Law Commons^™

Between Law And Conscience: Jones V. Van Zandt (1847) And The Constitutional Obligation Of Obedience, Michael J.C. Taylor

Michael J.C. Taylor

Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states categorically that “the Laws of the United States shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” In congruence with this clause several decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have reaffirmed the sovereignty of the federal government in cases involving issues ranging from state sovereignty to personal actions. Yet, the Court’s decision in Jones v. Van Zandt (1847) was unique in its assertion that a citizen under the authority of the constitution …

The Limitation On Undocumented Workers’ Lost Earnings After Balbuena And Sanango: Crafting A Fair And Principled Balance Of Immigration Policy And New York State Labor Law § 240 Safety Goals, Meredith R. Miller

Meredith R. Miller

In December 2004, in a pair of cases, the Appellate Division, First Department, held that under state labor and tort laws, injured workers who are not legally permitted to be present or employed in the United States are only entitled to receive lost earnings reflecting what they could have earned in their country of origin. This article explores these First Department decisions by first discussing the federal statutory and decisional backdrop against which the cases arose. This article then provides a discussion of the First Department cases and the competing economic incentives they implicate. Finally, this article posits that a …

An Overview Of The U.S. Retirement Income Security System And The Principles And Values It Reflects, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is designed to provide an overview of the U.S. retirement income security system from a comparative law perspective. Like many countries, the U.S. has a three tier pension or retirement income system, with the three tiers consisting of (1) Social Security, (2) employment-based pensions, and (3) individual savings. Thus, superficially, the U.S. retirement income security system resembles that of many around the world. Yet, in other ways, such as its focus on individual rights and responsibility, the U.S. system is unique.

The article begins by discussing the nine guiding principles of the U.S. Social Security system as identified …

Education, Labor Rights, And Incentives: Contract Teacher Cases In The Indian Courts, Varun Gauri, Nick Robinson

Varun Gauri

Since the liberalization of India\'s economy beginning in the early 1990\'s, the government has increasingly employed contract workers to perform various state functions, including in the education sector. Yet, little research has been done to examine how courts have reacted to this shift in government labor policy. This paper looks at all reported cases involving contract teachers in the Indian Supreme Court and four High Courts over the last thirty years. It finds that although almost never explicitly overturning precedent, the judiciary in India has increasingly become less sympathetic to contract teachers demands, particularly at the Supreme Court level. The …

Huddle Up: Using Mediation To Help Settle The National Football League Labor Dispute, Jeremy Corapi

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Legal Protection Of Workers’ Human Rights: Regulatory Changes And Challenges In The United States, Lance Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] In a 2002 study, the US Government Accountability Office reported that more than 32 million workers in the United States lack protection of the right to organise and to bargain collectively. But since then, the situation has worsened. A series of decisions by the federal authorities under President George Bush has stripped many more workers of organising and bargaining rights. The administration took away bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of employees in the new Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department.18 In the years before the 2009 change of administration, a controlling majority of the five-member National …

Fast Track Authority And Its Implication For Labor Protection In Free Trade Agreements, Eli J. Kirschner

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Moral Contractual Approach To Labor Law Reform: A Template For Using Ethical Principles To Regulate Behavior Where Law Failed To Do So Effectively, Zev J. Eigen, David S. Sherwyn

Faculty Working Papers

If laws cease to work as they should or as intended, legislators and scholars propose new laws to replace or amend them. This paper posits an alternative—offering regulated parties the opportunity to contractually bind themselves to behave ethically. The perfect test-case for this proposal is labor law, because (1) labor law has not been amended for decades, (2) proposals to amend it have failed for political reasons, and are focused on union election win rates, and less on the election process itself, (3) it is an area of law already statutorily regulating parties' reciprocal contractual obligations, and (4) moral means …

Justice, Employment, And The Psychological Contract, Larry A. Dimatteo, Robert C. Bird, Jason A. Colquitt

UF Law Faculty Publications

The paper is a multidisciplinary collaboration between contract law, employment law and management scholars and draws from the fields of law, management, and psychology. After reviewing and noting the gaps in the employment and justice literatures, this paper presents the findings of a survey of 763 participants to measure whether certain variables—procedural and substantive fairness, as well as educating employees on the principle of employment at will—impact the propensities of employees to retaliate and litigate at the time of discharge.

The survey results are significant and striking. We find statistically significant reductions in retaliation and litigation rates when survey respondents …

Rethinking The Giant Mess That Is Employment Discrimination Law, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Workers' Compensation And Hoffman Plastic: Pandora's Undocumented Box, Oliver Beatty

Oliver T Beatty

The focus of this Comment is whether Hoffman Plastic, which was decided in regard to unionization and back pay, is properly applied when its rationale is utilized in litigation across the country by employers to preclude workers' compensation payments to injured undocumented workers. This Comment examines the rationale and policy from courts across the nation in determining whether Hoffman Plastic belongs in workers' compensation cases, when such an application has serious consequences for workplace safety and state police power. Part I of this Comment discusses the historical background of federal immigration and labor statutes examined in the Hoffman Plastic decision. …

Building A Movement With Immigrant Workers: The 1972-74 Strike And Boycott At Farah Manufacturing, Maria L. Ontiveros

Maria L. Ontiveros

Between May, 1972 and February, 1974, thousands of Chicana workers struck Farah Manufacturing plants throughout Texas. They were joined in their efforts by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America who orchestrated nationwide pickets calling for a boycott of Farah slacks. The strike and boycott were supported by various civil rights groups, politicians and religious organizations. Working together, they caused a dramatic drop in sales, large operating losses and a substantial drop in the company's share price. After several victories before the National Labor Relations Board, the strike settled with the company rehiring 3,000 strikers and recognizing the union. The company, …

Workplace Consequences Of Electronic Exhibitionism And Voyeurism, William A. Herbert

William A. Herbert

The popularity of email, blogging and social networking raises important issues for employers, employees and labor unions. This article will explore contemporary workplace issues resulting from the related social phenomena of electronic exhibitionism and voyeurism. It will begin with a discussion of the international social phenomenon of individuals electronically distributing their personal thoughts, opinions, and activities to a potential worldwide audience while at the same time retaining a subjective sense of privacy. The temptation toward such exhibitionism has been substantially enhanced by the advent of Web 2.0. The article then turns to the legal implications of electronic voyeurism including employer …