Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Civil Rights Act Of 1991 -- Employer Liability For Punitive Damages In Title Vii Claims, Angela M. Banks

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Not-So-Arbitrary Arbitration: Using Title Vii Disparate Impact Analysis To Invalidate Employment Contracts That Discriminate, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

On May 20, 1996, three women filed a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the Wall Street investment firm Smith Barney. Later joined by twenty additional women, the plaintiffs alleged that Smith Barney failed to hire and promote women, created a hostile work environment, and discriminated on the basis of pregnancy and marital status. The lawsuit quickly gained widespread publicity, most notably for its accusation that the former manager of the Garden City, New York, branch had established a fraternity-like "boom-boom room" in the office basement where female employees were either excluded or harassed if allowed to enter. On …

Where Are We Now?: Life After Electromation, Rafael Gely

Faculty Publications

Given the expectations that preceded the Board's decisions, and the reactions that followed, it is somewhat surprising how little attention has been given to the decisions the NLRB has issued since Electromation and E.I. du Pont. While in general these recent decisions are consistent with the holdings in Electromation and E.I. du Pont, they provide us with the opportunity to analyze the manner in which the Board is currently dealing with the legality of workplace cooperative efforts. This article explores that issue. Part II of the article provides a brief overview of the workplace cooperative efforts problem. Part III reviews …

"Let's Call It A Draw": Striker Replacements And The Mackay Doctrine, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

In a recent article we discuss the issue of the use of permanent replacements for striking employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) Our discussion focuses on the efficiency aspects of the seminal 1938 case of NLRB v. Mackay Radio and Telegraph Co. In the article, we propose a “negotiations” approach, which we argue is likely to result in a more economically efficient interpretation of the Mackay doctrine. As has been the case with other proposals made with respect to this very contentious issue, our proposal has confronted some criticism. Professor William R. Corbett, in a recent piece in …

Whose Team Are You On? My Team Or My Team?: The Nlra's Section 8(A)(2) And The Team Act, Rafael Gely

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes employee participatory programs from the internal labor markets perspective. Internal Labor Markets (“ILM”) refer to the explicit or implicit agreements between employer and employees incorporating rules governing wages, working hours, promotion opportunities and grievance procedures. In order to function properly, ILMs require employees to learn skills that are valuable to the contracting firm, but are of much lesser value elsewhere. Employees agree to acquire such “firm-specific” skills and employers agree to subsidize the training needed to obtain these new skills. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement: employers expect to observe increases in productivity and efficiency and employees …

The Context Of Employment Discrimination In Japan, Allen Madison

Faculty Publications

This article compares employment practices and laws regarding discrimination in Japan to those in the United States. Then it compares the cultural contexts in which discrimination and related regulation exist in each country. The article concludes that the Japanese laws are effective in the context of Japanese culture and that they are more likely to change Japanese attitudes about age, race, and gender in making hiring and promotion decisions than laws in the United States.

Reply: The Need For Real Striker Replacement Reform, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

Introduction In a recent article in the North Carolina Law Review, Louisiana State University Law Professor William R. Corbett proposes an innovative solution to the contentious issue of the right of employers to permanently replace economic strikers pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). Professor Corbett's proposal is based on two arguments. First, he argues that the current legal distinction between “economic” and “unfair labor practice” strikes -- whereby employers are prevented from permanently replacing employees striking over employer unfair labor practices but may permanently replace employees striking over economic issues -- is a useful one and …

Mandatory Arbitration: Alternative Dispute Resolution Or Coercive Dispute Suppression?, Sharona Hoffman

Faculty Publications

The enforceability of mandatory arbitration policies contained in employment contracts between employees and their direct employers remains an open question, even after the Supreme Court's 1991 decision in Gilmer v. Interstate Johnson Lane Corp. While Gilmer gave effect to a mandatory arbitration clause in a contract between a securities broker and his licensing exchange, the Court noted that the contract at issue was not an ordinary employment contract between employer and employee. The Court declined to decide whether arbitration agreements in ordinary employment contracts are per se enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act or whether these provisions are exempt from …

The Business Necessity Defense In Disparate Impact Discrimination Cases, Susan Grover

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Journalists As Professionals: Rethinking The Professional Exemption Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, Edward D. Cavanagh

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

This Article examines the question of whether journalists in the print or electronic media are professionals and hence exempt from coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ("FLSA") or whether they are wage earners and therefore covered by the FLSA. Department of Labor regulations are unclear as to the status of journalists under the FLSA; they recognize that journalists may qualify as professionals but appear to state that most journalists are covered by the FLSA. Those regulations, however, are seriously outdated and out of touch with the modem world of journalism. Promulgated when television was in its …

Striker Replacements: A Law, Economics, And Negotiations Approach, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

In this article, we directly attack Professors Wachter and Cohen's assertion regarding the economic efficiency of the Mackay doctrine. Applying internal and external labor market analysis, we argue that the Mackay doctrine is economically inefficient because it allows employers to behave “opportunistically” with respect to employees that have made “firm-specific” investments in their employing firms. To remedy this problem we propose a new “negotiations approach,” the components of which are: (1) the statutory overruling of Mackay, and (2) the concomitant amendment of the NLRA to make the striker replacement issue a “mandatory” subject of collective bargaining.

