Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

The Solomon Amendment, Expressive Associations, And Public Employment, Paul Secunda

ExpressO

Rumsfeld v. FAIR apparently concedes that public employers, in the guise of public law school members of the FAIR association, have expressive association rights. This state of affairs could now mean that public employers could gain constitutional rights at the expense of pubic employees. Thus, to the extent that public employers are considered expressive associations, public employees may see their free speech and other constitutional rights diminished (even more so than they recently have been by the Garcetti v. Ceballos decision).

Thankfully, I cannot imagine that the Court, if faced with the question directly, would find that public employers have …

The New Direct Proximate Cause: How The U.S. Supreme Court Has Attempted To Limit Civil Rico In A Manner Congress Aimed To Protect, Gregory M. Zarin

ExpressO

This comment explores a heavily litigated issue since civil RICO's enactment - its unclear statutory scope and private party standing. To illustrate this issue, this comment explores recent RICO litigation related to the unlawful hiring of undocumented workers as an example of a Congressionally supported application of civil RICO, but in a manner wholly unrelated to organized crime or the mafia. While the Supreme Court has continued to limit civil RICO's outer boundaries, Congress seems to go the complete opposite direction by expanding the statute.

The National Labor Relations Act And Flexible Work Arrangements: An Overview Of Existing Law And Proposals For Reform, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Memos and Fact Sheets

The scheduling of work hours is important to employers and employees alike. Employers must ensure sufficient staffing to meet workload demands; employees must balance work with other aspects of their lives. Over the past several years, the tendency to view these needs as mutually exclusive has slowly given way to increased discussion of and experimentation with flexible work arrangements as an effective way to balance work-life demands. While these workplace flexibility initiatives take many forms, the majority of them require collaboration between employers and employees regarding work hours and conditions.

Episodic Time Off: An Overview, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Memos and Fact Sheets

While some workers' needs for lexibility can be addressed by short Term Time Off (STO) or by a Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA), there are other workers who need time off on a more episodic basis. These workers may have an illness, such as cancer of kidney disease, which requires them to attend numerous medical appointments on a relatively set basis. Or they may have a chronic conditions, such as migraine headaches or fibromyalgia, that flares up sporadically. Some workers may care for family memebers who have recurring medical needs, such as an aging parent who requires regularly scheduled bi-weekly dialysis …

Fact Sheet On Episodic Time Off (Epto), Jean Flatley Mcguire, Kaitlyn Kenney

Memos and Fact Sheets

Workplace Flexibility 2010 has coined the term "Episodic Time Off" or "EPTO" to describe the type of workplace flexibility needed to address the recurring need for time off - sometimes regular, sometimes sporadic, sometimes foreseeable, sometimes not - for which Short Term Time Off is insufficient and which a Flexible Work Arrangement cannot resolve. Evidence illustrates that across the lifespan, for a variety of reasons, the need and desire for EPTO are great.

Myspace Isn't Your Space, Donald Carrington Davis

ExpressO

The advent and popularity of online social networking has changed the way Americans socialize. Employers have begun to tap into these online communities as a simple and inexpensive way to perform background checks on candidates. However, a number of problems arise and may arise when employers base adverse employment decisions on the results of these online searches. Three basic problems or issues accompany searches of online profiles for employment decisions: inaccurate, irrelevant, or false information leads to unfair employment decisions; lack of accountability and disclosure tempts employers to make illegal employment decisions; and employer searches of an employee’s online social …

Re Canada Post Corp And Cupw, Innis Christie

Innis Christie Collection

The Grievor was dismissed for allegedly exposing himself and for not cooperating with the Employer's request for medical consultations. The Grievor denied the event occurred. The Union states that the dismissal was without just or sufficient cause and requests that the Grievor be fully reinstated and compensated for all lost earnings and benefits, and that all material relating to the matter be removed from his personnel file.

Void Agreements, Knocked-Out Terms, And Blue Pencils: Judicial And Legislative Handling Of Unreasonable Terms In Noncompete Agreements, Kenneth R. Swift

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

This article discusses the judicial and legislative handling of unreasonable terms in noncompete agreements. Section II provides a brief introduction to employer-employee noncompete agreement analysis and explores the preliminary issue of consideration. Section III analyzes the criteria and differing approaches courts use to determine the validity of a noncompete agreement, including the requirement of an employer’s legitimate business interest and the reasonableness of the occupational limitations as well as the geographic and temporal scope of the agreement. Section IV surveys the current judicial and statutory responses to unreasonable terms in a noncompete agreement. Section V and VI critique the varying …

Reclaiming Mcdonnell Douglas, Martin J. Katz

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This Article proceeds in three Parts. Part I argues that McDonnell Douglas should never be required (and, in the process, dispels the nearly universally held myth that this framework proves or requires "but for" causation). Part II shows how a nonmandatory McDonnell Douglas would interact with the two alternative frameworks (Price Waterhouse and the 1991 Act), and also shows how a nonmandatory McDonnell Douglas can be implemented under current law. This Part also resolves the three doctrinal debates that currently plague disparate treatment law. Part III refutes most of the normative criticisms that have been leveled at McDonnell Douglas and …

Charter Schools And Collective Bargaining: Compatible Marriage Or Illegitimate Relationship? (With C. Kerchner), Martin H. Malin

All Faculty Scholarship

The rapid increase in charter schools has been fueled by the view that traditional public schools have failed because of their monopoly on public education. Charter schools, freed from the bureaucratic regulation that dominates traditional public schools, are viewed as agents of change that will shock traditional public schools out of their complacency. Among the features of the failed status quo are teacher tenure, uniform salary grids and strict work rules, matters that teacher unions hold dear. Yet unions have begun organizing teacher in charter schools. This development prompts the question whether unionization and charter schools are compatible. In contrast …

Derecho Laboral Y Organización Sindical En Puerto Rico, César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Derechos Mancos Para Manos Obreras: Cómo El Derecho Laboral Y La Economía Impactan La Organización Sindical En Puerto Rico, César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Solidarity Or Colonialism? The Polemic Of "Labor Colonialism", César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Vol. 24, No. 1, Robert C. Long Esq.

