Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

The Ineffectiveness Of Capped Damages In Cases Of Employment Discrimination: Solutions Toward Deterrence, Vanessa M. Ruggles

ExpressO

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1991 helped victims of employment discrimination in a variety of ways, including the authorization of jury trials and the accompanying possibility of compensatory and punitive damages, the caps Congress placed on damages do not serve the purpose of deterrence. Because the caps are based on the number of employees a defendant employer has, the goal of protecting small businesses from exorbitant damages is accomplished. However, because the top category of the caps is “500 or more” employees, giant corporations escape meaningful awards. This article identifies the problem citing specific examples, and proposes several solutions …

Disability And Employment Discrimination At The Rehnquist Court, Anita Silvers, Michael E. Waterstone, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Eliminating The Intent Requirement In Constructive Discharge Cases: Pennsylvania State Police V. Suders, Crystal L. Norrick

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fielding A Team For The Fans: The Societal Consequences And Title Vii Implications Of Race-Considered Roster Construction In Professional Sport, N. Jeremi Duru

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Professional sports organizations' relationships with their players are, like other employer-employee relationships, subject to scrutiny under the antidiscrimination mandates embedded in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Professional sports organizations are, however, unique among employers in many respects. Most notably, unlike other employers, professional sports organizations attract avid supporters who identify deeply with the teams and their players. To the extent an organization racially discriminates, therefore, such discrimination creates the risk that fans will identify with the homogenous or racially disproportionate roster that results. The consequences of such race-based team identification are wide-reaching and potentially tragic. Through …

Disability, Disparate Impact, And Class Actions, Michael Ashley Stein, Michael E. Waterstone

Faculty Publications

Following Title VII's enactment, group-based employment discrimination actions flourished due to disparate impact theory and the class action device. Courts recognized that subordination that defined a group's social identity was also sufficient legally to bind members together, even when relief had to be issued individually. Woven through these cases was a notion of panethnicity that united inherently unrelated groups into a common identity, for example, Asian Americans. Stringent judicial interpretation subsequently eroded both legal frameworks and it has become increasingly difficult to assert collective employment actions, even against discriminatory practices affecting an entire group. This deconstruction has immensely disadvantaged persons …

Grutter At Work: A Title Vii Critique Of Constitutional Affirmative Action, Jessica Bulman-Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

This Note argues that Title VII doctrine both illuminates internal contradictions of Grutter v. Bollinger and provides a framework for reading the opinion. Grutter's diversity rationale is a broad endorsement of integration that hinges on the quantitative concept of critical mass, but the opinion's narrow-tailoring discussion instead points to a model of racial difference that champions subjective decisionmaking and threatens to jettison numerical accountability. Title VII doctrine supports a reading of Grutter that privileges a view of diversity as integration and therefore cautions against the opinion's conception of narrow tailoring. Grutter, in turn, can productively inform employment discrimination law. The …

Reconsidering Severe Or Pervasive: Aligning The Standard In Sexual Harassment And Racial Harassment Causes Of Action, Heather L. Kleinschmidt

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Same Struggle, Different Difference: Ada Accommodations As Antidiscrimination, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was heralded as an "emancipation proclamation" for people with disabilities, one that would achieve their equality primarily through its reasonable accommodation requirements. Nevertheless, both legal commentators and Supreme Court Justices assert that the ADA's employment mandates distinguish the ADA from earlier antidiscrimination measures, most notably Title VII, because providing accommodations results in something more than equality for the disabled. The Article challenges this prevalent belief by arguing that ADA-mandated accommodations are consistent with other antidiscrimination measures in that each remedies exclusion from employment opportunity by questioning the inherency of established workplace norms, and by …

Section 4: Civil Rights & Employment Law, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Reasonable Accommodation Of Workplace Disabilities, Stewart J. Schwab, Steven L. Willborn

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disabiling The Ada: Essences, Better Angels, And Unprincipled Neutrality Claims, Aviam Soifer

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Union Of Formalism And Flexibility: Allowing Employers To Set Their Own Liability Under Federal Employment Discrimination Laws, Darren M. Creasy

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sex Plus Age Discrimination: Protecting Older Women Workers, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Faculty Publications

There is little doubt that sexism and ageism still exist. To remedy these "isms," there are laws to protect both women and older workers from discrimination in the workplace, namely Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), which prohibits sex discrimination as well as discrimination based on many other protected categories, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ("ADEA"), which prohibits age discrimination. Despite these protections, an older woman cannot bring a claim based on the fact that she feels she was discriminated against because she is an older woman. In other words, her …

Humiliation At Work, Catherine L. Fisk

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

No abstract provided.

Marital Status Discrimination: A Proposal For Title Vii Protection, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Faculty Publications

Marital status is not one of the protected categories of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal antidiscrimination statute that governs discrimination in employment. This Article will argue that to avoid the types of inequities caused by marital status discrimination, it is necessary for Title VII to protect employees against marital status discrimination.

