Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Employment Law: Mckennon V. Nashville Banner Publishing Co. And After-Acquired Evidence--A Convincing Resolution To Employer/Employee Misconduct Or An Incomplete Assessment Of The Issue?, William D. Fisher

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employees: Show Us Your Paycheck, Dina Mastellone

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Security: A Comparative Institutional Debate, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Does Title Vii Allow For Liability Against Individual Defendants?, Kendra Samson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Civil Rights And Employment At Will: Toward A Coherent National Discharge Policy, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

America's employment discharge policy begs for reform. Although most states have created exceptions to the employment at will doctrine, the doctrine thrives. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), which bans discrimination in employment based on race, gender, color, religion, and national origin, has proved ineffective in combating employment discrimination. Despite the statutory and common law exceptions to the employment at will doctrine, today's employees may have less job security than in the past. Although I applaud the Commissioners' efforts toward achieving justice in the workplace, I believe that abolishing the employment at will doctrine through …

The Last Minuet: Disparate Treatment After Hicks, Deborah C. Malamud

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to explain why the Court's much-maligned decision in Hicks was correct, and to further argue that in the aftermath of Hicks, the McDonnell Douglas-Burdine proof structure ought to be abandoned.

The Forgotten Interest Group: Reforming Title Vii To Address The Concerns Of Workers While Eliminating Sexual Harassment, Hannah K. Vorwerk

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since 1980, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") guidelines have made employers liable for harassment perpetrated by their agents and supervisory employees, and, in some cases, for harassment occurring between co-workers in their employ. In 1991, Congress amended Title VII (the "Act") to provide compensatory and punitive damages for victims of sexual harassment. The increased damages heightened the stakes in lawsuits concerning employer liability for sexual harassment, and thus provided increased incentives for employers to implement sexual harassment policies and to discipline harassers.

The extant EEOC guidelines already had defined sexual harassment broadly to include "verbal or physical conduct of a …

Discrimination, Deceit, And Legal Decoys: The Diversion Of After-Acquired Evidence And The Focus Restored By Mckennon V. Nashville Banner Publishing Company, Elissa J. Preheim

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Handling Difficult Issues Under The Family Medical Leave Act, Helen Norton

Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …

Employment Discrimination Law In Perspective: Three Concepts Of Equality, John J. Donohue Iii

Michigan Law Review

The essay begins with a discussion of which groups deserve the protection of employment discrimination law. With the protected categories of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act etched into the American consciousness, many might consider the appropriate categories to be fully self-evident. But of course, they are not, and many jurisdictions continue to struggle over whether certain dispreferred groups merit the law's solicitude.

Structuralist And Cultural Domination Theories Meet Title Vii: Some Contemporary Influences, Martha Chamallas

Michigan Law Review

This essay first looks at three important theoretical approaches - motivational, structural, and cultural - that mark the scholarly discourses on workplace equality since 1965. The motivational or individual choice theory is well established and has dominated legal discourse throughout this period. I concentrate in this essay on the other two visions, dating structuralist accounts from the mid1970s and cultural domination theories from the mid-1980s.

Only Girls Wear Barrettes: Dress And Appearance Standards, Community Norms, And Workplace Equality, Katharine T. Bartlett

Michigan Law Review

In this essay I study both the judicial rationales and the scholarly criticisms thereof, agreeing with critics that community norms are too discriminatory to provide a satisfactory benchmark for defining workplace equality, but also questioning the usual implications of this critique. Critics assume that it is possible, and desirable, to evaluate dress and appearance rules without regard to the norms and expectations of the community - that is, according to stable or universal versions of equality that are uninfected by community norms. I question this assumption, arguing that equality, no less than other legal concepts, cannot transcend the norms of …

Title Vii And The Complex Female Subject, Kathryn Abrams

Michigan Law Review

One strength of Title VII has been its capacity to accommodate the changing conceptions of discrimination and the self-conceptions of subject groups. In the first decades of its enforcement, advocates have raised - and courts have endorsed - a range of contrasting conceptions in order to broaden the employment opportunities of protected groups. This flexibility is particularly evident with respect to women.

