Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

2018 Survey Of Rhode Island Case Law

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Still “Snowing” In The Sunshine State: An Analysis Of And Potential Solutions To The Lack Of Protection From Employer Retaliation For Florida Lawyers Who Adhere To The State’S Mandatory Reporting Of Professional Misconduct Rule, Jason A. Anon

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding A Better Way Around Employment At Will: Protecting Employees’ Autonomy Interests Through Tort Law, William R. Corbett

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding A Better Way Around Employment At Will: Protecting Employees' Autonomy Interests Through Tort Law, William Corbett

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Employees Or Independent Contractors: A Call For Revision Of Maine's Unemployment Compensation "Abc Test", Christopher J. Cotnoir

Maine Law Review

The Maine Employment Security Law governs whether one person performing services for another is an independent contractor or an employee for unemployment tax purposes. It requires many employers to pay unemployment taxes on individuals who, under the usual common law rules governing the employer-employee relationship, are independent contractors. This result, caused partly by the structure of the statute and partly by judicial interpretation, has the effect of discouraging business expansion, limiting entrepreneurial opportunities, and ultimately, hampering statewide economic development. This Comment first provides the historical background of unemployment compensation legislation at the federal and state levels. Employer liability and employee/independent …

Taking Note Of Notary Employees: Employer Liability For Notary Employee Misconduct, Nancy Perkins Spyke

Maine Law Review

The law of agency governs the relations between principals, agents, and third persons. A portion of that body of law deals with the liabilities that arise when an agent causes harm to a third party. Situations in which negligent employees cause harm to their employers' customers are ripe for the application of standard agency principles. Those principles dictate that the employer will be liable for the tort of an employee if the tort is committed in the scope of employment. The Restatement (Second) of Agency and case law provide many illustrations. If an employer directs an employee to perform a …

2017 Annual Survey: Recent Developments In Sports Law, Jordan Lysiak, Katherine Hampel

Marquette Sports Law Review

None

How The U.S. Supreme Court Deemed The Workers' Compensation Grand Bargain 'Adequate' Without Defining Adequacy, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

During the second and third decades of the twentieth century, the U. S. Supreme Court issued a handful of opinions rejecting 14th Amendment constitutional challenges by employers to implementation of workers’ compensation statutes in the United States. Unknown to many, the statutes were largely the fruit of privately-sponsored investigations, principally by the Russell Sage Foundation and the National Association of Manufacturers, of European workers’ compensation systems during the first decade of the twentieth century. Some of those systems had been in existence since the 1870s and 1880s, and many employers preferred them to newly-emerging American employer liability statutes that retained …

2017 Survey Of Rhode Island Law: Cases And Public Laws Of Note

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Employment Law, Benjamin Levin

Publications

This Article diagnoses a phenomenon, “criminal employment law,” which exists at the nexus of employment law and the criminal justice system. Courts and legislatures discourage employers from hiring workers with criminal records and encourage employers to discipline workers for non-work-related criminal misconduct. In analyzing this phenomenon, my goals are threefold: (1) to examine how criminal employment law works; (2) to hypothesize why criminal employment law has proliferated; and (3) to assess what is wrong with criminal employment law. This Article examines the ways in which the laws that govern the workplace create incentives for employers not to hire individuals with …

Tort Reform Through The Back Door: A Critique Of Law And Apologies, Yonathan A. Arbel, Kaplan, Yotam Kaplan, Yotam

Articles

In this Article, we show how the biggest tort reform of the last decade was passed through the back door with the blessing of its staunchest opponents. We argue that the widely-endorsed "apology law" reform-a change in the national legal landscape that privileged apologies-is, in fact, a mechanism of tort reform, used to limit victims' recovery and shield injurers from liability. While legal scholars overlooked this effect, commercial interests seized the opportunity and are in the process of transforming state and federal law with the unwitting support of the public.

Where's The Power - Defamation And Wrongful Interference In The Restatement Of Employment Law, Ruben J. Garcia

Scholarly Works

In this article, Professor Ruben Garcia argues that the Restatement of Employment Law ("REL") misses the opportunity to address power relations between employers and employees as part of the "law as a whole" in the torts of the workplace. He argues that the omission shows the limits of restatements generally. However, there were other roads not taken by the drafters that might have acknowledged these power differentials in the final draft. Professor Garcia also argues that the normative choices that are made by the REL about the doctrine of compelled self-publication are based on questionable footings. "[A]cceptance of the doctrine …

Public Policy And Workers’ Rights: Wrongful Discharge Discipline Actions And Reasonable Good Faith Beliefs, Ann C. Mcginley, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Scholarly Works

