Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Reimagining The Path Forward: Preparing And Promoting The Next Generation Of Arbitrators Through Innovative Mentorship, Disclosure, And Transparency, Homer C. La Rue

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article addresses a pivotal moment for the labor-management arbitration profession. As demographic changes and the growing complexity of labor relations coincide with a decline in the number of qualified arbitration professionals, Professor La Rue emphasizes the critical role senior arbitrators play as mentors and gatekeepers for the next generation. The piece explores mentorship models, including the traditional “Legacy Method” and initiatives designed to expand opportunities for underrepresented groups, such as the Ray Corollary Initiative. The article also offers actionable recommendations to advance disclosure and transparency, including: (1) reducing barriers to entry for new arbitrators; (2) establishing a formal mentorship …

Scotus Rules For Whistleblowers: What Eliminating The Retaliation Requirement For A Sarbanes-Oxley Discrimination Claim Means For The Future Of Corporate Whistleblowing, Abigail Pezzolo

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This comment analyzes the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC. The author examines how the Court addressed the significant "information asymmetry" that often leaves employees unable to prove an employer's specific retaliatory intent. By confirming that plaintiffs are not required to provide proof of "retaliatory animus," the decision reinforces the "contributing-factor" burden-shifting framework established under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Pezzolo argues that this holding is a critical victory for whistleblowers, as it lowers the evidentiary hurdles for those reporting financial misconduct and encourages corporations to implement more robust internal transparency systems. Ultimately, the article situates this …

The Ministerial Exception And Defamation: Navigating Churches’ Autonomy And Their Communications, Zachary Runge

Pepperdine Law Review

In two recent cases, the Supreme Court has adopted what scholars and lower courts have called the “ministerial exception.” The Court only addressed the ministerial exception’s application to employment discrimination claims. But the Court did not foreclose the possibility of its application to other claims. This Comment argues that the ministerial exception applies to defamation claims arising out of a minister’s termination. After providing the background for the ministerial exception, this Comment explains the current state of the law. Then, this Comment argues that the ministerial exception, as a form of the church autonomy doctrine, applies to the defamation claims …

An Alternative Sacrifice: Religious Arbitration Agreements In Ministerial Employment Contracts, Grace E. Brandt

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

After decades of development in lower courts, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the ministerial exception in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. E.E.O.C. (2012) and provided additional guidance in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (2020). The precise contours of the exception remain uncertain, but the doctrine—grounded in the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment—effectively bars civil courts from reviewing claims against religious institutions that implicate ministerial employment decisions. Thus, ministers are unable to pursue redress for legitimate harms that occur within the scope of their religious employment, even if unrelated to religious doctrine. This …

Off The Gridiron Conflict: Why The Nfl Should Use Mediation To Resolve Internal Disputes, Bryan Weitzman

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The National Football League (NFL) is a multibillion-dollar enterprise built on a sport that fundamentally depends on communication, cooperation, and collaboration. Yet the league resolves nearly all internal disputes through adversarial arbitration mechanisms embedded in the NFL Constitution and the NFL/NFL Players Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. This comment argues that the NFL’s exclusive reliance on arbitration is conceptually inconsistent with the values that the sport instills and structurally prejudicial to players, coaches, and employees—particularly where the Commissioner retains final arbitral authority. An examination of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) principles and case studies demonstrates how the NFL’s current internal dispute resolution …

The National Labor Relations Act Patch Notes: Recent Changes To The Federal Employment Law Landscape, Its Impact On Esport Players, And What These Changes Indicate About The Future, Emet Mah

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Note explores this possibility of esports players unionizing, and exercising their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Part II provides background on the esport industry as a business and its evolution over time. Part III outlines some of the major issues affecting the esport industry, particularly focusing on the lack of player representation. Part IV examines the industry’s current use of player associations and will explore their shortcomings, prompting the need for formal unionization. Part V will cover the benefits of unionization and how esport players might come under the coverage of the NLRA.