The more common claims of marital status discrimination are claims that an employer's no-spouse rule or antinepotism policy violates the state antidiscrimination statute. [These policies have two significant problems.] First of all, many courts fail to look at the widely disparate consequences of …

There's Nothing Special About Sex: The Supreme Court Mainstreams Sexual Harassment, Rebecca Hanner White

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In this Essay, Professor White argues that the Supreme Court finally has merged analysis of sexual harassment law with other claims of intentional discrimination. Professor White contends that the Court's decision in Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson created confusion over the proper analysis of sexual harassment claims by seemingly embracing quid pro quo and hostile work environment theories as distinct forms of discrimination and by suggesting that at least some sexual harassment claims may warrant a revised approach to employer liability. In the wake of Meritor, sexual harassment claims increasingly were evaluated differently from other claims of disparate treatment, …

Taking Discrimination Seriously: Oncale And The Fate Of Exceptionalism In Sexual Harassment Law, Steven L. Willborn

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In both the case law and the literature, sexual harassment is treated as an exceptional and unique form of discrimination. In this Article, Professor Willborn expands on the Supreme Court's recent decision in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. to argue that this exceptionalism should be rejected and that harassment law should return to its roots in the broader body of antidiscrimination law. Professor Willborn begins by articulating the contours of a discrimination-centered model of sexual harassment and explaining how it differs from currently accepted views. He then reviews the Supreme Court's recent cases on sexual harassment, concluding that they …

Faragher, Ellerth, And The Federal Law Of Vicarious Liability For Sexual Harassment By Supervisors: Something Lost, Something Gained, And Something To Guard Against, William R. Corbett

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In this Essay, the author faces his nightmare exam question: he must define "sexual harassment" to the satisfaction of several potential graders with different perspectives on sexual harassment law. His valiant effort to justify his response leads him to a discussion of the federal law of vicarious liability for sexual harassment by supervisors after the Supreme Court's recent rejection of tort law respondeat superior analysis for such claims under Title VII. The author argues that, while the rejection of the tort standard for vicarious liability in Title VII claims removes the longstanding connection between Title VII law and state tort …

The Plain Meaning Of Oncale, Catherine J. Lanctot

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The unanimous Supreme Court opinion in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. caught many observers by surprise. Even more surprising than the Court's unanimity on the divisive issue of same-sex harassment, however, was the author of the opinion-the deeply conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Many commentators suggest that the opinion's requirement that plaintiffs prove that the harassment was "because of sex" will hamper lawsuits arising from single-sex work environments. Attempts to fit the decision within traditional Title VII jurisprudence inevitably will be clouded by conjecture about Scalia's true intent. Indeed, after one year of experience with Oncale, the judicial record is …

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

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Because The Constitution Requires It And Because Justice Demands It": Specific Speech Injunctive Relief For Title Vii Hostile Work Environment Claims, Cecilee Price-Huish

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Abusive speech often is used effectively by harassers in the workplace to intimidate, terrorize, objectify, and humiliate their intended victims, thus helping to secure and maintain social inequality in the workforce, especially among racial and gender minority employees. Pursuant to the adoption of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the United States Supreme Court, in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, interpreted the statute's anti-employment discrimination mandate as imposing liability for conduct or words in the workplace that have the purpose or effect of interfering with an employee's work performance or of creating an intimidating or hostile work …

The Continuing Validity Of Disparate Impact Analysis For Federal-Sector Age Discrimination Claims , Keith R. Fentonmiller

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation In Institutions Of Higher Education: A Survey Of Faculty Opinions, Catherine Ann Christie

Theses and Dissertations

Federal law does not prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. As is the case for other professionals, an educator who is a gay male or lesbian has had no protection from this form of discrimination unless it is specifically prohibited by a state or local law, or an institutional policy. Because they have been legally prohibited from marrying, domestic partners of gay and lesbian educators have not been entitled to share the employment benefits of their partners. This study examined opinions of faculty in four-year colleges and universities in Arkansas regarding employment discrimination based on sexual orientation in institutions …

Employment Discrimination And Presidential Immunity Cases, Dean Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Modern Discrimination Theory And The National Labor Relations Act, Rebecca Hanner White

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

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

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ada And The Nlra: Balancing Individual And Collective Rights, Robert A. Dubault

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Eeoc, The Courts, And Employment Discrimination Policy: Recognizing The Agency's Leading Role In Statutory Interpretation, Rebecca White

Scholarly Works

This Article explores whether a delegation to the EEOC of law-interpreting authority may be found under Title VII, the ADEA, or the ADA, despite the agency's lack of full enforcement authority under these statutes. If the EEOC possesses such authority, it, not the courts, will decide many of the difficult issues left unresolved by Congress under the 1991 Civil Rights Act, the ADA, and other statutes administered by the agency. I easily conclude the EEOC has been delegated law-interpreting power under both the ADEA and the ADA. The authority to issue legislative rules, in the context of these statutory schemes, …

The Proper Role Of After-Acquired Evidence In Employment Discrimination Litigation, Rebecca White, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

A new defense to employment discrimination claims has gained acceptance in the lower courts. Employers who allegedly have discriminated against their employees because of race, sex or age are winning judgments on the basis of after-acquired evidence of employee misconduct. The evidence is “after-acquired” in the sense that the misconduct was unknown to the employer at the time the alleged discrimination occurred but was acquired later, often through the use of discovery devices in the employee's discrimination action. Lower courts have accepted the proposition that if the employer would have discharged the plaintiff on the basis of the after-acquired evidence, …

And Promises To Keep: The Future In Employment Discrimination, Julia C. Lamber

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.