In this paper, Professor Ann McGinley responds to Chapter 5 of the ALI's Restatement of the Law: Employment Law ("Restatement of Employment Law"), concerning "The Tort of Wrongful Discharge in Violation of Public Policy."' It proceeds in five parts. Following an introduction in Part I, Part II summarizes generally the provisions of Chapter 5, the Working Group's objections to the earlier version and recommendations for changes, and explains (when appropriate) where the final version deviated from the prior version. Part III argues that this chapter should have kept the prior version's protection against wrongful discipline instead of protecting only against …

2016 Survey Of Rhode Island Law: Cases And Public Laws Of Note

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employers' Duties Of Honesty And Accuracy, Helen Norton

Publications

This short essay is a contribution to the Labor Law Group's chapter-by-chapter critique and analysis of the American Law Institute's effort to restate the common law of employment through its 2015 Restatement of Employment Law. This essay focuses specifically on sections 6.05 and 6.06 of the Restatement, which address employers’ duties of honesty and accuracy in their communications to workers themselves as articulated by the torts of fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation.

Employers speak to workers about a wide range of job-related topics that include the terms and conditions of employment, business projections, and applicable workplace legal protections. Employers’ …

Worse Than Pirates Or Prussian Chancellors: A State's Authority To Opt-Out Of The Quid Pro Quo, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

Privatization of public law dispute resolution in workplaces has been under intense scrutiny in the context of arbitration. Another kind of workplace dispute privatization is presently underway, or under serious consideration, in several states. In connection with state workers’ compensation statutes, one state has implemented, and others are considering, a dispute resolution model in which employers are explicitly authorized to “opt out” of coverage. “Alternative benefit plans,” created under such statutes, permit employers to, among other things, unilaterally and without limitation designate private fact-finders, whose conclusions are subject to highly deferential judicial review. This model is arbitration on steroids. While …

At The Intersection Of Religious Organization Missions And Employment Laws: The Case Of Minister Employment Suits, Jarod S. Gonzalez

Catholic University Law Review

Reviewing the intersection of a religious organization’s right to select employees based on their goals and mission and modern employment law, this article argues that the analysis of the ministerial exception will depend on the type of suit brought. Specifically, the Article identifies five analytical categories: (1) employment discrimination/employment retaliation claims; (2) breach of employment contract claims; (3) whistleblower claims; (4) tort claims; and (5) miscellaneous claims.

The Article begins by describing the ministerial exception and ecclesiastical abstention doctrines that exist under the First Amendment through the lens of the Supreme Court’s decision in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School …

When “Disruption” Collides With Accountability: Holding Ridesharing Companies Liable For Acts Of Their Drivers, Alexi Pfeffer-Gillett

Scholarly Articles

When Uber launched in San Francisco in 2010, it took the city by storm. Here was a high-tech transportation service that seemingly did everything better than taxicabs: it was more convenient, more accessible, more comfortable, and even cheaper in many instances. Uber’s initial success inspired a number of lower-cost, nonprofessional “ridesharing” options, which have flourished.

Some skeptics, including taxicab operators, have decried the arrival of these peer-to-peer ridesharing services, now classified by regulators as Transportation Network Companies (TNCs). While such complaints could be easily dismissed as the dying groans of a “disrupted” industry, a string of passenger safety incidents has …

Fortifying The Rights Of Unauthorized Immigrant Workers: Why Employee-Focused Incentives Under The Nlra Would Help End The Cycle Of Labor Rights Abuse, Caitlin E. Delaney

Journal of Law and Policy

Over the past several decades, there has been an unmistakable tension between labor law and immigration law in the United States. That tension, addressed by the Supreme Court most recently in 2001, still exists for unauthorized immigrant workers who wish to assert their labor rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). While the Obama Administration has made significant strides in easing the concerns that unauthorized immigrant workers may have before filing an NLRA claim, the unavailability of the back pay remedy and the uncertainty of protection from immigration authorities leave little incentive for such workers to assert their labor …

The Road To Adopting And Implementing Systemic Disclosure Changes In The Dallas County District Attorney’S Office, Susan Hawk, Patricia J. Cummings

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

Discovery and Brady are currently two of the most discussed and debated topics in our criminal justice system. Americans have become more and more aware of the number of individuals convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. In 2007, in a very bold and innovative move, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office created the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) to reexamine questionable convictions to determine if a particular defendant was in fact guilty.

