Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

This Is Just Not Working For Us: Why After Ten Years On The Job- It Is Time To Fire Garcetti, Jason Zenor

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In Lane v. Franks, the U.S. Supreme Court held that public employees who give truthful testimony in court are protected so long as it was outside their ordinary job duties. This issue arose after ten years of the Garcetti rule which does not protect employee speech pursuant to their job duties- a nebulous topic in the digital era. In applying Garcetti, lower courts have extended it to include any speech that is a product of job duties, even if it would serve the public interest. In Lane v. Franks, the Court amended the employee speech doctrine to protect …

Confusion On The Court: Distinguishing Disparate Treatment From Disparate Impact In Young V. Ups And Eeoc V. Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc., Michael C. Harper

Faculty Scholarship

In two decisions in the 2014-2015 Term, Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc., the Court seemed to give contradictory answers to an important unresolved conceptual definitional question: Does disparate treatment include assigning members of a protected group based on their protected status to a larger disfavored group that is defined by neutral principles and that includes others who are not members of the protected group? Or does such assignment have only a disparate impact on the protected status group?

In Young, the first of these decisions, all members of the …

Be Careful What You Wish For: Why Hobby Lobby Weakens Religious Freedom, Frank S. Ravitch

BYU Law Review

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which brought for-profit corporations under the protection of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, has been the subject of widespread support and criticism. Some have lauded the Hobby Lobby decision as an important step in protecting religious freedom. Others have derided it as an affront to the civil rights of corporate employees. This Article suggests a third perspective, namely, that Hobby Lobby harms, rather than helps, religious freedom. Both legally and politically, Hobby Lobby is likely to lead to a reduction in protection for religious individuals and entities …

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Lack Of Protection For Volunteers Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Statutes, Lawrence D. Rosenthal

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whistling In Silence: The Implications Of Arbitration On Qui Tam Claims Under The False Claims Act, Mathew Andrews

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

For nearly twenty years, corporate defendants have sought unsuccessfully to use arbitration to roll back protections for whistleblowers suing under federal law. The state and federal judiciaries have long stymied these efforts, on the grounds that defendants cannot force the Government's claims into the secretive forum of arbitration. In January 2013, this protection came to an end. A federal court ruled for the first time that a whistleblower suing on behalf of the United States must pursue its action in arbitration. Five months later, this trend continued as federal courts have compelled arbitration of state law qui tam actions. This …

The Lawyer's Obligation To Correct Social Injustice!, James F. Gill

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Madonnas And Whores In The Workplace, Jessica Fink

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Much has been written about “lookism”—the preferential treatment given to those who conform to societal standards of beauty. But in a recent case before the Iowa Supreme Court, a sex discrimination plaintiff alleged “reverse-lookism,” claiming that her male employer terminated her long-term employment because she was too physically attractive, thus tempting the employer to consider entering into an extramarital affair. To the great surprise of many who followed this case, the Iowa Supreme Court sided with the employer, declining to find him liable for sex discrimination. As one might expect, uproar ensued, with the media, the public, and the academic …

Jack & Jill Take Lots Of Pills, But Jill Comes Tumbling After: Gender Inequality In Privately Funded Early Phase Clinical Trials, Shana F. Oppenheim

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Civil Rights-Newspaper Advertisements For Employment Opportunities Located In South Africa, Which Do Not On Their Face Recite Discriminatory Conditions, Do Not Violate Municipal Anti-Discrimination Laws, Nancy L. Rumble

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

United Nations-United States Withdraws From The International Labor Organization, Michael K. Mixson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Occupy Our Occupations: Why “We Are The 99%” Resonates With Working People And What We Can Do To Fix The American Workplace, Sarah Leberstein, Anastasia Christman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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, …

Keeping Flsa's Promises: The Third Circuit Extends The Law's Reach To More Joint Employers, Successors, And Supervisors In Thompson V. Real Estate Mortgage Network, John M. D'Elia

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Bunk House Rules: A Materialist Approach To Legal Consciousness In The Context Of Migrant Workers’ Housing In Ontario, Adrian Smith

