Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Title Vii Prohibits Employment Discrimination... Except When It Doesn't: Eliminating The Small Firm Exemption, Hayley Bronner

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that the small firm exemption in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which excludes employers with fewer than fifteen employees from coverage, undermines the law's purpose of eradicating employment discrimination. The exemption, initially a political compromise, lacks an evidence-based foundation and disproportionately affects vulnerable groups such as women and minorities. The analysis suggests that eliminating this exemption is essential to achieve universal protection and align Title VII with broader state and international laws, proposing measures like damage caps to mitigate potential burdens on small businesses.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

The Use Of Mediation To Resolve Conflicts Arising From Cultural Appropriation By Western Fashion Brands, Faith Adongo

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The Cambridge Dictionary defines cultural appropriation as "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture." It is sometimes referred to as cultural misappropriation, and also defined as taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from a culture other than one's own, without permission. Supporters of cultural appropriation see it as the only realistic way of developing, spreading and integrating cultures, while critics see it as a means through which dominant cultures "borrow" from the cultures of minority groups.

Directors’ Duty Of Care In Times Of Financial Distress Following The Global Epidemic Crisis, Leon Yehuda Anidjar

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The global COVID-19 pandemic is causing the large-scale end of life and severe human suffering globally. This massive public health crisis created a significant economic crisis and is reflected in a recession of global production and the collapse of confidence in the functions of markets. Corporations and boards of directors around the world are required to design specific strategies to tackle the negative consequences of the crisis. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that suffered tremendous economic loss, and their continued existence as ongoing concern is under considerable risk. Given these uncertain financial times, this Article …

“Labour Law Is A Subset Of Employment Law” Revisited, Alan Bogg

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article revisits the arguments in Brian Langille’s seminal law review article, “Labour Law is a Subset of Employment Law.” Langille’s article was based upon two main claims: (a) that (individual) employment law should be understood as the “set” and (collective) labour law the “subset” of employment law (the primacy of employment law); (b) that “public values” have priority over “private values” in the regulation of work (the primacy of public values). These two claims were presented as mutually reinforcing in “Subset.” Drawing on specific examples from UK and Canadian law, this article endorses the first claim but rejects the …

Employment Law Revisited, Mark Freedland

Dalhousie Law Journal

This critique of Brian Langille’s famous “Subset” article considers the historical and current meaning of “employment law” in Canada and in the UK. In Canada, “employment law” was fashioned by Innis Christie in the 1980s as the law of personal work relations for the non-unionized sector, with “labour law” applying to the unionized sector of the economy. In the UK, “individual employment law” appeared in the 1970s to be a distinct discipline; but since that time it has largely re-merged with labour law, with the terms “employment law” and “labour law” becoming virtually synonymous. An enlarged scope is proposed for …

Enough Is As Good As A Feast, Noah C. Chauvin

Seattle University Law Review

Ipse Dixit, the podcast on legal scholarship, provides a valuable service to the legal community and particularly to the legal academy. The podcast’s hosts skillfully interview guests about their legal and law-related scholarship, helping those guests communicate their ideas clearly and concisely. In this review essay, I argue that Ipse Dixit has made a major contribution to legal scholarship by demonstrating in its interview episodes that law review articles are neither the only nor the best way of communicating scholarly ideas. This contribution should be considered “scholarship,” because one of the primary goals of scholarship is to communicate new ideas.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Finding International Law In Private Governance: How Codes Of Conduct In The Apparel Industry Refer To International Instruments, Phillip Paiement, Sophie Melchers

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Multinational enterprises increasingly use Codes of Conduct to govern the conditions of labor and production among their suppliers' operations around the globe. These Codes of Conduct, produced unilaterally by companies as well as by multi-stakeholder bodies, often include references to public international law instruments. This article takes a closer look at thirty-eight Codes of Conduct from the global apparel industry and uses social network analysis to identify the patterns in these Codes and how they refer to international legal instruments. Although some international legal instruments stipulate rules that can be directly transposed into the private context of supply chains, this …

How To Establish Labor Protection Standards For Kenyan Local Workers In Chinese Multinational Corporations, Qun Zhao