Personal Injury Victims As Insurance Collection Agents: Erisa Preemption Of State Antisubrogation Laws, Jonathan P. Connery

Journal of Law and Policy

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was enacted in 1974 to protect the pension rights of employees nationwide. However, due to its broad preemptive powers, ERISA has since developed into a tool used by health insurers to recover millions of dollars in tort damages meant to benefit employees with ERISA health plans. This practice, known as subrogation, has been met with legislative backlash in the form of state antisubrogation statutes, which attempt to limit the enforceability of subrogation clauses found in almost all ERISA health plans. However, many courts have held that ERISA preempts these antisubrogation statutes, thereby affirming …

Share And Share Dislike: The Rise Of Uber And Airbnb And How New York City Should Play Nice, Alexandra Jonas

Journal of Law and Policy

Uber and Airbnb are two companies in the emerging “sharing economy” that provide individuals with a means to become entrepreneurs and benefit from a laissez-faire business model. The problem, however, is that while the benefits to users are great, so too are the risks. The dangers of operating without restraint and circumventing existing law are not only potentially harmful to unapprised users, but also adversely affect the continued use of these businesses. Every aggrieved user complaint has the potential for a lawsuit and every violation creates an opportunity for penalties. Left over are attempts by the courts and city government …

2015 Survey Of Rhode Island Law: Cases And Public Laws Of Note, Roger Williams University Law Review Staff

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Naquin V. Elevating Boats, Llc: The Fifth Circuit’S Improper Expansion Of Jones Act “Seaman Status” Qualification, Timothy M. O'Hara

Pace Law Review

The story began nearly a century ago, when Congress enacted the Jones Act and effectively made “seamen the most generously treated personal injury victims in American law.” But defining a Jones Act seaman has not come easy, as it took the United States Supreme Court seventy five years to arrive at the modern seaman status test. This commentary examines the “tortured history” of the Jones Act, how qualification for the statute’s protections has evolved, the modern seaman status test, and the implications of the Fifth Circuit’s recent application thereof. Section II gives a brief history and explanation of maritime law …

Workers' Compensation In Ohio: Scope Of Employment And The Intentional Tort, Donald P. Wiley

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to discuss the issues and developments in the intentional tort area. Although analogies are drawn from developments in other jurisdictions, the primary focus will be on Ohio decisions. As will be demonstrated, Ohio courts are now being faced with the following question: Is an employer protected from common law damages no matter how his employee is injured, or should he be "punished" by a common law action when he intentionally injures his employee? Within this query are many others: What is an intentional injury? Can the employee recover workman's compensation and common law damages …

The Tort Label, Sandra F. Sperino

Florida Law Review

This Article demonstrates the dangers of the tort label, using the lens of two core discrimination statutes: Title VII and the ADEA. However, the discussion has broader implications. Courts have applied the tort label to a variety of statutes and in a wide array of contexts.

This Article proceeds as follows. Part I discusses the move to tortify federal discrimination law. Parts II, III, and IV highlight serious problems with the way the courts understand, use, and apply tort law in the discrimination context. Part V discusses the stakes of the tort label, including its tendency to lead to unsatisfactory …

The Forgotten Role Of Consent In Defamation And Employment Reference Cases, Alex B. Long

Florida Law Review

As has been well documented, the fear of defamation suits and related claims lead many employers to refuse to provide meaningful employment references. However, an employer who provides a negative reference concerning an employee enjoys a privilege in an ensuing defamation action if the employee has consented to the release of information concerning the employee’s job performance. Thus, many attorneys now advise prospective employers to have applicants sign consent agreements, permitting the prospective employer to conduct an investigation into the applicant’s work history and releasing from liability anyone who provides information about the employee’s work history. The Restatement (Second) of …

Retaliation And The Reasonable Person, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

When a worker complains about discrimination, federal law is supposed to protect that worker from later retaliation. Recent scholarly attention focuses on how courts limit retaliation claims by narrowly framing the causation inquiry. A larger threat to retaliation law is developing in the lower courts. Courts are declaring a wide swath of conduct as insufficiently serious to constitute retaliation.

Many courts hold that it is legal for an employer to threaten to fire a worker, to place the worker on administrative leave, or to negatively evaluate the worker because she complained about discriminatory conduct. Even if the worker has evidence …

Medical Malpractice Claims In Mississippi: A Preliminary Analysis, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

This essay explains where medical malpractice claims are filed in Mississippi. It initially does so by collecting state circuit court data, which have been recently released by the Administrative Office of Courts. The essay, then, computes summary statistics. Lastly, it examines these statistics: in order to find out which county had the most medical malpractice claims.