Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Whose Invention Is It Anyway? Employee Invention-Assignment Agreements And Their Limits, Parker A. Howell

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Pre-invention assignment provisions have become important and commonplace facets of employment agreements, supplanting common law rules for invention ownership. Yet statutes in seven states—including California, Washington, and Minnesota—restrict invention assignment. These statutes make agreements unenforceable when a worker invents on his or her own time without use of employer resources and the invention does not relate to the employer’s business or the employee’s work. Employers should be ready to argue why a given invention is not excluded from assignment by statute, although judicial decisions suggest many disputed inventions nonetheless belong to the employer. Statutory arguments notwithstanding, employee-inventors may challenge the …

Welcome To The Real 2011 Nba Lockout: Where Owner-Friendly Tax Provisions And Non-Monetized Benefits Color The Lockout Landscape, Lance Taubin

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The 2011 NBA lockout highlighted the financial strategies of team owners, who, despite claiming operational losses, benefited significantly from tax provisions like depreciation and amortization under Section 197 of the IRC, as well as non-monetary benefits that aren't reflected in team financial statements.

Mandatory Predispute Consumer Arbitration, Structural Bias, And Incentivizing Procedural Safeguards, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Within the past several decades, there has been an explosion in the creation, institutionalization and use of “alternative” dispute resolution procedures. Mandatory predispute arbitration has generated the most controversy because it appears beset with structural bias. The recent cases of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion and Compucredit Corp. v. Greenwood have raised additional concerns as the Supreme Court has announced that corporations can force consumers to arbitrate their private and statutory claims and give up their rights to pursue class relief. This Article begins by arguing that the Supreme Court’s enthusiastic embrace of mandatory predispute arbitration should be understood primarily …

The Benefit Of Adopting Comprehensive Standards Of Monitoring Employee Technology Use In The Workplace, Karin M. Mika

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article will examine issues as they relate to the privacy of employees’ lives given that nearly everything can be discovered by some form of electronic monitoring. It will posit that most laws as they exist today do little to apprise either the employer or the employee as to what type of electronic monitoring of personal communications is acceptable. It will further propose that most employer policies related to scrutinizing employee electronic communications are vague and unsuitable. The article will conclude that, given the leeway employers tend to be given (often justifiably so) in monitoring employees there is little chance …

Summary Of Sierra Nevada Administrators V. Negriev, 128 Nev. Adv. Op. 45, Drew Wheaton

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered an appeal from a district court order denying a petition for judicial review in a workers’ compensation action.

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Sandifer V. United States Steel Corp., 134 S. Ct. 870 (2014) (No. 12-417), 2012 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs Lexis 4304, Eric Schnapper, Aaron B. Maduff, Michael L. Maduff, Walker R. Lawrence, Robert F. Childs, Jr., Abby Morrow Richardson, David L. Kern

Court Briefs

QUESTIONS PRESENTED

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the period of time during which a covered employee must be paid begins when the worker engages in a principal activity. Donning and doffing safety gear (including protective clothing) required by the employer is a principal activity when it is an integral and indispensable part of the activities for which the worker is employed. Such requirements are common in manufacturing firms. However, under section 203(o) of the Act an employer need not compensate a worker for time spent in “changing clothes” (even if it is a principal activity) if that time is …

Managing The Impact Of New Media On The Employment Relationship, Susan A. O'Sullivan-Gavin, John H. Shannon

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Attention to privacy issues in the workplace has increased over the past two decades as use of electronic mail and text messages has made these means of communication commonplace. Beyond text messages and emails, employees can access the internet at their place of employment at many different entry points. This access can be through company issued desktops or laptops, mobile phones, mobile internet devices (MIDs), Smartphone technology (photography; video and voice recording capabilities; file transfer and storage), off-site internet connections, Wi-Fi access or hot spots. Employees can access and/or post information on various sites including blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, instant …

Reforming Executive Compensation: What Do We Know And Where Do We Go?, Priyanka Rajagopalan