Washington International Law Journal

China has increased investment into Kenya since it proposed the Belt and Road Initiative. Many Chinese State-Owned-Enterprises (“SOEs”) and private companies have established their presence in Kenya; most of them engage in labor-intensive industries like infrastructure building or manufacturing. Labor-intensive work requires companies to hire many local workers, which gives rise to labor conflicts between Chinese employers and Kenyan employees. Major conflicts between the two parties stem from several factors including informal hiring, wrongful termination, and tense relations with Kenyan labor unions. This article suggests that Chinese companies in Kenya should comply with Kenyan labor law to resolve labor issues …

Legal Exportation: The Case Of European Labor Law And Third Countries, Lior Zemer, Neta Nadiv

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The frequency of change in industry and human mobility has brought new legal issues before labor courts. These changes constantly create a need to rethink and renew national labor law principles. In this process countries search for and import labor law principles from foreign legal systems. This Article focuses on Israeli labor law as a test case. Israeli courts considering labor law matters often turn to foreign legal systems in a manner that arguably influences the courts' interpretation and development of local labor laws. In practice, labor courts in Israel, when faced with a lack of appropriate domestic legislation, model …

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Erasing Race, Llezlie Green

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Low-wage workers frequently experience exploitation, including wage theft, at the intersection of their racial identities and their economic vulnerabilities. Scholars, however, rarely consider the role of wage and hwur exploitation in broader racial subordination frameworks. This Essay considers the narratives that have informed the detachment of racial justice from the worker exploitation narrative and the distancing of economic justice from the civil rights narrative. It then contends that social movements, like the Fight for $15, can disrupt narrow understandings of low-wage worker exploitation and proffer more nuanced narratives that connect race, economic justice, and civil rights to a broader antisubordination …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Reducing The Governance Gap For Corporate Complicity In International Crimes, Seunghyun Nam

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

With increasing reports of corporations involved in serious human rights abuses that amount to international crimes, there are greater calls for states to hold these corporations accountable. Still, many obstacles and challenges remain when it comes to holding corporations accountable. Complex corporate structures, the extraterritorial dimension of the abuses, competition among states and businesses, lack of institutional capacity on the part of states, and lack of legal coordination among states collectively create an impunity gap. The case studies of the situation in Burma and the Democratic Republic of Congo involving foreign companies aim to illustrate this governance gap. With growing …

Looking To The United Kingdom To Overhaul New York State’S Paid Family Leave Law And Close The Global Gender Gap, John Pietruszka

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The World Economic Forum estimates that mitigating gender-based disparities in the area of economic participation could lead to substantial economic benefits for the global economy. However, the international system of sovereign states requires this effort be piecemeal, as each state must set priorities to achieve greater gender parity within its own economic, political, and cultural contexts. The United States, by virtue of being the largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, undoubtedly has one of the largest roles to play in the effort to mitigate this global problem. Nonetheless, it lags behind other nation-states in several key areas that …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Non-Lawyer Advocacy: Expectations, Rules, And Complications, John F. Wirenius

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The article examines the ethical challenges and legal complexities surrounding nonattorney advocacy in labor relations, particularly under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and similar state statutes. It highlights the tension between holding non-lawyer union representatives to attorney ethical standards and the need for simpler, practical norms. The analysis emphasizes the importance of balancing due process for pro se parties with maintaining the integrity of advocacy roles, suggesting that resorting to fundamental statutory values and reciprocal duties can provide a baseline for ethical conduct.

Dignity And Discrimination In Sexual Harassment Law: A French Case Study, L. Camille Hébert

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

In 2012, France adopted new prohibitions on sexual harassment into its Labor and Penal Codes. That enactment, which significantly broadened the definition of actionable harassment, was based on a model of harassment law that defines sexual harassment as a form of discrimination, while the French have traditionally conceived of sexual harassment as a form of sexual violence. Cases decided under the new prohibitions, as well as additional legislation adopted in France in 2016 and 2018, the latter prompted by France’s “#MeToo” movement, suggest that the French are beginning to perceive sexual harassment as implicating issues of both dignity and equality …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trump, Trade, And Trabajo: Renegotiating Nafta's Labor Accord In A Fraught Political Climate, Lance A. Compa

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and demanding renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)- along with its supplemental labor pact, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC)-were among the first actions of the new U.S. Administration in 2017. NAFTA renegotiations concluded for the time being-in October 2018 with announcement of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace NAFTA.

