Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

I'M So Lonesome I Could Cry ... But Could I Sue?: Whether 'Interacting With Others' Is A Major Life Activity Under The Ada, Bryan P. Stephenson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Will Eeoc V. Waffle House, Inc. Signal The Beginning Of The End For Mandatory Arbitration Agreements In The Employment Context? , Marc A. Altenbernt

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Since the inception of several employment and discrimination statutes, arbitration has grown exponentially as an alternative for the adjudication of employment disputes. The Supreme Court has traditionally held that statutory claims are indeed arbitrable pursuant to a valid arbitration agreement under the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"). In an effort to end employment discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin," Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"). In order to adequately effect this calling, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") was created as the Act's primary enforcement mechanism. While arbitration agreements under the FAA and …

The Aclu And The Propriety Of Dispute Resolution In Civil Rights Controversies, Amber Mckinney

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Section I examines the history, purpose, and methodology of the American Civil Liberties Union. Section II discusses the historical development and use of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Section III, Part A provides examples of its use in environmental controversies, Americans with Disabilities Act disputes, and employment conflicts. Section III, Part B explains the arguments for and against the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Civil Rights Controversies. Section IV, Part A looks at examples of the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution by the American Civil Liberties Union, while Part B provides insight into the interplay of Alternative Dispute Resolution and the …

Law Firms As Defendants: Family Responsibilities Discrimination In Legal Workplaces, Joan C. Williams, Stephanie Bornstein, Diana Reddy, Betsy A. Williams

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keeping Discrimination Theory Front And Center In The Discourse Over Work And Family Conflict, Laura T. Kessler

Pepperdine Law Review

This essay is a contribution to a symposium on balancing career and family. It frames the problem of work/family conflict as a form of sex discrimination. It demonstrates that many of the constructs commonly used to illustrate an absence of employment discrimination - such as the accident, opt-out, time-lag theories - actually fit quite comfortably within various discrimination frameworks. It also contextualizes the problem of work/family conflict within the larger issue of gender bias in the workplace, demonstrating how each contributes to and works together to produce workplace inequality for women. This approach contrasts with the traditional bifurcation of gender …

Compulsory Pre-Dispute Arbitration Clauses In The Employment Context After Eeoc V. Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps , Maria Wusinich

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In EEOC v. Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, decided in 2003, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals aligned its view with its sister circuits and with the Supreme Court regarding the enforceability of arbitration agreements in employment discrimination cases. The court held that an employee's agreement to arbitrate a claim arising under federal anti-discrimination law is enforceable. At first glance, it would appear that as far as the judicial branch is concerned, the longstanding issue of the validity of mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment context is now settled. This article, in contrast, posits that the courts will be …

A Post-Pierce Program: Using Idr To Improve The Los Angeles Fire Department's Current Complaint And Disciplinary Procedure , Jacklyn Pawlowski Floryan

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Having an alternative to litigation is important for employees and employers in all organizations and corporations. One such option is through internal dispute resolution (IDR) mechanisms. IDR mechanisms are alternative processes used instead of litigation to solve a dispute in its early stages. When organizations and corporations do not have an established set of mechanisms in place or the employees are unaware of the procedure, lawsuits result. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is one such organization that does not have a strong, established IDR procedure in place. This paper analyzes the LAFD's current complaint and disciplinary procedure and how …

The Disability History Mystery: Assessing The Employer's Reasonable Accommodation Obligation In "Record Of Disability" Cases, Michael D. Moberly

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Promise Of Mediation For Employment Discrimination Claims , Susan K. Hippensteele

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This paper generally examines the theory and practice of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and specifically examines the role mediation has played in propelling rights discourse away from the center of efforts to achieve equal employment opportunity in the United States. It further addresses assumptions regarding individual employee goals in the context of a legal environment in which litigating to achieve rights-based remedies is increasingly difficult for grievants.

