some problems of transferring ESOPs, a U.S. legal innovation, to different cultural and business environments. Part V presents some of the legal and economic issues of adapting ESOPs, …

Japanese-Style Worker Participation And United States Labor Law, William S. Rutchow

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note will evaluate the current legal status of Japanese-style worker participation programs under the NLRA. First, it analyzes relevant sections of the NLRA and their interpretation by the Board and the courts. Second, the note describes various types of Japanese worker participation programs, and suggests how these programs can be legally implemented under current American labor law. Third, the note considers standards the Supreme Court may adopt to test the legality of worker participation programs in the future. Finally, this note recommends that the Supreme Court uphold those participation programs which are freely chosen by employees.

Shareholders Versus Managers: The Strain In The Corporate Web, John C. Coffee Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Part I will seek to understand why firms trade in the stock market at a substantial discount from their asset value. It will answer that existing theories of the firm have not given adequate attention to a critical area where shareholders and managers have an inherent conflict, one that the existing structure of the firm does not resolve or mitigate. Despite the significant changes in the internal structure of the corporation over the last half century that have been described by business historians, there remains a deep internal strain between shareholders, on the one hand, and managers and employees, on …

New Ways In Corporate Governance: European Experiments With Labor Representation On Corporate Boards, Klaus J. Hopt

Michigan Law Review

Corporate governance has been discussed in Europe for over 150 years. Indeed, in the 1840's, when the first Corporation Act was enacted in Prussia, three troubling features of the corporate organization form had already been discerned: (I) the vulnerability of small investors who lacked the influence and sophistication to. control the corporation; (2) the risk to creditors and the public created by the limited liability of the corporation, especially when combined with inadequate funds and poorly controlled management; and (3) the power that big corporations could amass economically, by monopolizing markets, and politically, by exerting influence on public opinion and …

Employee Involvement In Decision-Making: European Attempts At Harmonization, Ruth A. Harvey

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this note examines the sources of Community power over employment policy. Part II analyzes two Community directives approximating laws regarding employee involvement in dismissal procedures. It also examines the impact of these Community directives on two Member States, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) and the United Kingdom. The note focuses on the FRG because its statutes have served as the model for Community directives, and because the harmonization of laws throughout the Community will provide unique benefits to the FRG. The note examines the United Kingdom because its government has historically had a …

Employee Selection Base On Susceptibility To Occupational Illness, Mark A. Rothstein

Michigan Law Review

This Article attempts to compile the latest information available concerning this difficult problem. Part I reviews the scientific literature, explaining the biological basis of increased risk of occupational disease. Part II explores the efforts of various employers to incorporate this research into their personnel practices. Part III surveys the legal response to these practices. Employees may challenge medical screening on a variety of theories, most of which were not designed to deal with the problem of susceptibility to occupational disease. Not surprisingly, none of the approaches offers an entirely satisfactory response to the problem. This Article offers no clear answers. …

Union Representatives As Corporate Directors: The Challenge To The Adversarial Model Of Labor Relations, Robert A. Mccormick

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article addresses these questions first by discussing the predominant philosophical approach adopted by unions in their dealings with management, and then describing several ways in which the labor laws reflect this traditional model of employment relations by showing, first, that the influence of unions has been limited to circumscribed categories of business decisions. The Article next examines decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") and the courts that have carefully sought to separate employer from employee, assuming their interests to be inherently antagonistic. Then follows an evaluation of the NLRB's treatment of deviations from the traditional model …

The Labor-Bankruptcy Conflict: Rejection Of A Debtor's Collective Bargaining Agreement, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the courts' accommodation of the labor and bankruptcy policies when a debtor in possession or trustee seeks to reject a collective bargaining agreement. Part I criticizes a series of recent cases that failed to confront the statutory conflict. If these courts had recognized the conflict between the language of the Bankruptcy Act (now the Code) and the Labor Act, they would have been forced to consider whether the labor and bankruptcy policies actually clashed. Part II finds that in most instances they do not, and argues that requiring the debtor in possession to bargain with the union …

Employee Stock Ownership Plans: An Analysis Of Current Reform Proposals, Luis L. Granados

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article surveys the battle between the critics and advocates of the ESOP, and scrutinizes various proposals currently being considered in the legislative arena. Part I examines the philosophy and history of the ESOP, particularly focusing upon the conceptual foundations provided by the writings of Louis Kelso. Part II explicates the various functions performed by the ESOP: as a tool of corporate finance, as an "in-house" market for the sale of stock held by a company's shareholders, and as a means of obtaining additional investment tax credit. Part III analyzes critically six proposed improvements of the ESOP system from both …

Employee Stock Ownership Plans, Voting Rights, And Plant Closings, Jonathan Barry Forman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

After examining the structure and tax consequences of ESOPs, this note will argue that ESOPs should guarantee employees full voting rights over securities transferred to them under such plans. This note will also propose that ESOPs can be used in employee takeovers of corporations as part of a plan to help prevent plant closings.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases--

Attorney and Client--Contingent Fee Contracts--Divorce Action

Corporations--Corporate Power--Contributions to Philanthropic Institutions

Corporations--Criminal Anti-Trust Action--Indemnification of Directors for Litigation Expenses

Evidence--Presumption of Law and Inference of Fact--Retrospective Presumption of Continuity

Federal Procedure--Class Actions--Discretion of Trial Court

Income Taxation--Deductions--"Ordinary and Necessary"--Expenses

Income Taxation--False Statements--Criminal Penalties

Labor Law--Arbitration Agreements--Specific Enforcement in Federal Courts

Military Law--Discharged Personnel--Power to Arrest for Serious Crimes

Military Law--Privilege Against Self Incrimination--Admissibility of Handwriting Specimen Obtained Involuntarily

Torts--Automobile Guest--Contributory Negligence as a Matter of Law

Workmen's Compensation--Employees' Altercations--Aggresso