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Full-Text Articles in Law
Time’S Up: Against Shortening Statutes Of Limitation By Employment Contract, Meredith R. Miller
Time’S Up: Against Shortening Statutes Of Limitation By Employment Contract, Meredith R. Miller
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Employers are increasingly adding clauses to contracts with employees that purport to shorten the statutes of limitation for employees to pursue claims against their employers (“SOL Clauses”). SOL Clauses are being imposed on employees in various stages of the contracting process. They have turned up in job applications, offer letters, arbitration clauses, employment agreements and employee handbooks. Where they have been enforced by the courts, the justification has been a prioritization of “freedom of contract” over any other policy concerns. This Article argues that, in the employment context, “freedom of contract” should not be prioritized over other competing concerns, which …
The Role Of Fault In § 1983 Municipal Liability, Michael Wells
The Role Of Fault In § 1983 Municipal Liability, Michael Wells
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Under Monell v. Department of Social Services, local governments are not vicariously liable for constitutional violations committed by their employees. Those governments, however, are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations committed by "policymaking" officials. In the face of these two principles, courts have struggled with cases in which an underling commits a constitutional violation and the claim of municipal liability is based on a policymaker's failure to prevent it. The government can be liable in these "indirect-effect" cases for a policymaker's "deliberate indifference" to safeguarding constitutional rights, a standard that demands an even greater showing of culpability than …
Harassment Of Sex(Y) Workers: Applying Title Vii To Sexualized Industries, Ann C. Mcginley
Harassment Of Sex(Y) Workers: Applying Title Vii To Sexualized Industries, Ann C. Mcginley
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Like the women blackjack dealers at the Hard Rock, cocktail servers, exotic dancers, and prostitutes in legal brothels are vulnerable to sexual harassment by customers. The content of the four jobs reveals the fallacy of the "good girl"/"bad girl" dichotomy, because all four jobs require behavior that falls into both categories if we expand the definition of good and bad girls to include gendered behavior as well as sexual behavior. Once the defense applies to discrimination in sexualized environments, it could logically apply to sexual or racial harassment cases in companies that permit their employees to harbor and act upon …
The Rise And Spread Of Mandatory Arbitration As A Substitute For The Jury Trial, Jean R. Sternlight
The Rise And Spread Of Mandatory Arbitration As A Substitute For The Jury Trial, Jean R. Sternlight
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THE CIVIL JURY trial is fast disappearing from our legal landscape, and one important reason for its disappearance is the rapid growth of mandatory arbitration. Yet, the imposition of mandatory arbitration eliminates the civil jury, and often this elimination is not made through a knowing, voluntary, or intelligent waiver. As I have argued elsewhere in greater detail, unless federal courts are generally willing to abandon the Seventh Amendment "knowing/voluntary/intelligent" civil jury trial waiver standard, they need to significantly revise their approach to mandatory arbitration clauses. If a given state allows the civil jury trial right to be waived through a …
Did Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. Produce Disposable Workers?, Robert I. Correales
Did Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. Produce Disposable Workers?, Robert I. Correales
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On March 27, 2002, The United State Supreme Court ruled in Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. N.L.R.B. that, although undocumented workers are “employees” within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), they cannot be answered backpay remedies, even if discharged in violation of the Act. The Hoffman decision represents a retrenchment from a trend in which virtually all jurisdictions that had considered the issue found in favor of the workers. The principal rationale in support of these remedies for undocumented workers had been that such awards are not only remedial but also serve important deterrent functions that protect the …
Should An Arbitration Provision Trump The Class Action? No: Permitting Companies To Skirt Class Actions Through Mandatory Arbitration Would Be Dangerous And Unwise, Jean R. Sternlight
Should An Arbitration Provision Trump The Class Action? No: Permitting Companies To Skirt Class Actions Through Mandatory Arbitration Would Be Dangerous And Unwise, Jean R. Sternlight
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Companies are deliberately using mandatory arbitration to prevent consumers and employces from joining together in class actions. As Carroll Neesemann has explained, eliminating the class action is a "strong incentive" of those companies that impose the requirement of arbitration on consumers and employees. Mr. Neesemann defends this phenomenon, and his article offers companies and their attorneys some tips on how to effectively use arbitration to insulate themselves from the threat of class actions. By contrast, this essay argues that it is dangerous and unwise to permit companies to use mandatory arbitration to exempt themselves from class action suits.
Protecting Franchisees From Abusive Arbitration Clauses, Jean R. Sternlight
Protecting Franchisees From Abusive Arbitration Clauses, Jean R. Sternlight
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This article sets out a number of legal arguments that franchisees can potentially use to defeat arbitration clauses that seek to accomplish ends that would not be permissible in litigation. Drawing from decisions protecting consumers and employees from unfair arbitration clauses, as well as from opinions in the franchise context, this article analyzes arguments that can be based on the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, state statutes, and common law. By way of this analysis, it suggests that some courts are misapplying arbitration precedents and preemption arguments to support decisions that allow franchisors to effectively exempt themselves from legislation and even …
Panacea Or Corporate Tool?: Debunking The Supreme Court's Preference For Binding Arbitration, Jean R. Sternlight
Panacea Or Corporate Tool?: Debunking The Supreme Court's Preference For Binding Arbitration, Jean R. Sternlight
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This article examines the increasing use of contracts of adhesion in which companies require consumers, employees, franchisees and other "little guys" to submit disputes with the company to binding arbitration. The article argues that the Supreme Court's current preference for such agreements is not statutorily well-founded. Specifically, it contends that the Federal Arbitration Act was not intended to make such agreements binding on unknowing consumers or employees. Turning next to policy analysis, the article asserts that the Supreme Court has erred in expressing a preference for binding arbitration in cases where such arbitration was not knowingly and voluntarily accepted by …
Retaliatorily Discharged Employees’ Standing To Sue Under The Antitrust Laws, Gary M. Shaw
Retaliatorily Discharged Employees’ Standing To Sue Under The Antitrust Laws, Gary M. Shaw
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No abstract provided.
Norris V. Arizona Governing Committee: Titile Vii's Applicability To Arizona's Deferred Compensation Plan, Mary E. Berkheiser
Norris V. Arizona Governing Committee: Titile Vii's Applicability To Arizona's Deferred Compensation Plan, Mary E. Berkheiser
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Analysis of Norris v. Arizona Governing Comm., 671 F.2d 330 (9th Cir. 1982).