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Contents:

The Changing Nature of Pension Plans and Retiree Medical Benefits: What the Private Sector Experience Portends for the Looming Crisis in the Public Sector, by Robert C. Long, Esq.

Recent Developments

Further References, compiled by Yoo-Seong Song

Ruminations On The Past, Present And Future Of International Labor Standards: Empowering Law In The Brave New Economic World, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

International labor standards are among the oldest international standards pertaining to the conduct of private, as well as public, economic actors. Far from being settled, however, nearly every aspect of the current international labor standards regime is in flux: the role of labor standards in the international legal, economic, political, and social order, as well as in the parallel domestic orders; the modes by which standards are brought into being; the manner and means of their implementation and enforcement; the degree to which they may be binding solely on nation-state parties, and enforceable only at their behest; and the extent …

The Temporally-Flawed Concept Of Binding Promises In American Collective Bargaining And Employee Benefits Law: A Source Of The Concurrent Crises In The U.S. Industrial Relations, Retirement, And Health Care Systems, Marley S. Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

The American collective bargaining system is in serious trouble, as is the employee benefits system providing pensions and health care benefits for millions of non-union as well as unionized workers and retirees. The portion of the labor force covered by collective bargaining has dropped so low that one can barely refer to it as a system. Simultaneously, the American private employer-based pension system is moving towards a crisis. Large employers with the finest pension plans, covering thousands of workers and retirees, in industry after industry, are terminating their pension plans, or replacing them with cheaper, weaker retirement programs, often while …

Casa Of Maryland And The Battle Regarding Human Trafficking And Domestic Workers’ Rights, Elizabeth Keyes

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Recreating Diversity In Employment Law By Debunking The Myth Of The Mcdonnell Douglas Monolith, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The McDonnell-Douglas framework is one of the primary methods used by courts to evaluate discrimination claims based on circumstantial evidence. Although McDonnell-Douglas often is referred to as a singular test, it is actually a collection of different tests gathered rather deceptively under one name. Over the years, federal courts considering state law claims have increasingly applied the McDonnell-Douglas framework to these state claims, without considering whether the same result would occur under state law. The federal courts' rather monolithic view of McDonnell-Douglas is choking debate on important issues of employment law and denying states the ability to weigh in on …

Their Servants’ Keepers: Examining Employer Liability For The Crimes And Bad Acts Of Employees, Monique C. Lillard

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Legality Of Using Employee Appearance Policies To Promote Organizational Culture, Dennis R. Kuhn, John A. Pearce Ii

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Global Issues In Employment Discrimination Law, Brian K. Landsberg, Samuel Estreicher

McGeorge School of Law Teaching Materials

This casebook emphasizes primary materials (statutes, European Union directives, regulations, guidelines, and cases) that have been edited to facilitate classroom discussion. Topics include what employers are covered, including extraterritorial application; protected classes in Europe, Asia, South Africa and Mexico; types of unlawful discrimination; and remedies and enforcement mechanisms. The primary material is enhanced by brief notes and questions. The book can supplement a domestic-only employment discrimination law course, or serve as the basis of a stand-alone seminar, to advance the students' understanding of their own system and the kinds of issues they will face in an era of globalization.

Ict And Employer-Employee Power Dynamics: A Comparative Perspective Of United States' And Netherlands' Workplace Privacy In Light Of Information And Computer Technology Monitoring And Positioning Of Employees, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 37 (2007), Colette Cuijpers

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Employees can cause harm to their employers through Information and Computer Technology (ICT) in employment relationships; for example, through surfing for adult material on the Internet or leaking company secrets via a mobile phone. Employers have responded to this development by introducing various surveillance systems. Besides well-known forms of Internet and e-mail surveillance, positioning systems are becoming a new trend. The influence these systems have on the employment relationship can be far-reaching, as they offer the employer an insight into the employee’s whereabouts, outside the company premises as well as outside company hours. As a consequence, the boundaries between the …

Correcting Culture: Extraterritoriality And U.S. Employment Discrimination Law, Kathy Roberts

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

More Than Just A Cool T-Shirt: What We Don't Know About Collective Bargaining-But Should-To Make Organizing Effective, Ellen Dannin, Gangaram Singh

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Educating The Masses: Expanding Title Vii To Include Sexual Orientation In The Education Arena, Sheila Hatami, David Zwerin

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

No Intent, No Foul? Unconscious Bias In Employment Decisions, Martin J. Katz

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Many commentators have criticized current anti-discrimination law on the grounds that it does not adequately prohibit unconscious bias in employment decisions. That claim is wrong: Unconscious bias is fully actionable, and it can generally be proved by knowledgeable employment lawyers. The idea behind unconscious bias is that well-meaning employers and supervisors, who would likely consider themselves supporters or even champions of equality, might subconsciously harbor attitudes that result in negative employment decisions for women and minorities.

From Taylorism To The Omnipticon: Expanding Employee Surveillance Beyond The Workplace, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 1 (2007), Robert D. Sprague

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Douglas Hay And Paul Craven's Masters, Servants, And Magistrates In Britain And The Empire, 1562–1955, Robert J. Steinfeld

Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

The Push & Pull Of Globalization: How The Global Economy Makes Migrant Workers Vulnerable To Exploitation, Neha Misra

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Sanctioned Abuses: The Case Of Migrant Domestic Workers, Nisha Varia

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.