Shackles Or Safeguards?: Tailoring Ndas And Noncompetes To Protect Interests Without Imposing Uniform Restraints, Nadia Brenden

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

To better understand the implications of the FTC’s sweeping proposal and the need for a state-by-state approach, the following sections dive into the legal, historical, and comparative foundations of restrictive covenants, trace their evolution across jurisdictions, and explain why states—not federal agencies—are best positioned to strike the right balance. Part II provides an overview of legal doctrines governing the transmission of proprietary information, a history of the early applications of employment contracts, and a comparative analysis of international noncompete standards. Part III describes how different jurisdictions apply trade secret, contract, and employment law to protect business interests through enforceable agreements. …

Enforcement In Human Rights Due Diligence Laws: A Comparative Analysis, Ryan Schmidt

Pepperdine Law Review

This Comment embarks on a comparative analysis of a variety human rights due diligence (HRDD) laws. It examines six different laws related to human trafficking and supply chains. These laws originate from five different countries and fit into two categories: (1) laws requiring a company to report what, if any, human rights due diligence it engages in and (2) laws that require more than just reporting. By surveying a wide sample of HRDD laws, this Comment provides a broad overview of this area of the law. It also describes the range of legal obligations that multinational enterprises face in different …

Troubling Trends: Ada Definition-Of-Disability Cases 2019–2023, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Pepperdine Law Review

This empirical Article continues my every-five-year tradition of examining every federal case discussing the definition of disability since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was amended, effective 2009. The results of this research from the third five-year period (2019–2023) are disappointing in both familiar and surprising ways. Similar to the 2014–2018 period, we continue to see way too many courts incorrectly applying (or not even citing to) the ADA Amendments Act. Moreover, I discovered several new troubling trends in this dataset that raise the possibility that we might be heading toward another backlash against ADA plaintiffs. This Article presents my …

A Haven For Traffickers: How The United States Provides A Legal Safe Haven For Businesses That Rely On Forced Labor In The International Supply Chain, Ramona Lampley

Pepperdine Law Review

Congress enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (“TVPRA” or “Act”) in 2000, which, through its amendments, gives victims of human trafficking, including forced labor or slave labor, a private right of action against those who knowingly benefit from the abusive labor practices perpetrated on them. Even though slave labor, particularly child labor, is a perceived evil in the foreign supply chains of many domestic companies, courts appear uncomfortable with the some of the civil liability provisions of the TVPRA. This Article examines recent cases brought under the TVPRA, and how, in some cases, courts have eviscerated the private right of …

Know When To Hold Them, When To Fold Them, And When To Walk Away: Tiktoks Are Professional Sports Franchises' Ace In Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Angelica Varona

Pepperdine Law Review

TikTok, the social media app, has become both a central force in entertainment, creating a slew of influencers and young celebrities, as well as an important tool in all things branding and marketing. Athletes have recognized the value of social media and fan engagement and have taken to becoming content-creators on the platform. The growing presence of professional athletes on the app brings up important issues of copyrightability and ownership of the content they are producing. This Comment considers the nature of athlete content-creation on TikTok as well as the employment scheme and contractual responsibilities that form a part of …

Arbitration And The Right To Have Your Day In Court: Meeting Again At The Turning Of The Tide, Lucas Clover Alcolea

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article aims to explore court decisions which have made arbitration less attractive to businesses—both those which have refused to enforce arbitration clauses and paradoxically and those which have enforced arbitration clauses—as well as to provide an overview of businesses' reactions to those decisions and make some predictions about the future direction of travel. To that end, this article will be divided into three main parts. The first will explore the decision of New Prime Inc. as well as the various federal appellate decisions that have applied it. The second will explore the challenges posed by mass arbitration, and the …

The Paga Saga, Tamar Meshel

Pepperdine Law Review

Employees routinely enter into employment contracts that contain arbitration ‎agreements and prohibit ‎them from bringing class and/or representative actions. These employees may therefore only bring claims against their ‎employers, ‎whether contractual or statutory, in arbitration on an individual basis. Such arbitration agreements and the class/representative action waivers that they contain are enforced nationwide pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In California, however, a judge-made rule (the Iskanian rule) prohibits the enforcement of representative action waivers found in arbitration agreements with respect to employees’ claims of Labor Code violations under California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA). A judicial battle is …

How The Family And Medical Leave Act Does Not Serve Women Of Color, Anahi Casas Perez

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Keywords

Woman of Color, single mother of color, Family and Medical Leave Act

Department

Social Work/ Sociology

Major

Music with an Emphasis in Voice

Abstract

The Family and Medical Leave, FMLA, was enacted into Federal law in 1993 under the Bill Clinton Administration to enable employees to take unpaid time off to tend to a medical or familial event that makes attendance at work impossible. Specifically, FMLA was created to

“to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to promote the stability, economic security of families, and promote national interests in preserving …

Refusing Work To Avoid Serious Injury Or Death: An Empirical Study Of Legal Protections Before And During Covid-19, Michael H. Leroy