After exploring recent doctrinal efforts to respond to complex claimants, I address these questions and assess the prospects of change. Although the unitary or categorical notions of group identity under which Title VII has historically been enforced might …

The Public Policy Exclusion And Insurance For Intentional Employment Discrimination, Sean W. Gallagher

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that courts choosing to apply the public policy exclusion to insurance for intentional employment discrimination liability should nevertheless permit employers to enforce insurance covering negligent supervision liability and liability imputed to an employer as a result of the intentional discrimination committed by its employees. Part I establishes a framework for understanding the cases in which courts have invoked public policy to refuse enforcement of insurance contracts, arguing that the rationale behind the public policy exclusion is utilitarian and that courts refuse to enforce insurance for liability arising out of intentional wrongdoing on the grounds that such insurance …

Garcia V. Spun Steak Co.: The Ninth Circuit Requires That Title Vii Plaintiffs Prove The Adverse Effect Of A Challenged English-Only Workplace Rule, Dan Clawson

Seattle University Law Review

Although the Spun Steak decision recognizes that English-only rules may impact Title VII in some circumstances, the court held that an employer's good-faith imposition of these rules on fully bilingual employees does not violate Title VII. Section II of this Comment presents an overview of the substantive law and the enforcement mechanisms of Title VII. Section III outlines the development of federal discrimination law regarding English-only rules. Section IV examines the Spun Steak decision, and Section V analyzes the implications of this decision and its effect on discrimination law in the Ninth Circuit.

A Standard For Punitive Damages Under Title Vii, Judith J. Johnson

Journal Articles

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the plaintiff in an employment discrimination case who alleges intentional discrimination may recover punitive damages if she demonstrates that her employer engaged in the discriminatory practice with "malice" or "reckless indifference" to federally protected rights. To prove a case of disparate treatment under Title VII, the plaintiff bears the burden of persuading the trier of fact that her employer intended to discriminate against her. In other words, to be liable in a disparate treatment case, the employer has to specifically intend to treat the plaintiff differently based, for example, on her sex. If …

Employment Discrimination: Recent Developments In The Supreme Court (Symposium: The Supreme Court And Local Government Law: The 1992-93 Term), Eileen Kaufman

Scholarly Works

At a symposium entitled, “The Supreme Court and Local Government Law; The 1992/93 Term”, Professor Eileen Kaufman spoke about the cases involving employment discrimination that were decided during that particular Term, Hazen Paper Company v. Biggins and St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks. While Hazen is an age discrimination case and St. Mary's is a Title VII case, they can be viewed as companion cases which serve to explain what an employment discrimination plaintiff must now establish when attempting to prove disparate treatment by indirect evidence. By way of preview, suffice it to say that plaintiff's task has been made …

Tempering Title Vii's Straight Arrow Approach: Recognizing And Protecting Gay Victims Of Employment Discrimination, Marie E. Peluso

Vanderbilt Law Review

Consider the following scenario: Jerry, an outstanding graduate of Superior University's business school, has worked for Moneytree & Cashdollar, a prestigious investment banking firm, for three years. In that period, Jerry's hard work and keen instincts helped increase Moneytree's revenues by several million dollars. In addition, Jerry received two awards for landing important new clients. The firm's managing partners have discussed promoting Jerry to junior vice president, an executive position typically reserved for qualified fifth year employees. Jerry's supervisors and peers enthusiastically commend his dedication and skill. Two weeks before the vote on his promotion, Jerry lured a particularly valuable …

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

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Credulous Courts And The Tortured Trilogy: The Improper Use Of Summary Judgment In Title Vii And Adea Cases, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

Civil rights are under siege. In mid-1989, the United States Supreme Court decided several cases that severely limit the civil rights claims and remedies available to a plaintiff claiming employment discrimination. This Article examines the gradual and continuing erosion of the factfinder's role in federal employment discrimination cases and its replacement by an increasing use of summary judgment through which the courts make pretrial determinations formerly reserved for the factfinder at trial. This trend not only represents a major shift in court procedure and, in the case of age discrimination claims, a transfer of power from juries to judges, but …

A Unified Approach To Causation In Disparate Treatment Cases: Using Sexual Harassment By Supervisors As The Causal Nexus For The Discriminatory Motivating Factor In Mixed Motive Cases, Margaret E. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Comment examines a unified approach for disparate treatment mixed motives claims paired with sexual harassment claims under Title VII. The Author argues that because of the policy for nondiscriminatory and desegregated work environments embodied in Title VII, and because of the documented harm resulting from sexual harassment, courts should allow the burden of proof to shift to the defendant if the plaintiff demonstrates that her supervisor sexually harassed her, or condoned the harassment, and that the harassing supervisor made an employment decision that was adverse to her.

