Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Reforming Mexico’S Labor Law For Independent Labor Unions, Mischa H. Karplus

ExpressO

Reforming Mexico’s Labor Law for Independent Labor Unions analyzes the legal difficulties Mexican independent labor unions face in establishing themselves and proposes a legislative solution. The methodology used examines the institutionalized behaviors of the administrative labor boards and businesses, which prevent the formation of independent labor unions. The discretion that Mexican labor law affords the labor boards and businesses explains, in large measure, the obstacles facing independent labor unions. Having analyzed the relevant legal framework this article proposes specific legislation to strengthen these independent labor unions. Within the context of a developing country, Reforming Mexico’s Labor Law for Independent Labor …

Labor’S Human Rights: A Review Of The Nature And Status Of Core Labor Rights As Human Rights, Roy J. Adams

Human Rights & Human Welfare

© Roy J. Adams. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author.

Governance Of Brazilian Pension Funds, Luciana Pires Dias

ExpressO

This paper analyzes theoretically and empirically the governance of pension funds in Brazil. It first demonstrates that the law allows sponsors (employers) to write contracts (by-laws) governing the relationships between the sponsors, the managers and the participants (employees) of the pension funds. It also explains that, from an agency theory perspective, this legal framework favors non-optimal governance structures, since sponsors do not bear the financial consequences of the contracts they create. As predicted, the empirical evidence reported in this thesis shows that sponsors use this authority to create contracts that minimize monitoring and maximize control over business decisions to the …

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Money Talks: The Influence Of Economic Power On The Employment Laws And Policies In The United States And France, Carole A. Scott

San Diego International Law Journal

Money talks. Money changes everything. There is nothing money cannot buy. These are all familiar phrases used to describe the desirable, and undesirable, effects of money. Money can also mean power, and more specifically, economic power. Indeed, economic power is becoming an increasingly important concept for a wide range of academic disciplines. For example, the concept of economic power has heavily influenced a new theory of international relations, namely globalization. Many globalization theorists argue that economic power is replacing military power in global politics. Other scholars contend that globalization is creating a new world order where economics are the central …

The New South Wales Carers’ Responsibilities Act, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown Federal Legislation Clinic

Memos and Fact Sheets

Enacted in 2001, the New South Wales Carers’ Responsibilities Act (“CRA”) prohibits discrimination against employees with caregiver responsibilities and provides access to reasonable flexible work arrangements. Under this law, employees have the right to request accommodations for their carer responsibilities, and employers have an affirmative obligation to consider and grant reasonable accommodations that do not impose an unjustifiable hardship. The affirmative accommodation requirement extends to requests for flexible working hours, working from home (telecommuting), part-time work, and job-share arrangements.

New International Human Rights Standards On Unauthorized Immigrant Worker Rights: Seizing An Opportunity To Pull Governments Out Of The Shadows, Beth Lyon

Working Paper Series

Governments cannot ignore international human rights standards for unauthorized migrant workers forever. This chapter presents a call for comparative work on the issue of the legal regimes affecting unauthorized immigrant workers in order to bring governments into greater awareness and compliance with their obligations to unauthorized immigrant workers.

Global illegal migration by laborers seeking economic opportunities is expanding, resulting in an increasing number of migrants in every country who are working in violation of immigration laws. Unauthorized immigrant workers are numerous enough to form a recognizable group in every major world economy, because most receiving countries have immigration laws that …

Making Chinese Labor Law Work, Sean T. Cooney

ExpressO

Labor abuses in China have drawn international condemnation and led to increasing domestic unrest. Government, business and unions in the United States have insisted that Chinese law needs to be reformed to deal with those abuses but they fail to identify precisely what reforms are required.

This article aims to shift debates about reforming Chinese labor law in the United States to a much greater level of specificity. The discussion focuses on two very prevalent abuses that are purportedly prohibited by existing labor regulation: underpayment of wages and excessive working hours. The article analyses in detail those aspects of China’s …

Comparative Advantage And Labor Protections In Free Trade Agreements: Making Labor Protections In Trade Agreements Practical And Effective, Michael E. Aleo

ExpressO

The tension between competitiveness in international trade and the improvement of living standards has become a central controversy in negotiating trade agreements. Under pressure from the labor rights movement over the course of the last twenty-five years, the United States has regularly advocated for the inclusion of labor standards in trade relationships. Generally, governments in developing countries resist the incorporation of labor protections in trade agreements because of a belief that labor protections diminish a nation’s competitiveness in the international marketplace. Labor rights advocates, particularly in the United States, have fought for the inclusion of labor rights in trade agreements …

