Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Vol. 35, No. 2, Stephanie Fortado

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Where Do We Go From Here? Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Labor Legacy and the Current Attacks on Public Sector Unions, by Stephanie Fortado

Recent Developments

Survey Of (Mostly Outdated And Often Ineffective) Laws Affecting Work-Related Monitoring, Robert Sprague

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article reviews various laws that affect work-related monitoring. It reveals that most of our privacy laws were adopted well before smartphones and the Internet became ubiquitous; they still hunt for physical secluded locations; and, because they are based on reasonable expectations of privacy, they can easily be circumvented by employer policies that eliminate that expectation by informing workers they have no right to privacy in the workplace. This article concludes that the future—indeed the present—does not bode well for worker privacy.

Dignity Takings And Wage Theft, César F. Rosado Marzán

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Damaged Bodies, Damaged Lives: Immigrant Worker Injuries As Dignity Takings, Rachel Nadas, Jayesh Rathod

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Government data consistently affirms that foreign-born workers in the U.S. experience high rates of on-the-job illness and injury. This article explores whether—and under what circumstances—these occupational harms suffered by immigrant workers constitute a dignity taking. The article argues that some injuries suffered by foreign-born workers are indirect takings by the state due to the government’s lackluster oversight and limited penalties for violations of occupational safety and health laws. Using a framework of the body as property, the article then explores when work-related injury constitutes an infringement upon a property right. The article contends that the government’s weak enforcement apparatus, coupled …

The Motive Power In Public Sector Collective Bargaining, Martin Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

In the private sector, George Taylor referred to the strike as providing the “motive power” in collective bargaining. A major reason behind the enactment of public employee collective bargaining laws is to reduce the interruption of public services from job actions. This was the case with the enactment of New York’s Taylor Law.This paper, written for a conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Taylor Law and published in a special issue of the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal focused on the Taylor Law, examines what, in the absence of a right to strike, provides the motive power for …

Vol. 35, No. 1, By Anthony Michael Kreis

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

A Fresh Look at Title VII: Sexual Orientation Discrimination as Sex Discrimination, by Anthony Michael Kreis

Recent Developments

Vol. 34, No. 4, John E. Rumel

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Public Employee Speech: Answering the Unanswered And Related Questions in Lane v. Franks, by John E. Rumel

Recent Developments

Migrant Workers In The United States: Connecting Domestic Law With International Labor Standards, Lance Compa

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Industry and trade associations say that the United States needs more immigrant workers to meet labor shortages and keep the economy growing. Labor advocates counter that the alleged labor shortage is a myth, and that employers’ real goal is to replace American workers and put downward pressure on wages of U.S. workers. The United States needs a new immigration policy that balances the needs of companies and the overall economy with needs for high labor standards and protection of workers’ rights. International labor and human rights instruments address several migrant labor issues, but U.S. law and practice fall short of …

Uber Drivers: A Disputed Employment Relationship In Light Of The Sharing Economy, Nicholas L. Debruyne

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Ride-sharing companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. (“Uber”) have revolutionized the ride-sharing industry. In the realm of employment classification, Uber has a substantial financial motivation to classify its drivers as independent contractors because it frees Uber from financing workers’ compensation programs, payroll taxes, and employee benefit programs. Others argue that Uber should not be able to escape such direct liabilities. In light of this ongoing debate, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has recently denied Uber’s class-action settlement agreement, thereby preserving the issue of whether Uber drivers should be classified as employees or independent contractors. Federal …

Vol. 34, No. 3, Jeffery M. Brown

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Collision Course of Legal Obligations: FOIA, Collective Bargaining and Privacy Considerations: by Jeffery M. Brown

Recent Developments

Vol. 34, No. 2, Taylor E. Muzzy

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Contents:

LGBT Rights: Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in the Workplace, by Taylor E. Muzzy

Recent Developments

The Afscme – State Of Illinois Negotiations: Traveling In Uncharted Waters, Martin Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Vol. 34, No. 1, Martin H. Malin

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Contents:

The AFSCME - State of Illinois Negotiations: Traveling in Uncharted Waters, by Martin H. Malin

Recent Developments

Vol. 33, No. 4, Thomas M. Melody

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Labor-Management Cooperation In A Fire Department Closure: The Highwood Story, by Thomas M. Melody

Recent Developents

Vol. 33, No. 3, James Powers

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Police Body Cameras: Do Illinois Public Employers Have a Duty to Bargain over Their Use?, by James Powers

