Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

“Head Start Works Because We Do”: Head Start Programs, Community Action Agencies, And The Struggle Over Unionization, Eloise Pasachoff

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the summer of 2002, the city of Boston watched a fierce battle unfold between low-wage workers who provide child care and the social service agencies that employ them. Boston requires its city contractors to pay more than twice the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour to their employees, according to the terms of the city's "living wage" ordinance. The social service agencies, which receive government subsidies to run their child care programs, claimed that they could not afford to pay this rate. These agencies mounted an intense legal and political campaign, arguing that they would be forced to …

Diverging Trends In Worker Health And Safety Protection And Participation In Canada, 1985-2000, Eric Tucker

Articles & Book Chapters

Despite the comprehensiveness of neo-liberal restructuring in Canada, it has not proceeded uniformly in its timing or outcomes across regulatory fields and political jurisdictions. The example of occupational health and safety (OHS) regulation is instructive. This article compares recent OHS developments in five Canadian jurisdictions, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and the Federal jurisdiction. It finds that despite the adoption of a common model by all jurisdictions, there has recently been considerable divergence in the way that the elements of worker participation and protection have been combined. Modified power resource theory is used to explain a portion of this …

Can Compulsory Arbitration Be Reconciled With Section 7 Rights?, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Employers are increasingly imposing arbitration agreements on their employees as a condition of employment. These agreements force the employees to arbitrate, rather than litigate, any legal claims arising out of their employment. For employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act, such agreements may impair their rights to engage in concerted activity, since litigation of employment claims is protected by Section 7. Employee rights to file class actions, consolidate claims, and seek broad injunctive relief are concerted actions that are particularly threatened by the move to compelled arbitration. The Article analyzes the impact of arbitration agreements on various forms of …

Caution: Men At Work, Ekee Ehrlich

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article highlights the challenges faced by pregnant women in the workplace, emphasizing the discrimination and gender stereotypes they encounter. Through the author's personal experience, it illustrates how societal expectations and workplace policies often fail to accommodate pregnant employees, leading to potential discrimination and undue stress.

Supreme Court Weighs Rehabilitating Against Rule-Breaking Under The Ada, Mary E. O'Malley

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

To Preempt Or Not To Preempt: Hmo Liability Pre And Post Pegram V. Herdrich , Adam D. Glassman

Journal of Law and Health

Should consumers have the right to sue their HMOs (health maintenance organizations) for the way they deliver medical care? In recent years, the federal courts have focused their attention upon, inter alia, the issue of whether HMOs have a duty to reveal financial incentive provisions contained in contracts between the HMO plan physicians to plan members and beneficiaries under a health plan. In fact, on June 12, 2000, the United States Supreme Court, in Pegram v. Herdrich, pondered whether HMO physicians and administrators are fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and if so, must they exercise their …

The Latex Allergy Crisis: Proposing A Healthy Solution To The Dilemma Facing The Medical Community, Lynn Cherne-Breckner

Journal of Law and Health

The explosion in the number and severity of latex allergies began with the emergence of the AIDS epidemic as the Centers for Disease Control issued universal precautions advising health care workers to use protective barriers to prevent the spread of the infection. This resulted in constant use of the gloves by medical workers and a great increase in demand for cost effective gloves. Essentially, the quality of the glove making process decreased, increasing the amount of allergy inducing proteins excreted to wearers. Afflicted workers include physicians, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, operating room personnel, laboratory technicians and ambulance attendants among others. …

Workers’ Compensation And Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits For Undocumented Workers: Reconciling The Purported Conflicts Between State Law, Federal Immigration Law, And Equal Protection To Prevent The Creation Of A Disposable Workforce, Robert I. Correales

Scholarly Works

This Article argues that sound public policy supports states providing vocational rehabilitation services to undocumented workers who have been injured in work-related accidents. Part I of the Article provides context by analyzing some of the complexities of undocumented immigrants’ lives in the United States. Part II discusses the history and economics of vocational rehabilitation programs established by workers’ compensation systems. Part III discusses ways in which immigration law and enforcement contribute to the formation of this shadow population. Part IV analyzes purported conflicts between vocational rehabilitation programs and the Immigration Reform Control Act of 1986 as they arose in Tarango …