Controversial proposals on the bargaining table contained important implications for employment, labor rights, and labor standards in North America. This paper reviews the status of negotiations, the risks of losing the first-ever international instrument linking trade and labor standards …

The Employee Right To Disconnect, Paul M. Secunda

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

U.S. workers are increasingly finding it difficult to escape from work. Through their smartphones, e-mail, and social media, work tethers them to their workstations well after the work day has ended. Whether at home or in transit, employers are asking or requiring employees to complete assignments, tasks, and projects outside of working hours. This practice has a profound detrimental impact on employee privacy and autonomy, safety and health, productivity and compensation, and rest and leisure. France and Germany have responded to this emerging workplace issue by taking different legal approaches to providing their employees a right to disconnect from the …

The Adr Loophole To Restrictive Non-Compete Agreements, Jad Itani

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This Comment considers a key question: do employers have a strategy to protect themselves if these restrictive states are restricting corporations from protecting their self-developed trade secrets? In doing so, Part II will discuss an approach that may allow employers to potentially circumvent the restrictive states. This can be achieved by requiring an employee to undergo private arbitration in a dispute with an employer—a strategy that has gained validity in light of the United States Supreme Court’s holding that upholds arbitration clauses even where significant public policy concerns exist. Specifically, an employer in a restrictive state could potentially enforce an …

The New Social Contracts In International Supply Chains, David Snyder

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This Article considers, from legal, practical, moral, and policy perspectives, Model Contract Clauses (MCCs) to protect the human rights of workers in international supply chains. The product of the ABA Business Law Section Working Group to Draft Human Rights Protections in International Supply Contracts, the MCCs are an effort to provide companies with carefully researched and well-drafted clauses to incorporate human rights policies into supply contracts (purchase orders, master vendor agreements, and the like). The Article discusses the impetus, goals, and strategies of the MCCs and explains the paradigm of the corporate, operational, and political landscape for which they are …

The Price Is Rights: Getting The United Arab Emirates Up To International Speed In The Labor Law Department, Janae C. Cummings

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Despite a rapidly growing economy and a tremendous accumulation of wealth, the United Arab Emirates has facilitated many human rights abuses against migrant workers from impoverished countries throughout the world. The UAE’s system of recruitment, payment and living conditions put already vulnerable populations in considerably worse economic conditions by exploiting their labor and creating significant barriers to challenging the unjust employment system. After being sold on the idea that migrating to the UAE would bring a semblance of economic advancement, many migrants find themselves in inhumane working conditions and debt from having to pay excessive amounts of money to recruitment …

An Empirical Study Of Workers' Demands Through Industrial Actions: A Comparative Analysis Of The United States, Germany And The People's Republic Of China Under The Bargaining Model, Xiaohan Sun

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

The Chinese traditional manufacturing industry used to rely on raw materials and low labor costs to achieve a competitive advantage, however, the Chinese lowest–cost labor market is no longer competitive and the Chinese manufacturing industry is not the strongest player in the high-tech area. The transition of manufacturing industry is confronted with difficulties and challenges.

From the prior research, one of the reasons over labor conflicts is the awareness of rights consciousness. Employment dispute cases have had a significant increase since 2008, and labor disputes gradually increased since the year 2014. Industrial actions, such as strikes and protests, became the …

Case Note: Case Of Araya V. Nevsun Resources Ltd In The Canadian Courts, Jolene Hansell

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Assesing The Gig Economy In Comparative Perspective: How Platform Work Challenges The French And American Legal Orders, Jeremy Pilaar

Journal of Law and Policy

Both the gig economy’s critics and supporters tend to assume that it represents an assault on current employment structures. Comparative theory, however, emphasizes that legal regimes are durable in the face of new challenges. Fortunately, the gig economy’s prevalence throughout the world gives scholars the chance to evaluate this tension. This paper analyzes whether platform work undermines existing legal systems by testing two comparative theories in the United States and France. The first predicts that French law should mobilize against platform firms to protect producers’ livelihoods and that American law should embrace these services for lowering consumer prices. The second …

Si Hay Leyes De Antidiscriminiciòn ¿Por Qué Las Mujeres No Demandan Justicia? Una Mirada Al Litigo De Discriminaciòn De Género Casi Ausente En Brasil, Cesar Zucatti Pritsch

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

If Anti-Discrimination Laws Are On The Books, Then Why Do Women Not Sue? A Look Into The Almost Absent Gender Discrimination Litigation In Brazil, Cesar Zucatti Pritsch

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.