The North American Agreement On Labor Cooperation: A New Frontier In North American Labor Relations, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

During the debate leading to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), a great deal of concern focused on the effect that a trade agreement such as the NAFTA might have on workers' rights. As a condition for the ratification of the NAFTA, Congress provided that the treaty would not “enter into force until the three countries enact their own national agreement on labor cooperation.” In response to this concern, the three signatory countries negotiated the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (“NAALC” or “Labor Agreement”). The NAALC establishes a formal and elaborate procedure to settle complaints …

Chapter 5: Unions, Finance, And Labor's Capital, Peter R. Pitegoff

Faculty Publications

Events in recent decades have dramatized the need for labor attention beyond narrow issues of wages and working conditions. In the face of widespread industrial disinvestment, unions have been hard-pressed to protect the job status or employment, or the future of their members. At the same time, the developing labor law has narrowed the range of bargaining opportunities for unions to affect corporate decisions-the very decisions that result in job dislocations and corporate transformations. The effectiveness of strikes has been undermined by growing use of permanent replacement workers.

To thrive in the coming decades, unions must carve out a new …

Through The Looking Glass: Can Title Vii Help Women And Minorities To Shatter The Glass Ceiling, Rafael Gely, Ramona L. Paetzold

Faculty Publications

The employment patterns of “nontraditional” workers in the United States show two conflicting characteristics. On the one hand, researchers have observed a continuing increase in the rate of participation of nontraditional workers at multiple levels in the work force. For example, the proportion of women white collar workers increased from twenty-two percent in the late 1960s to forty-six percent in 1992. Similarly, the average job tenure for nontraditional workers has also increased. For example, although males in the thirty-five to forty-four year old age group have experienced a small decline in job tenure, women in the same group have seen …

Small Numbers, Black Men, Precipitous Responses, Big Problems, Michael A. Middleton

Faculty Publications

Professor Culp has aptly warned us that in our discussion of employment discrimination we should not lose sight of the need to address the spectrum of policies affecting the status of African-Americans. Without serious efforts in all aspects of American life (e.g., housing, education, health care, political and economic empowerment) our chances of significantly improving the future for African-American men are slim.

Maintaining Order In The Post-Strike Workplace: Employee Expression And The Scope Of Section 7, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

In the aftermath of a typical strike, management often seeks to restore order to the workplace by imposing restrictions on employee expression. Although in principle employee expression is protected by section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, courts, relying on outdated notions of workplace organization, often accept ad hoc management justifications for restrictions on employee expression. The author argues that after a strike, it is crucial for employees to be able to express their grievances or vent their frustrations at exactly the same time that employers feel it necessary to restrict expression as a way of re-imposing order in …

The Employer's Fetal Injury Quandary After Johnson Controls, Susan Grover

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Political Will And The Unitary Executive: What Makes An Independent Agency Independent?, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reagan Redux: Civil Rights Under Bush, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Silenced Majority: Martin V. Wilks And The Legislative Response, Susan Grover

Faculty Publications

An American worker finds himself disadvantaged by an employer's affirmative action program. The worker heads for the courthouse, reverse discrimination complaint in hand. Will he be allowed to sue? Prior to the Supreme Court's 1989 Martin v. Wilks decision, the answer to that question tended to be "no." Wilks changed the answer to an emphatic ·yes." With the 1991 Civil Rights Act, the answer has become "probably not." This article discusses the bar against such challenges as developed through case law and recent congressional action. It addresses the implications that the new statutory bar will have for the structure of …

Citizenship, Alienage, And Ethnic Origin Discrimination In Employment Under The Law Of The United States, Mack Player

Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION

This paper will survey the federal law of discrimination in employment based on ethnic origin, alienage, and citizenship. There are a number of sources of this law, many of them overlapping. The federal constitution provides some protections, but only to governmental employees or applicants. The traditional centerpiece of employment discrimination law is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1866 Civil Rights Act also provides protection which overlaps with that provided by Title VII. Finally, the recently enacted Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 regulates both national origin discrimination, thus duplicating the protections of Title …

The Fourth Bite At The Apple: A Study Of The Operation And Utility Of The Social Security Administration's Appeals Council, Charles H. Koch Jr., David A. Koplow

Faculty Publications

The Social Security Administration's Appeals Council performs the fourth and final administrative evaluation of appealed disability claims. Very little information about the Appeals Council has been available to claimants and their representatives, even though claimants must request Appeals Council review before filing an appeal in federal court. In response to criticism and controversy surrounding this obscure branch of the Social Security Administration, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) asked Professors Koch and Koplow to study the Appeals Council's effectiveness in disability claims and adjudication. In this Article, the authors examine Appeals Council operations and the Council's relationship to …

Challenging Discriminatory Guesswork: Does Impact Analysis Apply, Michael A. Middleton

Faculty Publications

This article initially examines the traditional theories of proof in Title VII cases. It then discusses approaches by lower courts in resolving the competing concerns raised in applying those traditional theories in challenges to subjective selection devices. This article next discusses the Supreme Court's resolution of the problem in Watson and suggests a workable alternative resolution that will not undermine the broad prophylactic purposes of Title VII.

Successorship And The Duty To Bargain, B. Glenn George

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Divided We Stand: Concerted Activity And The Maturing Of The Nlra, B. Glenn George

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Guide For The Selection Of Faculty Recruiters...Or Any First Year Course, Paul A. Lebel

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Possible Final Word On Employment Discrimination Relief, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Accommodating Employees' Sabbaths: Is It The Government's Job?, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

To Bargain Or Not To Bargain: A New Chapter In Work Relocation Decisions, B. Glenn George

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Antitrust And Employer Restraints In Labor Markets, Robert H. Jerry Ii

Faculty Publications

This Article argues that the Sherman Act regulates concerted employer activity in the labor market only if such activity restrains or attempts to restrain the product market. After discussing the legislative history of the Act, the Article examines and synthesizes two conflicting lines of cases. Finally, the Article suggests how courts should dispose of challenges to employer conduct and posits the basis for a unified theory of labor-antitrust law.