Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

The Legacy Of The Immigrant Workplace: Lessons For The 21st Century Economy, Leticia Saucedo

Distinguished Speaker Series

Leticia Saucedo is a Professor of Law at U.C. Davis School of Law. She is an expert in employment, labor, and immigration law and she teaches immigration law and employment law at U.C. Davis. She has developed experiential courses in international and domestic service learning that explore the immigration consequences of crime and domestic violence in a post-conflict society. She has been a visiting professor at Duke Law School and a research scholar with the Chief Justice Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at U.C. Berkeley. Professor Saucedo’s research interests lie at the intersections of employment, labor, and immigration …

What Makes Parties Joint Employers? An Analysis Of The National Labor Relations Board’S Redefining Of The “Joint Employer” Standard And Its Potential Effect On The Labor Industry, Deepti Orekondy

University of Miami Business Law Review

Multiple cases decided before the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) have continuously narrowed the scope of the joint employer doctrine. Most recently, in the case of Browning-Ferris Indus., 362 N.L.R.B. No. 186 (August 27, 2015), the NLRB overturned decades of precedent and adopted a much more expansive standard that reverts the doctrine back to its original understanding in 1965. Prior to this decision, the joint employer doctrine established a joint employer relationship when both entities had meaningful control over the terms and conditions of employment and actually exercised that authority. After Browning-Ferris, the new standard now only requires “indirect” …

The Strong Do As They Can: How Employment Group-Action Waivers Alienate Employees, Matthew B. Seipel

Labor & Employment Law Forum

No abstract provided.

Labor Violations In Mexico: Can New Trade Agreements Effectuate Change?, Nicole Downey Moss

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

Child labor and forced labor remain pervasive problems on Mexican farms. Millions of workers on these farms are forced to work and live in inhumane conditions, only to leave the season’s harvest just as poor as they were before. To date, human rights and labor treaties and agreements that Mexico is party to have failed to protect workers. In early 2016, however, negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”) concluded and, if ratified, the party-countries claim that the TPP will hold Mexico to higher standards than previously faced because the TPP will link labor rights with trade law. However, this was …

A Faulty Federal Standard: A Call For A Federal Minimum Wage That Is Actually “Fair” Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, Amanda Rose Kapur

University of Miami Business Law Review

When the average American works 40 hours a week on the federal minimum wage and their family unit is still under the poverty line, there is something inherently wrong. In America, one has to work 93 hours a week just to accommodate a basic level of living on minimum wage. Working the standard 40 hours a week should grant the worker the right to live above the poverty line.

Section I of this Comment will discuss the need for minimum wage reform by looking at the living wage gap and the benefits of raised minimum wages. This section will also …

The Changing Needs Of The Workplace: Looking To State Statutory Expansions For Guidance On Fmla Reform, Christina Potter-Bayern

Labor & Employment Law Forum

No abstract provided.

Columbia University And Incarcerated Worker Labor Unions Under The National Labor Relations Act, Kara Goad

Cornell Law Library Cantwell Prize for Exemplary Student Research Papers

Kara Goad’s research examines the forms and terms of labor that incarcerated workers perform in American prisons, seeking to demonstrate that labor law could provide potential remedies for work-related grievances.

Goad’s research includes traditional statutory and case law analysis along with examinations of prison statistics, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions and other administrative law materials relating to prisons and labor law. She uses her findings lay out a path for incarcerated workers to potentially unionize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

The Eeoc, The Ada, And Workplace Wellness Programs, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Articles

It seems that everybody loves workplace wellness programs. The Chamber of Commerce has firmly endorsed those progarms, as have other business groups. So has President Obama, and even liberal firebrands like former Senator Tom Harkin. And why not? After all, what's not to like about programs that encourage people to adopt healthy habits like exercise, nutritious eating, and quitting smoking? The proponents of these programs speak passionately, and with evident good intentions, about reducing the crushing burden that chronic disease places on individuals, families, communities, and the economy as a whole. What's not to like? Plenty. Workplace wellness programs are …

Save Our Ships: How U.S. National Security Interests Affect The Human Rights Of Stranded Seafarers As A Result Of Shipping Bankruptcies, Michelle S. Lee

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Hanjin Shipping Company declared bankruptcy in September 2016. The South Korean shipping giant, owner of dozens of massive shipping vessels, was suddenly engulfed in multiple bankruptcy proceedings all over the world. When a major company such as Hanjin falls, the attention is focused mainly on the money, statistics, and the corporate heads. There is rarely a spotlight on how such a collapse affects the workers. With Hanjin at the forefront of the new wave of shipping bankruptcies, it will be increasingly important to understand the realities of the financial disasters on the lives of the company’s employees. This Note will …