Ledbetter V. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007): Faithful To Title Vii Or Blind To Sex Discrimination?, Garrett M. Fahy

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

Brief For Prof. Leslie C. Griffin As Amica Curiae In Support Of Neither Party, Cannata V. Catholic Diocese Of Austin, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Brief For Prof. Leslie C. Griffin Et Al. As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church And School V. E.E.O.C., Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Legal And Policy Standards For Addressing Workplace Racism: Employer Liability And Shared Responsibility For Race-Based Traumatic Stress, Robert T. Carter, Thomas D. Scheuermann

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Soul Of A Woman: The Sex Stereotyping Prohibition At Work, Kimberly A. Yuracko

Faculty Working Papers

In 1989 the Supreme Court in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins declared that sex stereotyping was a prohibited from of sex discrimination at work. This seemingly simple declaration has been the most important development in sex discrimination jurisprudence since the passage of Title VII. It has been used to extend the Act's coverage and protect groups that were previously excluded. Astonishingly, however, the contours, dimensions and requirements of the prohibition have never been clearly articulated by courts or scholars. In this paper I evaluate four interpretations of what the sex stereotyping prohibition might mean in order to determine what it actually …

The Obama Effect: Understanding Emerging Meanings Of "Obama" In Anti-Discrimination Law, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Mario Barnes

Indiana Law Journal

Labor and Employment Law Under the Obama Administration: A Time for Hope and Change? Symposium held November 12-13, 2010, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana.

Family, Cubicle Mate And Everyone In Between: A Novel Approach To Protecting Employees From Third-Party Retaliation Under Title Vii And Kindred Statutes, Matthew W. Green Jr.

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article joins the discussion of when employees should be protected against third-party retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and analogously worded statutes. In Thompson v. N. Am. Stainless, LP., 131 S.Ct. 863 (2011), the U.S. Supreme Court held that third-party retaliation was cognizable under Title VII, an issue that had divided the lower courts for decades. Prior to Thompson, lower courts that recognized the viability of such claims often imposed limits on the classes of relationships for which third-party retaliation was unlawful. For instance, courts often found such claims viable where after an employee …

Discrimination Against Mothers Is The Strongest Form Of Workplace Gender Discrimination: Lessons From Us Caregiver Discrimination Law, Stephanie Bornstein, Joan C. Williams, Genevieve R. Painter

UF Law Faculty Publications

Work-family reconciliation is an integral part of labor law as the result of two major demographic changes: the rise of the two-earner family, and the pressing concern of elder care as Baby Boomers age. Despite these changes, most European and American workplaces still assume that the committed worker has a family life secured so that family responsibilities do not distract from work obligations. This way of organizing employment around a breadwinner husband and a caregiver housewife, which arose in the late eighteenth century, is severely outdated today. The result is workplace-workforce mismatch: Many employers still have workplaces perfectly designed for …

Subordinate Bias Liability, Theresa M. Beiner

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Gender Stereotyping And The Work-Family Conflicts Of Men, Stephanie Bornstein

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article looks back to the early equal protection jurisprudence of the 1970s and Ruth Bader Ginsburg's litigation strategy of using men as plaintiffs in sex discrimination cases to cast a renewed focus on antidiscrimination law as a means to redress the work-family conflicts of men. From the beginning of her litigation strategy as the head of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, Ginsburg defined sex discrimination as the detrimental effects of gender stereotypes that constrained both men and women from living their lives as they wished-not solely the minority status of women. The same sex-based stereotypes that kept women out …

Divergent Interests: Union Representation Of Individual Employment Discrimination Claims, Deborah A. Widiss

Indiana Law Journal

Labor and Employment Law Under the Obama Administration: A Time for Hope and Change? Symposium held November 12-13, 2010, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana

This Is A Time For Hope And Change, Kevin D. Brown

Indiana Law Journal

Labor and Employment Law Under the Obama Administration: A Time for Hope and Change? Symposium held November 12-13, 2010, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana

Trouble In Sin City: Protecting Sexy Workers' Civil Rights, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