Groundings Of Voice In Employee Rights, Dana Muir

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The 2001 Symposium on Corporate Governance, Stakeholder Accountability, and Sustainable Peace explored possible connections between corporations and sustainable peace. The Symposium's discussions were inspired by the view that liberal values and democratic principles help prevent violent conflict in society. In this Article, the Author discusses the notable ideas expressed in the symposium, including those articulated by Professors Timothy L. Fort, Cindy A. Schipani, and Terry M. Dworkin. The Author posits that formal programs enabling employees as owners and participants in their corporations may promote employee voice and improve corporate governance. Financial participation rights, decision-making participation rights, and "entry" and "exit" …

Protections For Transgender Employees, Jennifer L. Levi

Media Presence

Many transgender employees routinely face demotions, unfavorable conditions of employment, and even discriminatory terminations--due not to job-related problems but to employers' discomfort with and animus against transgender people. Lawyers may look to several sources of law in order to redress the rights of transgender clients who face adverse treatment in such situations, including transgender-specific nondiscrimination laws, state and federal sex discrimination laws, and state disability laws. Although courts historically have found transgender people excluded from coverage under certain laws, developing case law supports the arguments of transgender employees who face workplace discrimination.

The Disparate Impact Hostile Environment Claim: Sexual Harassment Scholarship At A Crossroads, Robert A. Kearney

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Arbitral Views Of Sexual Harassment: An Analysis Of Arbitration Cases, 1990-2000, Carrie G. Donald, John D. Ralston

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cross-Employee Redistribution Effects Of Mandated Employee Benefits, Sharon Rabin-Margalioth

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

Whether mandated employee benefit policies are efficient, depends on the ratio of aggregate value attached by employees to the benefit, compared to the aggregate employer cost of providing the benefit. The higher the aggregate value/cost ratio is, the stronger is the justification for implementing the policy. High value/cost ratios are indicative of the existence of market failures in the voluntary provision of the benefit. Mandated benefits, efficient or not, do not entail employer-employee redistributive outcomes. The fact that no employment rate changes can be traced following the enforcement of a mandate program is usually indicative of full employer cost shifting. …

Think Before You Click: Online Anonymity Does Not Make Defamation Legal, Orit Goldring, Antonia L. Hamblin

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Many Paths To Justice: The Glass Ceiling, The Looking Glass, And Strategies For Getting To The Other Side, M. Neil Browne, Andrea Giampetro-Meyer

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Tort Of Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress In The Private Employment Sector, Frank J. Cavico

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Potential For State Labor Law: The New York Greengrocer Code Of Conduct, Matthew T. Bodie

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

While labor law academics bemoan the ossification of federal labor law, the potential for state labor law has just begun to be explored. This Article takes a closer look at the New York Greengrocer Code of Conduct, a unique approach to the problem of industry-wide employment law violations. The Code, negotiated by the New York Attorney General's Office in conjunction with groups representing workers and greengrocers, provides a set of minimum terms and conditions for grocers which to some extent go beyond statutory requirements. In return for agreeing to the Code, grocers can avoid liability for past state employment law …

The Role Of Workplace Culture Evidence In Hostile Workplace Environment Sexual Harassment Litigation: Does Title Vii Mean New Management Or Just Business As Usual?, Christopher Massaro

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Priestley V. Fowler (1837) And The Emerging Tort Of Negligence, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

Priestly v. Fowler has long been noted as the source of the doctrine of common employment. This Article, however, argues that the case is better understood in the context of the then-emerging independent tort of negligence-specifically, as an unsuccessful attempt to require of masters a duty of care towards their servants. The Article re-examines the facts, arguments, personalities, and various reported versions of the case in tracing the effort to establish a new duty of care. The Article traces, as well, to another case, Hutchinson v. York, the true origins of the common employment doctrine. Finally, the Article compares the …

On Virtue And Peace: Creating A Workplace Where People Can Flourish, Caryn L. Beck-Dudley, Steven H. Hanks

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professors Beck-Dudley and Hanks explore the virtues necessary for individuals to flourish within a business organization. Through this exploration, they conclude that modern discussions of business ethics fail to account for the value and virtue of peaceableness. Then, focusing on the freedom from conflict aspect of peaceableness, they use Champion Paper Products, Sartell Minnesota Paper Mill, as a case study in the significant improvements in human flourishing and organizational performance that can occur when management and labor choose peaceable solutions to labor conflicts.