Pepperdine Law Review

I present data on court and administrative rulings involving employees who were disciplined or quit after refusing to work due to concerns about death or injury. My sample of 109 pre-pandemic cases from 1944–2020, and its comparison to twelve COVID-19 cases in 2020 and 2021, shows an emerging picture of new forms of work refusal. The cases before COVID-19 were concentrated in mining, construction, and transportation. In contrast, the COVID-19 cases span new occupations in social services, education, law, healthcare, protective services, food preparation, and building cleaning. Before COVID-19, employees lost most work refusal cases because laws such as the …

Can I Touch Your Hair?: Business Diversity, Slavery, Disparate Outcomes, And The Crown Act, Ashley Jones

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This comment will begin by looking at why hair in the United States is related to issues of race. This comment will then look at how businesses’ rules for appearance and hair disproportionately affect Black employees. Next, this paper will look at Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to point out how the vague language has created loopholes, which allow businesses to lawfully discriminate against people with natural hair. We will then move to explore what role some city and state governments have had in creating natural hair-safe workspaces for employees in their respective boundaries. Lastly, we …

Automation: Creative Destruction And The Race For Equilibrium, Dustin Rabi

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The inevitable transition to an automation-driven workforce, economy, and society is generating excitement in some and discomfort in others. Researchers have estimated that anywhere between 10—50% of today’s jobs are susceptible to automation. Furthermore, private firms are highly incentivized to adopt new technologies as a way to remain competitive in their respective markets. In anticipation of this potential economic paradigm shift, Congress requested the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to obtain more ascertainable data as to what is currently understood about how the adoption of advanced technologies will affect the U.S. workforce. Nine months after the report was published, on …

A Burning Question: Sparking Federal Protection Of Inmate Firefighters Through California’S Conservation Camp Program, Zachary T. Remijas

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The mounting demand for inmate firefighters in response to increased disaster relief has made such individuals an indispensable resource to the State of California. As a result, state agencies in charge of administering inmate firefighters’ services must give renewed attention to expanding efforts to protect the inmates’ livelihood both before and after a participating inmate’s release. This Comment provides an overview of California inmates undertaking prison labor as volunteer firefighters under the Conservation Camp Program. The Comment further critiques the nonreciprocal approach taken towards inmate firefighting resources, while advocating for a more intentional rehabilitationist approach that implores the California Department …

It's Alright, Ma, It's Life And Life Only: Have Universities Been Meeting Their Legal Obligations To High-Risk Faculty During The Pandemic?, Gary J. Simson, Mark L. Jones, Cathren K. Page, Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne

Pepperdine Law Review

Even those universities most firmly committed to returning to in-person instruction in fall semester 2020 recognized that for health reasons some exceptions would need to be made. The CDC had identified two groups—people age sixty-five and over and people with certain medical conditions—as persons "at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19," and it had spelled out various special precautions they should take to avoid contracting the virus. Given the CDC's unique stature, universities very reasonably could have been expected to grant exceptions to faculty falling into either group, but that's not what many universities did. We argue that, properly …

Employment Arbitration Agreements: The Case For Ethical Standards For Dispute Resolution System Designers, Michael L. Russell

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Dispute resolution design is an emerging field, both academically and professionally. Attorneys, mediators, and arbitrators, the other roles in the alternative dispute resolution process, have codes of ethics which guide their conduct. Dispute resolution designers, however, have no such guidelines. This article uses the example of mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment context to illustrate why this lack of ethical guidelines for dispute resolutions designers is problematic. In recent years, mandatory arbitration agreements significantly impacted employment law and litigation. The two most problematic provisions that often appear in mandatory arbitration agreements in the workplace context are cost sharing provisions and …

Hybrid Federalism And The Employee Right To Disconnect, Paul M. Secunda

Pepperdine Law Review

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) administers specific workplace and health standards that generally and expressly preempt the entire field of workplace safety and health law. However, where such federal OSHA standards do not exist or states have developed their own approved OSHA plans, OSHA does not merely set a regulatory floor either. A type of “hybrid federalism” has been established, meaning a strong federal-based field preemption approach to labor and employment law issues, but tied to a conflict preemption approach. Applying this hybrid preemption approach to the employee right to disconnect problem provides the best opportunity to …

Arbitration Agreements – What Is The Employee Actually Signing Up For?, Kennedy Poe

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This note will examine the various effects and implications the Supreme Court’s decision concerning the legality of class action waivers within employee-employer contracts will have on employers, employees, and the contracts made between them. Part I will identify class action waivers within an employment contract’s arbitration agreement and will further elaborate upon the legal implications of such waivers being present in the contract. Part II will then discuss the history of the NLRA and assess its present-day role in employee–employer contract formation, in order to provide clarity as to the dispute that has arisen between the NLRA and class action …

