Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Identifying (With) Disability: Using Film To Teach Employment Discrimination, Elizabeth Pendo

All Faculty Scholarship

Building on a prior article about using film to teach health law, this Essay is intended to share my experience using the film Philadelphia as a method of enhancing coverage and discussion of the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to provide an opportunity for recognition of, and identification with, the experiences of people with disabilities.

Procedural Hurdles And Thwarted Efficiency: Immigration Relief In Wage And Hour Collective Actions, Llezlie Green

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Wage theft and its frequent exploitative companions, trafficking and involuntary servitude, have seen substantial increases in recent years. Low-wage workers often bear the brunt of these practices. Vulnerable populations, such as immigrant workers, and more specifically, undocumented workers, experience wage theft and other forms of workplace-related exploitation at alarmingly high rates. Individual adjudications of these claims are neither efficient nor, in many cases, feasible, given attorneys’ aversion to shouldering the risks and costs in cases that may yield only limited attorneys’ fees. The collective adjudication of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims, however, largely resolves these challenges and provides an …

The Power And Promise Of Procedure: Examining The Class Action Landscape After Wal-Mart V. Dukes, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Jury (Or More Accurately The Judge) Is Still Out For Civil Rights And Employment Cases Post-Iqbal, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

Title Ix’S Protections For Transgender Student Athletes, Scott Skinner-Thompson, Ilona M. Turner

Publications

This article examines legal authority and policy to determine whether transgender students in K-12 schools must be permitted to participate in athletics according to their gender identity, and without any requirement for medical intervention. The articles concludes that such a policy is consistent with legal authority under Title IX and Title VII and, more importantly, best advances the well-being of already vulnerable transgender youth by helping to incorporate and include such students in activities that are critical to physical, social, mental, emotional development, and health.

Part II of this article briefly details the history of Title IX with respect to …

"So Closely Intertwined": Labor Interests And Racial Solidarity, Charlotte Garden, Nancy Leong

Faculty Articles

Conventional wisdom states that labor unions and people of color are adversaries. Commentators, academics, politicians, and employers across a broad range of ideologies view the two groups’ interests as fundamentally opposed and their relationship as rightfully fraught with tension. Like much conventional wisdom, the narrative that unions and people of color are rivals is flawed. In reality, labor unions and civil rights groups work together to advance a wide array of mutual interests; this work ranges from lobbying all levels of government to protesting working conditions across the country. Moreover, unions improve the lives of both members and non-members of …

Cheaper Than A Slave: Indentured Labor, Colonialism And Capitalism, Tayyab Mahmud

Faculty Articles

The construct of free wage-labor, envisaged as consensual sale of labor-power by an autonomous and unencumbered individual in a market of juridical equals governed strictly by economic laws of supply and demand, is the bedrock of the purportedly universal category of labor under capitalism. However, this conceptual ensemble is an instance, yet again, of a particular masquerading as the universal – Europe’s autobiography passing for world history. It also underscores the divergence between mythologies and historical operations of capitalism. This article takes up the deployment of indentured labor from colonial India in plantation colonies across the globe for over a …

The Looking-Glass Ceiling: Appearance-Based Discrimination In The Workplace, Enbar Toledano

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the phenomenon of appearance-based discrimination, or "lookism," in the workplace, arguing that while physically attractive individuals often receive preferential treatment, the legal system is ill-equipped to address this form of discrimination effectively. It highlights the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype, which perpetuates advantages for attractive individuals in employment, but concludes that legal intervention is not a viable solution due to the subjective and multifaceted nature of attractiveness.

Harmless Amusement Or Sexual Harassment: The Reasonableness Of The Reasonable Woman Standard, Penny L. Cigoy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sexual Harassment Of Employees By Non-Employees: When Does The Employer Become Liable?, Robert J. Aalberts, Lorne H. Seidman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dismantling Of Mcdonnell Douglas V. Green: The High Court Muddies The Evidentiary Waters In Circumstantial Discrimination Cases, Melissa A. Essary

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Hostile Environment Theory To Cover Age Discrimination: How Far Is Too Far?, Julie Vigil

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination Claims Remain Valid Despite After-Acquired Evidence Of Employee Wrongdoing, Christine Neylon O'Brien

Pepperdine Law Review

This article explores the legal practice area of employment discrimination and adverse decisions based on after-acquired evidence. A division among the circuits courts arose concerning the impact of after-acquired evidence of employee wrongdoing upon an employer's liability for employment discrimination. When pre-trial discovery unveiled a separate nondiscriminatory reason for termination, numerous circuits allowed such previously unknown information to constitute a legitimate basis for the employment decision, following the model of a mixed-motive discharge. A trend developed however, among other circuits that after-acquired evidence of employee misconduct should not prevent the establishment of employer liability, but that it should be considered …

Admission Possible: Reconsidering The Impact Of Eeoc Reasonable Cause Determinations In The Ninth Circuit, Michael D. Moberly