Novartis And The U.N. Global Compact Initiative, Lee A. Tavis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The U.N. Global Compact initiative evolved from a challenge posed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the business community at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 1999. "I call on you--individually through your firms, and collectively through your business associations--to embrace, support, and enact a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor standards and environmental practices." His vision is "to give a human face to the global market." Over a year of intense interaction among business chief executive officers and associations, non-governmental organizations, labor unions, and four U.N. agencies led to the formulation of nine …

Bargaining For Competitiveness: Law, Research, And Case Studies, Richard N. Block Editor

Upjohn Press

This book offers an analysis of the relationship among collective bargaining, firm competitiveness, and employment protections and creation in the United States. The contributors provide an overview of the legal framework and the economic and industrial relations research on collective bargaining, competitiveness, and employment, then follow with four case studies that provide insights into the process of collective bargaining and its current status in the evolving U.S. labor-management system.

Caring For Workers (Symposium On Law, Labor, And Gender), Martha T. Mccluskey

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Coercion, Contract And Free Labor In The Nineteenth Century (A Response To Gunther Peck), Robert J. Steinfeld

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Musical Courts: Plaintiff Picks A Court But Can Defendant Trump The Choice? An Analysis Of Breuer V. Jim's Concrete Of Brevard, Inc., Barbara J. Fick

Journal Articles

This article previews the Supreme Court case Brewer v. Jim's Concrete of Brevard, 538 U.S. 691 (2003). The author expected the Court to address the issue of whether the language of the Fair Labor Standards Act providing that "an action . . . may be maintained in any federal or state court" constitutes an express provision prohibiting removal to federal court when the plaintiff has chosen to maintain its lawsuit in state court.

Double Dipping: The Cross-Border Taxation Of Stock Options, Jeffrey M. Colon

Faculty Scholarship

Once awarded exclusively to upper management, stock options are now granted increasingly to rank-and-file employees and are becoming a greater component of employee compensation. The expanding use of stock options is undoubtedly due in part to the large increase in equity prices over the last twenty years. Further fueling the demand was the Internet start-up boom of the late 1990s, the spectacular financial success of many technology and computer companies, notably Microsoft and Oracle, and the well- publicized lucre acquired by their employees. The collapse of the initial public offerings market for Internet start-up companies at the dawn of the …

The Colorblind Lottery, Pauline Kim

Scholarship@WashULaw

Although the Supreme Court upheld Michigan Law School's admissions policies in Grutter, the multiple opinions in that case revealed the deep divisions that remain over the legitimacy of race-conscious policies and the meaning of equal protection. At the heart of this division lies disagreement over the concept of colorblindness. For Justices Scalia and Thomas, as well as the advocacy groups that backed the plaintiffs in Grutter and Gratz, colorblindness is an absolute imperative, prohibiting race-conscious decision-making in all but the most dire situations. This insistence on formal colorblindness has lead to the conclusion in several recent court cases that race-conscious …

How Employment-Discrimination Plaintiffs Fare In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Kevin M. Clermont, Theodore Eisenberg, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Employment-discrimination plaintiffs swim against the tide. Compared to the typical plaintiff, they win a lower proportion of cases during pretrial and after trial. Then, many of their successful cases are appealed. On appeal, they have a harder time in upholding their successes, as well in reversing adverse outcome.

This tough story does not describe some tiny corner of the litigation world. Employment-discrimination cases constitute an increasing fraction of the federal civil docket, now reigning as the largest single category of cases at nearly 10 percent.

In this article, we use official government data to describe the appellate phase of this …

Erisa: A Co-Fiduciary Has No Right To Contribution And Indemnity, George Lee Flint Jr, Philip W. Moore Jr

Faculty Articles

Because retirement plans involve large amounts of money, large numbers of people, and fiduciaries with conflicts of interests, Congress designed ERISA to differ from traditional trust law to meet these specific needs and important policy concerns. Before ERISA, fiduciaries and employers often manipulated lack of oversight and conflict of interests to the detriment of the beneficiaries. ERISA raised the standards owed by fiduciaries and established a policing system that required professional fiduciaries to monitor non-professional fiduciaries, thereby forcing non-professional fiduciaries to leave the field or seek expert advice. These provisions created co-fiduciary liability by imputing the liability of the co-fiduciary …

Mcdonnell Douglas, 1973-2003: May You Rest In Peace?, William Corbett

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.