Recent Developments

Protecting Public Employee Trial Testimony, Joseph Deloney

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In a number of jurisdictions around the United States, police officers and other public employees that regularly testify as part of their ordinary job duties can be placed in compromising positions. Because these types of employees regularly testify as part of their ordinary job duties, such testimony is considered “employee speech” and therefore unprotected by the First Amendment. Consequently, governmental employers can take adverse employment actions against an employee based on his or her truthful trial testimony without violating the employee’s First Amendment rights. Drawing from the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Lane v. Franks and other circuit court cases, …

Feminist-In-Chief? Examining President Obama's Executive Orders On Women's Rights Issues, Mary Pat Treuthart

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article focuses on President Obama’s use of executive orders in various areas of women’s rights issues including the empowerment of women, gender-based violence, reproductive rights, and employment. As scholars of the American presidency have noted, executive orders can be used either as strategic tools to short-circuit legislative gridlock or to underscore and complement presidential policy measures pending in Congress. Executive orders can also serve to promote projects of special interest groups. Finally, knowing that their directives can be powerfully symbolic, presidents can be particularly effective in the use of executive action to underscore the gulf between the Democratic Party …

Presidential Legitimacy Through The Anti-Discrimination Lens, Catherine Y. Kim

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Obama administration’s deferred action programs granting temporary relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants have focused attention to questions regarding the legitimacy of presidential lawmaking. Immigration, though, is not the only context in which the president has exercised policymaking authority. This essay examines parallel instances of executive lawmaking in the anti-discrimination area. Presidential policies relating to workplace discrimination, environmental justice, and affirmative action share some of the key features troubling critics of deferred action yet have been spared from serious constitutional challenge. These examples underscore the unique challenges to assessing the validity of actions targeting traditionally disenfranchised groups—be they noncitizens, …

The Three Phases Of The Supreme Court’S Arbitration Jurisprudence: Empowering The Already Empowered, Martin Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Vol. 33, Nos. 1 & 2, Eric M. Madiar

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Illinois Public Pensions: Where to from Here?, by Eric M. Madiar

Recent Developments

Vol. 32, Nos. 3 & 4, Robert Bruno, Thomas F. Sonneborn

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

The Changing Landscape and Future of Labor Relations: A View from Organization Labor, by Robert Bruno

Conducting Independent Research: Should an Arbitrator Look Beyond the Record for the Facts or the Laws?, by Thomas Sonneborn

Recent Developments

Does Work Law Have A Future If The Labor Market Does Not?, Noah D. Zatz

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Essay is based on the 37th Annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture. It offers a new perspective on the much-discussed “future of work.” That discussion typically highlights changes within the labor market that undermine the employment relationship’s role as the bedrock for work regulation. But might something even deeper be afoot, namely the disintegration of “the labor market” itself? Several recent developments challenge the legal construction of employment as occurring wholly inside a distinctive, and distinctively economic, market sphere. This Essay considers Uber and the relationship between work and “sharing,” Hobby Lobby and the relationship between work and religion, the …

Restrictive Covenants In Illinois: Adequate Consideration Problems Show That The Common Law Is An Inadequate Solution, David S. Repking

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Illinois courts have long dealt with whether restrictive covenants, specifically non-compete clauses, can and should be enforced when they involve employees of businesses. Many aspects of restrictive covenants have been litigated, but a recent Illinois Appellate Court case analyzed the issue of what is adequate consideration in order to enforce a restrictive covenant against a former employee. The First District in Fifield v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc., affirmed a bright-line, two-year rule for deciding how long an employee must work for an employer before a re-strictive covenant can be enforced.

The two-year rule protects employees because an employer cannot …

Vol. 32, No. 2, Stephen A. Yokich

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Let's Make a Deal (or Not): Does the General Assembly's Appropriations Power Limit the Governor's Ability to Engage in Meaningful Collective Bargaining, by Stephen A. Yokich

Recent Developments

Vol. 32, No. 1, James C. Franczek, Laura E. Knittle, Patrick M. Depoy

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Illinois Votes for Change: So What Kind of Changes Can We Expect?, by James C. Franczek Jr., Laura E. Knittle, and Patrick M. DePoy

Recent Developments

Free Speech For Some: The Nlra, Secondary Boycotts, And The First Amendment, Seth B. Kennedy

Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition

No abstract provided.

Coming Out Of The Shadows Of Sheltered Workshops And Subminimum Wage: Exploring The Exploitation Of Disabled Workers Under Section 214(C) Of The Fair Labor Standards Act, Jillian Guilfoyle

Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition

No abstract provided.

Executive Orders And The Struggle For Workplace Equality, David C. Roth

Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition

No abstract provided.

Vol. 31, No. 4, Gary Bailey

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

The Workplace Bully in the Spotlight, by Gary Bailey

Recent Developments

Vol. 31, No. 3, Eric Madiar

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Illinois Public Pension Reform: What's Past is Prologue, by Eric Madiar

Recent Developments