Fielding A Team For The Fans: The Societal Consequences And Title Vii Implications Of Race-Considered Roster Construction In Professional Sport, N. Jeremi Duru

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Professional sports organizations' relationships with their players are, like other employer-employee relationships, subject to scrutiny under the antidiscrimination mandates embedded in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Professional sports organizations are, however, unique among employers in many respects. Most notably, unlike other employers, professional sports organizations attract avid supporters who identify deeply with the teams and their players. To the extent an organization racially discriminates, therefore, such discrimination creates the risk that fans will identify with the homogenous or racially disproportionate roster that results. The consequences of such race-based team identification are wide-reaching and potentially tragic. Through …

The Profit Motive: Can Corporate Networks Be An Effective Conduit For Improving Worker Rights?, Alisa Dicaprio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization? By Kimberly Elliott and Richard Freeman. Washington: Institute for International Economics, 2003. 179pp.

and

Rising Above Sweatshops: Innovative Approaches to Global Labor Challenges. Edited by Laura Hartman, Denis Arnold and Richard Wokutch. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 414pp.

and

Transnational Corporations and Human Rights. Edited by Jedrzej Frynas and Scott Pegg. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. 223pp.

Workers' Rights Provisions In Fast Track Authority, 1974-2007; An Historical Perspective And Current Analysis, Carol J. Pier

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article examines the trajectory of workers' rights provisions in 'fast track" authority legislation allowing the U.S. president to negotiate free trade agreements that Congress can only approve or reject, not amend. I begin my analysis with the Trade Act of1974 and continue through the expiration of fast track authority in 1994. Against this backdrop, I critique the workers' rights negotiating objectives and priorities in the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002 (TPA). Relying on TPA's confused legislative history and basic rules of statutory interpretation, the article seeks to interpret TPA's workers' rights provisions. It concludes by examining the …

Making Visible The Invisible: Strategies For Responding To Globalization's Impact On Immigrant Workers In The United States, Sarah Paoletti

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article explores the impact of globalization on immigrant workers in the United States. Although Congress created programs to provide vocational training services and cash allowances to workers who qualified by virtue of having lost their jobs as a result of the adverse impacts of trade, these programs have done little to assist many of the immigrant workers displaced by shifting labor markets. Through critical review of two case studies, the article pursues a more comprehensive understanding of the reasons the system failed these workers, in order to better respond to systematic barriers placed in the way of limited-English proficient …

The Parallel Worlds Of Corporate Governance And Labor Law, Peer Zumbansen

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This paper engages the concept of transnational law (TL) in a way that goes beyond the by now accustomed usages with regard to the development of legal norms and the observation of legal action across nation-state boundaries, involving both state and nonstate actors. The concept of TL can serve to illustrate much further-reaching set of developments in norm creation and legal regulation. TL is here understood not only as a body of legal norms, but it is also employed as a methodological approach to illustrate common and shared challenges and responses to legal regulatory systems worldwide. In the case of …

The New Politics Of Linkage: India's Opposition To The Worker's Rights Clause, Kevin Kolben

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article examines why India has opposed a World Trade Organization (WTO) workers' rights clause, and calls for a new way of thinking about international institutions and the link between trade and labor rights. Many labor rights supporters argue that labor rights principles should be integrated into the WTO, either via the addition of a workers' rights clause or through a 'judicial" reading of labor rights values into the existing WTO framework. But India has led a large block of developing countries in opposing any link between labor rights and the WTO. This opposition has been based primarily on economic …

Labor’S Fragile Freedom Of Association Post-9/11, Ruben J. Garcia

Scholarly Works

The fragility of civil liberties in the United States became evident after the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11). Labor's freedom of association, which is the right to form unions, bargain collectively, and engage in concerted activities, is one of the civil liberties at risk in the post-9/11 period. This Article focuses specifically on post-9/11 limitations of labor's freedom of association conducted by the executive branch and the Congress, and the ways that the courts have adjudicated labor rights in the post-9/11 era. Domestic labor law and constitutional rights alone, however, will not stop the collision of security and …

Labor Struggles, New Social Movements, And America's Favorite Pastime: New York Workers Take On New Era Cap Company, Victoria Carty

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Contemporary economic globalization, which is driven and regulated primarily by multinational corporations, has a direct impact on workers' lives. Trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tend to be controlled by corporate interests in the wealthy, industrialized nations. Those countries set the agenda to protect the interests of foreign investors and facilitate the mobility of capital, but they do little to protect the interests of labor. In response, workers in both the global North and South have been forced to rely on their own individual efforts to protect themselves against unfair labor practices. This article presents …

Are Workers Rights Human Rights And Would It Matter If They Were?, Richard Mcintyre

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops by J.S. Ross. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. 396pp.

and

Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization? by Kimberly Ann Elliott and Richard B. Freeman. Washington: Institute for International Economics, 2003. 175pp.