Bad Company? The Rise (Again) Of Association Health Plans, Brendan Williams

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This article first examines the rule adopted by the DOL and the criticism it has drawn. It then assesses the state of the small-group insurance market for small businesses, and the flawed approach that the ACA took to assisting them. Finally it takes a look at the uncertain future for small businesses and health insurance, and it suggests new approaches

Protecting The Little Guys: How To Prevent The California Supreme Court’S New “Abc” Test From Stunting Cash-Strapped Startups, Braden Seibert

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

California startups and independent contractors are in desperate need of a lifeline before they are gone for good. This state has long favored the employee over the employer, but the California Supreme Court’s new “ABC” test tips the scales even further by making it practically impossible for startups to compensate their workers. As a remedy, I propose exemptions to the test for sophisticated contractors who do not need the state’s protection, certified owners who have demonstrated fair play, and small businesses which are still in the developmental stages. Though the Court based its decision largely on a policy of protecting …

Thinking Slow About Abercrombie & Fitch: Straightening Out The Judicial Confusion In The Lower Courts, Bruce N. Cameron, Blaine L. Hutchison

Pepperdine Law Review

In Abercrombie & Fitch, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the way that Title VII religious accommodation cases are litigated and evaluated. This paper analyzes Abercrombie, explains how the Court eliminated religious accommodation as a freestanding cause of action, and suggests an altered proof framework for plaintiffs seeking an accommodation. The paper also explores the conflict between employee privacy rights and classic proof requirements for religious sincerity. The lower courts have largely failed to apprehend the change mandated by Abercrombie, with the result that their opinions are in disarray. The paper includes a chart organizing the diverse lower court opinions.

It’S Time To Pay Up, The Justification For Higher Salaries For Wnba Players: An Analysis Of The Wnba’S Success And Employing Mediation Between The Wnba And Nba To Leverage Future Success, Lerae Ettienne

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This comment looks at the potential positive effects that mediation can have in fostering a better relationship between the two leagues and for the WNBA and its players to get their much-deserved respect and compensation. First, the comment will go in depth regarding the structure of the WNBA, and its history to date. Next, the comment will examine the WNBA’s success despite the discrepancy in pay and the purported lack of viewership. The comment will then expound on the rise of mediation as one of the major ADR tools. Next, the comment will analyze the success of mediation in professional …

Ban The Box: Mediation’S Place In Criminal Reentry And Employment Rights, Shawn Anderson

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This note will provide general insight into a growing civil rights movement through discussion of Ban the Box, then make the case for mediation as the best alternative for providing a remedy to applicants whose rights have been violated. Mediation can more effectively achieve the goals of Ban the Box by incentivizing applicants to report instances of nonconformity with the law, empowering the applicants to engage in honest discourse with their prospective employers, and combatting the negative stigma surrounding persons with criminal records that often keeps employers from hiring the qualified employees that they need.

Arbitration In Internal Dispute Resolution Programs: The Scarlet Letter “A” In Sexual Harassment Claims, Sarah Sachs

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This Comment evaluates the use of arbitration and mediation as effective alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for resolving workplace sexual harassment claims. Part II discusses the legal development of sexual harassment claims in the workplace. Part III evaluates companies who use internal dispute resolution programs with mediation and arbitration to resolve workplace harassment claims. Finally, Part IV analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of companies designing and implementing internal dispute resolution programs to adjudicate workplace sexual harassment claims.

Taxing The Robots, Orly Mazur

Pepperdine Law Review

Robots and other artificial intelligence-based technologies are increasingly outperforming humans in jobs previously thought safe from automation. This has led to growing concerns about the future of jobs, wages, economic equality, and government revenues. To address these issues, there have been multiple calls around the world to tax the robots. Although the concerns that have led to the recent robot tax proposals may be valid, this Article cautions against the use of a robot tax. It argues that a tax that singles out robots is the wrong tool to address these critical issues and warns of the unintended consequences of …

The Blue Devil's In The Details: How A Free Market Approach To Compensating College Athletes Would Work, David A. Grenardo

Pepperdine Law Review

Everyone involved in the business of major college athletics, except the athletes, receives compensation based on a free market system. The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) cap on athlete compensation violates antitrust law, and athletes should be allowed to earn their free market value as everyone else does in this country. This Article provides a detailed approach to compensating college athletes under a free market model, which includes a salary cap, the terms of a proposed standard player’s contract, a discussion of who can represent players, and payment simulations for football and basketball teams. A free market approach would not …