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Paramours, Promotions, And Sexual Favoritism: Unfair, But Is There Liability?, Mitchell Poole

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Agostini V. Felton: Redefining The Establishment Of Religion Through A Modification Of The Lemon Test, Christian W. Johnston

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

California Supreme Court Survey - A Review Of Decisions: December 1997-March 1998, Leallen Frost

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Will Motive, Opportunity Or Recklessness No Longer Constitute Scienter For Fraud? A Survey Of Recent Federal District Court Decisions After The Enactment Of The 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act , Lisa A. Herrera

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

No Duty To Rescue: Can Americans Really Leave A Victim Lying In The Street? What Is Left Of The American Rule, And Will It Survive Unabated?, Jennifer L. Groninger

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Thurgood Marshall And The Holy Grail—The Due Process Jurisprudence Of A Consummate Jurist, Richard H. W. Maloy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Should Prudential Standing Requirements Be Applied In Transferred Impact Sexual Harassment Cases? An Analysis Of Childress V. City Of Richmond, Robert J. Aalberts, Lorne H. Seidman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

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.

Burlington Industries, Inc. V. Ellerth: “Whole-Cloth Creation” Or Manifestation Of Congressional Intent?, John Corrington

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shifting The Burden: Genuine Disputes And Employment Discrimination Standards Of Proof, Barrett S. Moore

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Enacted for the purpose of battling workplace discrimination by targeting discrimination against minorities and the disadvantaged, Title VII has become somewhat of an apparition for good-intentioned employers seeking to follow the law. For example, in Ricci v. DeStefano, the city of New Haven, Connecticut refused to hire white firefighters based on a qualification test because to do so would produce the outcome of hiring too few minority firefighters. Despite New Haven's good intentions, the hiring process illegally brought race into the hiring process, thereby showing that America's relationship with civil rights legislation has come full circle.

At the center of …

Subordinate Bias Liability, Theresa M. Beiner

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Often, decisions regarding employment are made with the input of or based on the observations of more than one person. This presents complications for employment discrimination plaintiffs seeking to prove discriminatory animus resulting in an adverse employment decision for the plaintiff. Specifically, many plaintiffs are left to deal with the unresolved issue of whether they have a claim for employment discrimination when a discriminating non-decision making coworker or direct supervisor supplies incorrect or distorted information to their superiors who have the authority to fire them. This is known as the "cat's paw" theory of liability or "subordinate bias liability."

The …

Have A Job To Get A Job: Disparate Treatment And Disparate Impact Of The 'Currently Employed' Requirement, Jennifer Jolly-Ryan

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Countless people struggle to find a job in a competitive job market despite possessing solid qualifications. Although the news media reports that job numbers are improving, the problems of unemployment particularly loom for people of color, older workers, and people with disabilities. These groups are often unemployed longer than other job seekers. These groups also suffer the disparate impact of job advertisements that require "current employment" as a prerequisite for hiring. The harsh reality is that the longer a job seeker is unemployed, the closer a job seeker becomes to becoming permanently unemployed. Job advertisements that require "current employment" exacerbate …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Brush V. Sears Holding Corp., 568 U.S. 1143 (2013) (No. 12-268), 2013 U.S. Lexis 925, Eric W. Scharf, Wayne R. Atkins, Eric Schnapper, Brian D. Buckstein

Court Briefs

QUESTION PRESENTED

Section 704(a) of Title VII prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee because he or she opposed discrimination forbidden by Title VII. The lower courts are divided as to how such anti-retaliation provisions apply to management officials, such as personnel or EEO officials, whose duties include assuring compliance with Title VII or implementing an employer’s anti-discrimination policy.

The question presented is: Are management officials: (1) subject to exclusion from protection under section 704(a) if their actions are within the scope of their official duties (the rule in the Fifth, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits),
(2) protected under …

Medicating The Ada - Sutton V. United Airlines, Inc.: Considering Mitigating Measures To Define Disability, Ian D. Thompson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination, Peter Reed Corbin, John E. Duvall

Mercer Law Review

The United States Supreme Court was the center of the action in the area of employment discrimination during the 2011 survey period. The most talked about decision was the Court's opinion in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes. The much-anticipated decision in Dukes was the most significant opinion handed down by the Court in the area of employment discrimination class actions since its 1982 decision in General Telephone Co. v. Falcon, and perhaps ever. The Court also continued to broaden the scope of potential Title VII retaliation actions with its decision in Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP. …

Goren V. Home Center (Do It Yourself) Ltd., Dorit Beinisch, Neal Hendel, Isaac Amit

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

Can a showing of a wage gap between a female employee and a male employee for equal work or work of equal value at the same workplace can “automatically” substantiate a cause of action under the Equal Pay for Female and Male Employees Act 1996 (hereinafter: the Equal Pay Act) as well as under the Equal Opportunities in Employment Act 1988 (hereinafter: the Equal …