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In this article, I tackle the controversy surrounding an application to convert an abandoned school into housing for migrant agricultural workers in Ontario. I examine how the written reactions of community residents to a proposed municipal zoning by-law amendment convey and invoke understandings of the legal regulation of temporary labour migration. Viewed through a legal consciousness analytical lens that has been reconstituted to attend to the material practices and contexts underpinning residents’ responses (a materialist approach to legal consciousness), the submissions intervene in the organization and regulation of agricultural labour. While rehearsing well-worn, racist colonial tropes, these responses (re)produce material …

Justice Kennedy's Big New Idea, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In a 2015 case, the Supreme Court held that plaintiffs could bring disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act (the "FHA"). In the majority opinion, Justice Kennedy relied heavily on the text and supporting case law interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act ("Title VII") and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (the "ADEA '). Without explicitly recognizing the powerful new idea he was advocating, Justice Kennedy's majority opinion radically reconceptualized federal employment discrimination jurisprudence. This new reading of Title VII and the ADEA changes both the theoretical framing of the discrimination statutes and greatly expands their scope. …

Religious Discrimination Based On Employer Misperception, Dallan F. Flake

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article addresses the circuit split over whether Title VII prohibits discrimination based on an employer's misperception of an employee's religion. This is an especially critical issue because misperception-based religious discrimination is likely to increase as the United States continues to experience unprecedented religious diversification. Some courts read Title VII narrowly to preclude such claims, reasoning that the statutory text only prohibits discrimination based on an individual's actual religion. Other courts interpret the statute more expansively in concluding such claims are cognizable because the employer's intent is equally malicious in misperception and conventional discrimination cases. I argue that the statutory …

Brief For Catholic Lay Org. As Amici Curiae Supporting Appellant, Fratello V. Roman Catholic Archdiocese, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Reply To Brief In Opposition, Melhorn V. Baltimore Washington Conf. Of United Methodist Church, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Brief For Legal Ethics And Labor Law Professors As Amici Curiae Supporting Appellants, Nat'l Fed'n Of Indep. Bus. V. Perez, Ruben J. Garcia

Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

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

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Restorative Workplace: An Organizational Learning Approach To Discrimination, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

On the fiftieth anniversary of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, many employers continue to search for ways to implement the law’s antidiscrimination and equal opportunity mandates into the workplace. The current litigation-based approach to employment discrimination under Title VII and similar laws focuses on weeding out “bad apples” who are explicitly prejudiced. This “victim-villain” paradigm may fail to correct the complex, nuanced causes of workplace discrimination, or exacerbate the problem. This article explores an alternative approach—restorative practices—that may integrate the policy goals of antidiscrimination laws into the practical realities of managing an organization. Restorative practices engage everyone in …

Petition For Writ Of Certiorari, Melhorn V. Baltimore Washington Conf. Of United Methodist Church, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

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 …

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

Nurturing Wings Or Clipping Them Off: The Philippine Approach To Female Labor Migration And A Potentially Redeeming Role For The Commission On Human Rights, Emily Sanchez Salcedo

Center for Business Research and Development

The large-scale migration of Filipino workers started in the 1970’s as inadequate local employment and livelihood opportunities pointed to overseas opportunities in the booming economy of oil-rich countries in the Middle East. Though initially dominated by male construction workers and seafarers, female migrant workers, mostly in the health care professions, in domestic services and in the entertainment industry, followed suit and, in the most recent available statistical report, have even slightly outnumbered the men. As of the end of 2014, 50.43% of the 2.32 million overseas Filipino workers are women. Collectively, these overseas workers sent about 27 billion dollars in …

Chinese "Workers Without Benefits", Ron Brown

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Millions of workers in China are not afforded the rights and benefits of its labor and employment laws and thus are not "workers with benefits." China's labor reforms and worker "safety net" have come so far in the past 30 years, producing "workers with benefits." Why are there still millions of workers in the urban sector who do not have the protections of these labor and employment law reforms, who are the "workers without benefits," falling outside the labor safety net?

The Market Myth And Pay Disparity In Legal Academia, Paula A. Monopoli

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Catalyst For Change: Tatum V. Rjr Pension Inv. Committee, Erisa, And The Absence Of A Uniform Loss Causation Standard, Jared Burtner

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

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 …