Promoting Fairness: A Proposal For A More Reasonable Standard Of Constructive Discharge In Title Vii Denial Of Promotion Cases , Richard M. Deagazio

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The constructive discharge rule states that if intolerable working conditions associated with the employer's discrimination force the employee to resign, then the employee will be considered to have been "constructively" discharged on the date of resignation. The employee will be treated as if he or she had been fired by the employer and therefore is eligible for remedies traditionally associated with wrongful termination, such as reinstatement and backpay past the date of "discharge." If the employee has not been constructively discharged, then under the general rule the employee will only be entitled to preresignation backpay. In examples similar to this …

Title Vii Compensation Issues Affecting Bilingual Hispanic Employees, David Allen Larson

Faculty Scholarship

This article deals the workers who are bilingual and their accompanying compensation on the job. The article covers compensation, classification, Bilingual Hispanic employees required to speak both Spanish and English on the job may, in certain circumstances, be entitled to greater compensation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than employees who do the same job exclusively in English. It is unlikely, however, that a court will conclude that bilingual Hispanic employees required to speak both Spanish and English are for that reason alone entitled to increased compensation. Yet bilingual Hispanic employees required to use both languages …

Runyon Reconsidered: The Future Of Section 1981 As A Basis For Employment Discrimination Claims, Barbara L. Kramer

Cleveland State Law Review

On April 25, 1988, the Supreme Court ignited a controversy by announcing that it would reconsider' its ruling in Runyon v. McCrary, a landmark 1976 civil rights decision, in a case currently before the Court, Patterson v. McClean Credit Union. Runyon affirmed the right of certain minority groups to sue private entities for unlawful discrimination under 42 U.S.C. Section 1981. Patterson calls into question the origin of the present Section 1981. This Note discusses the elements of the controversy unleashed by the Court: the origin and operation of the present Section 1981 and its relation to Title VII of the …

Civil Rights In Employment: The New Generation, Linda H. Edwards

Scholarly Works

In July 1989, Title VII was twenty-five years old. It is generally assumed that the first twenty-five years have seen significant changes in the economic opportunities available to America’s minorities and women. But with the rise to power of the Reagan appointees, the Supreme Court is clearly fashioning a new approach to issues of civil rights in employment. This article analyzes the new Court’s emerging themes and proposes a congressional response.

Finding A "Manifest Imbalance": The Case For A Unified Statistical Test For Voluntary Affirmative Action Under Title Vii, David D. Meyer

Michigan Law Review

This Note analyzes the "manifest imbalance" standard developed in Weber and Johnson and the various approaches the lower courts have taken in trying to apply the test. Part I examines the Weber and Johnson opinions in some detail, and argues that the Court intended to permit affirmative action aimed at remedying the evident effects of past discrimination, regardless of whether the employer or society at large is to blame. Section I.A describes the diverging constitutional and statutory standards for evaluating voluntary affirmative action programs, and the policies behind the divergence. Sections I.B and I.C take a closer look at the …

Clearing The Mixed-Motive Smokescreen: An Approach To Disparate Treatment Under Title Vii, Robert S. Whitman

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note describes the indirect-evidence inquiry of McDonnell Douglas and its basis in the policies underlying Title VII. Part II presents the various judicial treatments of cases where direct evidence is presented. These three major approaches reflect varying views of the burdens of proof regarding Title VII causation, and assume that the plaintiff has already shown some palpable level of discrimination. Part III describes Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, in which the Supreme Court first devised an approach to mixed motives. Although the Mt. Healthy analysis was developed for first amendment …

Employment Discrimination And The Reconsideration Of Runyon, Lee Modjeska

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Watson V. Ft. Worth Bank And Trust: The Changing Face Of Disparate Impact, Linda H. Edwards

Scholarly Works

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 constitutes this country’s first serious commitment to eradicating the enormous economic disadvantages caused by hundreds of years of racial and gender-related prejudice. But there is also cause for concern. While members of once excluded groups have entered the mid-level workforce, most have not progressed to top-level positions. Perhaps not surprisingly, the elimination of barriers to mid-level employment has spotlighted the unique barriers to equal employment in top-level jobs. Title VII’s capacity to deal effectively with these barriers will be its major challenge for the next quarter-century. Its success will depend, in …