While Las Vegas has always been known for its libertarian attitudes toward gambling and sexually provocative shows, after a short, failed attempt during the 1990’s to characterize itself as a family destination, the City has turned up the heat. Las Vegas, which relies increasingly on selling sex appeal to promote its value to the public, has become the number one adult entertainment destination in the United States. There is, however, trouble in paradise. A number of the casino-based clubs (both day and night) have been sued; others have closed due to illegal prostitution; some have paid large fines to the …

Diversity And The Virtual Workplace: Performance Identity And Shifting Boundaries Of Workplace Engagement, Natasha T. Martin

Faculty Articles

This article explores the meaning of workplace discrimination where reality meets the imaginary world in virtual work settings. Using a more recent development in the realm of virtual work--workplace avatars--the article considers the impact on law of virtual performance identity by workers where appearances can be altered in virtual reality.

Current protected-class approaches to antidiscrimination law have not served as the antidote to workplace bias and exclusion. Thus, the article investigates whether avatar technology holds promise for facilitating greater inclusion of marginalized workers in the contemporary workplace. Does this mode of virtual work serve as a platform for diversity or …

Changing Workforce Demographics And The Future Of The Protected Class Approach, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

The composition and identity characteristics of the American workforce are changing. The population in this country is rising, aging, and becoming much more racially and ethnically diverse. Appearance norms are shifting too. These changes have enormous implications for constitutional and employment discrimination law. In both equal protection and employment discrimination cases, recovery usually depends on membership in a constitutionally or statutorily protected category. Yet the statutory approach to anti-discrimination law has stagnated. Part of the difficulty of the protected class approach is that it is based on something of a paradox — the paradox of exceptionalism. Class-based protection requires individuals …

Once Is Enough: The Need To Apply The Full Ellerth/Faragher Affirmative Defense In Single Incident And Incipient Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment Claims, Charles W. Garrison

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Plausibility Pleading And Employment Discrimination, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

Gender, Family, And Work, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

The country has prohibited sex discrimination since the 1960’s, but society continues to view women and men differently because women give birth, breastfeed, and are traditional caregivers. This article takes a historical look at court decisions and legislative efforts to address equality where men and women are not similarly situated and also explores recent developments and current debates, such as caregiver discrimination, lactation rooms and breaks, and the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. Despite the abundance of legislation and court decisions over the past forty years, much progress still needs to be made.

Taking In Strays: A Critique Of The Stray Comment Doctrine In Employment Discrimination Law, Kerri Lynn Stone

Faculty Publications

This Article traces the genesis of this misguided doctrine, its proliferation, and it’s many flaws. It explains what the doctrine has come to mean and which facets of a comment can render it “stray” as a matter of law. Part II evaluates this unwieldy and untenable doctrine and its haphazard and misguided application over the past two decades. Specifically, it was never intended to be a formal doctrine. As employed by courts, the term “stray” means too many things and is too ambiguous for the doctrine to be coherent or effective. Moreover, courts ascribe varying degrees of significance to the …

Gina, Privacy, And Antisubordination, Bradley A. Areheart

Georgia Law Review

This Essay briefly considers both the current and
optimal role of privacy in employment discrimination
jurisprudence. The recently-passed Genetic Information
Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is illustrative of a possible
trend in employment discrimination toward privacy. In
particular, GINA includes a prohibition on the use of
genetic information in all employment decisions, affording
a measure of genetic privacy to potential and current
employees.
GINA stands in contrast to prior employment
discrimination statutes, which have often encouraged or
required employers to be knowledgeable of and consider a
particular identity trait through policies such as
reasonable accommodation, affirmative action, and the
disparate impact doctrine. …

Reforming The Age Discrimination In Employment Act: Proposals And Prospects, Michael C. Harper

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) should be amended to provide it with the same procedural and substantive strengths Congress has provided Title VII. The article highlights four gaps between the ADEA and Title VII: damage remedies; class actions; defenses to disparate impact actions; and causation standards for disparate treatment actions. The article also advocates other modifications of the ADEA to encourage the employment of older Americans. The article recommends compelling employers to retain productive incumbent older workers, regardless of the compensation previously promised experienced workers. It also recommends considering allowing employers to hire older …