Amicus Curiae Brief Of Equality Ohio In Support Of Intervenor Urging Reversal, Doron M. Kalir, Kenneth J. Kowalski

Law Faculty Briefs and Court Documents

Title VII’s plain language bars discharge of “any individual”—whether transgender or not—“because of such individual’s . . . sex.” It applies whenever employers take gender into account in making employment decisions. It is undisputed that the employer in this case based his decision to terminate Ms. Stephens solely on sex-based considerations. To be sure, he could have terminated Ms. Stephens for a wide array of reasons—tardiness, failure to perform, disciplinary issues—or for no reason at all. Under those circumstances, such termination—even of a transgender person—would not be “because of such individual’s sex.” But that is not the case here. Here, …

Workers’ Rights As Natural Human Rights, Anne Marie Lofaso

University of Miami Law Review

We live in an increasingly polarized world: one summed up by President Clinton, “we’re all in this together;” the other summed up by then-presidential candidate Trump, “I alone can fix it.” These world views have implications for workers and how the future workplace is ordered. In this Article, I explore the idea that a natural human rights approach to workplace regulations will tend to favor the we’re-all-in-this-together view, whereas the Lochnerian or neo-liberal view tends to favor an individualistic world view.

The Article’s six-step analytical approach starts with a historical analysis of labor law jurisprudence, concluding that U.S. labor laws …

A Return On Investment: How The Breastfeeding Promotion Act Can Change The Make-Up Of The Private Workforce, Krishna Jani

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

No abstract provided.

Speaking Of Workplace Harassment: A First Amendment Push Toward A Status-Blind Statute Regulating "Workplace Bullying", Jessica R. Vartanian

Maine Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes discrimination in employment unlawful, but only based on certain suspect classes: race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Courts have interpreted the statute to ban workplace harassment in this same limited fashion, refusing to recognizg harassment claims based on sexual orientation or any other unspecified classification.Although Congress may regulate in this selective manner consistent with equal protection, workplace harassment differs from other forms of discrimination proscribed under Title VII in one very important respect—workplace harassment is often achieved through an array of expression traditionally protected under the First Amendment

Fuhrmann V. Staples Office Superstore East, Inc.: A Split In The Law Court As To The Definition Of "Employer" Demonstrates The Need For Legislative Action To Amend The Maine Human Rights Act In Order To Protect Maine Employees, Stephen B. Segal

Maine Law Review

In Fuhrmann v. Staples Office Superstore East, Inc., Jamie Fuhrmann submitted a complaint to the Maine Human Rights Commission (Commission) against her former employer, Staples Office Superstore East, Inc. (Staples), and four of her individual supervisors. After the Commission granted her right to sue, she filed a complaint in court alleging whistleblower retaliation under the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act (WPA) and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), as well as sex discrimination under the MHRA. The Superior Court granted Staples’ motion for summary judgment on all counts, and granted the four supervisors’ motions to dismiss on the grounds that individual supervisor …

Is It Safe To Speak Up Now? Evaluating The Expansion Of Whistleblower Protection Act Jurisdiction, Gil Landau

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

Whistleblowers have uncovered billions of dollars of fraud and severe national security threats. Nonetheless, for many years, federal employee whistleblowers faced retaliation and termination. Congress passed the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) in an attempt to protect federal employee whistleblowers. But, the exclusive court for WPA appeals, the Federal Circuit, ignored Congressional intent and limited the WPA’s protections. In 2013, Congress responded by creating a five year experiment, known as “all circuit review,” to determine if WPA claims should also be appealable to the regional circuits. Over the past three years, all circuit review has led to modest changes in WPA …

Heffernan V. City Of Paterson: Watering Down The First Amendment Retaliation Doctrine To Create A Perception Of Protection For Public Employees, Peter J. Artese

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: How Immutable Traits May Become The New Face Of Discrimination As Interpreted In Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n V. Catastrophe Mgmt. Sols., Cortney Bryson

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Workers’ Compensation Controvert Research Guide, Phillip Kuck

Law Library Student-Authored Works

No abstract provided.

Vol. 34, No. 2, Taylor E. Muzzy

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Contents:

LGBT Rights: Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in the Workplace, by Taylor E. Muzzy

Recent Developments

Square Pegs Do Not Fit In Roun Holes: The Case For A Third Worker Classification For The Sharing Economy And Transportation Network Company Drivers, Carl Shaffer

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.