The Nature And Enforcement Of Investor Rights Under Investment Treaties: Do Investment Treaties Have A Bright Future, Susan Franck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The number of investment treaties has surged in the past decade. Even now, the United States and Canada are actively engaged in programs designed to facilitate the completion of multilateral treaties such as the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). These investment treaties act like economic bills of rights, which grant foreign investors substantive protections and procedural rights to facilitate investment. Sovereigns, meanwhile, may benefit from these treaties by obtaining increased foreign direct investment, which may promote the development of their country's infrastructure 6 and offer citizens basic services including access to clean water, …

Globalization & Law: Beyond Traditional Methodology Of Comparative Legal Studies And An Example From Private International Law, Fabio Morosini

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article explores the impact of globalization on comparative legal studies and private international law, arguing that traditional methodologies in comparative law must evolve to address the challenges posed by globalization. It emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary approaches, particularly incorporating economic analysis, to better understand and adapt to the changing legal landscape. The analysis focuses on the European Union as a case study, demonstrating how European Community law influences the private international law of its member states and advocating for methodological innovations to maintain the relevance of comparative legal studies in a globalized world.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Child Labor: The Pakistani Effort To End A Scourge Upon Humanity - Is It Enough?, Aine Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article will encompass the issues necessary to create such a report card. In the process of assessing Pakistan's efforts, this article will demonstrate that the measures taken in Pakistan are not sufficient to end bonded child labor. In addition, this comment proposes that the international community must expend more financial and legal resources to tackle the problem of child labor. Part II focuses on Pakistan's use of child labor. This includes a discussion of the history of child labor, the international rights being abrogated by child labor, the efforts implemented to combat child labor, and an evaluation of Pakistani …

Workers' Rights In The Mexican Maquiladora Sector: Collective Bargaining, Women's Rights, And General Human Rights: Law, Norms, And Practice, Joshua M. Kagan

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Private Military Contractor Liability And Accountability After Abu Ghraib, 38 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1237 (2005), Mark W. Bina

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remands In Trade Adjustment Assistance Cases, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 9 (2005), Munford Page Hall Ii

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Symposium: Rethinking The Masculine Character Of The Legal Profession: A Case Study Of Female Legal Professionals And Their Gendered Life In Taiwan, Shu-Chin Grace Kuo

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

A Stag Hunt Account And Defense Of Transnational Labour Standards---A Preliminary Look At The Problem, Alan Hyde

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

Transnational labor standards are modeled as cooperative solutions to the class of strategic dilemmas known as Stag Hunts, in which all actors would gain from a cooperative solution, but only if all cooperate. If you think a partner will defect, your best strategy is also to defect. Intuitively, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh will all be better off if none of their children work and all go to school; however if one defects from this agreement it will capture a stream of foreign investment linked to child labor. Understanding Stag Hunts explains why transnational labor standards are found both in genuinely …

Evaluating Work: Enforcing Occupational Safety And Health Standards In The United States, Canada And Sweden, Daniel B. Klaff

ExpressO

The United States’ occupational safety and health enforcement system is breaking down. Klaff argues that much of this breakdown has to do with a fundamental lack of worker participation in the United States’ safety and health system. Klaff makes his case by comparing and contrasting the history and enforcement schemes of the United States, Canada, and Sweden. After arguing for economic rights as human rights, Klaff concludes by offering a set of recommendations for the United States’ occupational safety and health system based upon his value-centered analysis.

The Race To The Bottom: The United States' Influence On Mexican Labor Law Enforcement, Jenna L. Acuff

San Diego International Law Journal

There are several theories why the Mexican government has refused to enforce the stringent laws enumerated in the Mexican Constitution. For example, the North American Social Dumping Theory and Mexico's desire to retain foreign direct investment from foreign countries as a source of revenue and employment. This Comment seeks to analyze and expound on these theories and to develop two additional theories that have only been discussed in passing. Part II begins with a brief look at the history of Mexican labor, including pre- and post-Revolution working conditions. Part III discusses Mexico's encouragement and protection of foreign direct investment and …

Labor And Finance As Inevitably Transnational: Globalization Demands A Sophisticated And Transnational Lens, Katherine V.W. Stone, Timothy A. Canova, Claire Moore Dickerson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.