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

In this Article, I study a fascinating problem - what are the legal, political and economic implications of regulating executive bonuses? While the Administration's recent consideration of proposals to tax bonuses of AIG executives has sparked a great deal of media speculation and attention, there has been little legal scholarship discussing the various possible consequences of this and other methods of regulating executive compensation. Especially given the growing interest in executive compensation and the possible benefits and costs of regulation in this arena, I believe this paper will make a significant scholarly contribution to the existing literature on corporate governance …

Preserving Human Capital: Using The Noncompete Agreement To Achieve Competitive Advantage, Griffin Toronjo Pivateau

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Organizations today face numerous challenges: worldwide competitors, changes in information technology, increased reliance on knowledge workers, and a shifting economic environment. Faced with the difficulty of securing advantage by traditional means, management has increasingly focused on employees as a key asset and driver of productivity. Many organizations have adopted the human capital theory, which holds that employees form an asset of the organization. Organizations will seek to maximize their human capital as a differentiator. Presumably, an organization that invests in its human capital will find itself rewarded with increased productivity and higher returns. But here is where the problem develops. …

Womenomics For Nursing Growth: Making The Case For Work Time Flexibility And Mother-Friendlier Workplaces, Gabriela Steier

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Have A Job To Get A Job: Disparate Treatment And Disparate Impact Of The 'Currently Employed' Requirement, Jennifer Jolly-Ryan

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Countless people struggle to find a job in a competitive job market despite possessing solid qualifications. Although the news media reports that job numbers are improving, the problems of unemployment particularly loom for people of color, older workers, and people with disabilities. These groups are often unemployed longer than other job seekers. These groups also suffer the disparate impact of job advertisements that require "current employment" as a prerequisite for hiring. The harsh reality is that the longer a job seeker is unemployed, the closer a job seeker becomes to becoming permanently unemployed. Job advertisements that require "current employment" exacerbate …

The Unsettled State Of Pregnancy Discrimination Claims Under The Florida Civil Rights Act Of 1992, Donna L. Eng

UF Law Faculty Publications

Florida's employment law practitioners are no doubt aware that employment discrimination actions may be brought under both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), and under the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 (FCRA). Both sections contain similar verbiage, and for years, courts have held the Florida Civil Rights Act be interpreted in conformity with Title VII. However, the statutes differ in an important respect: While Title VII expressly forbids sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 does not.

The Status Of Teachers Unions: Are Rumors Of Their Demise Exaggerated?, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Recent legislation raised questions about the status of teachers unions and public-sector collective bargaining. Although the changes in Florida, Idaho, and Tennessee occurred with a minimum of disruption, the same was not true in Ohio and Wisconsin. Voters in Ohio repudiated a law that would have placed significant limits on the rights of public employees to bargain collectively (McNeil 2011a). Conversely, voters in Wisconsin defeated a recall election intended to remove the governor and legislators who acted to curtail the bargaining power of teachers unions (Stein 2012).

Organized labor and collective bargaining in education have grown to the point at …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari. Brush V. Sears Holding Corp., 568 U.S. 1143 (2013) (No. 12-268), 2013 U.S. Lexis 925, Eric W. Scharf, Wayne R. Atkins, Eric Schnapper, Brian D. Buckstein

Court Briefs

QUESTION PRESENTED

Section 704(a) of Title VII prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee because he or she opposed discrimination forbidden by Title VII. The lower courts are divided as to how such anti-retaliation provisions apply to management officials, such as personnel or EEO officials, whose duties include assuring compliance with Title VII or implementing an employer’s anti-discrimination policy.

The question presented is: Are management officials: (1) subject to exclusion from protection under section 704(a) if their actions are within the scope of their official duties (the rule in the Fifth, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits),
(2) protected under …

Zozal V. Israel Prison Service Commissioner, Esther Hayut, Miriam Naor, Uzi Vogelman, Salim Joubran, Eliezer Rivlin, Neal Hendel, Yoram Danziger

Translated Opinions

Facts: The petitioner began working at the Israel Prison Service (“the IPS”) in 1986. In April of 2009, two months after her fifty-seventh birthday, she was forced to retire. At this age, she was already six months past what was defined in the Civil Service Retirement Law, 5730-1970, as the “retirement age for IPS wardens.” According to the IPS procedures relating to IPS employees of her age and experience, her continued employment after that age was dependent on approval by the IPS Commissioner (following a recommendation made by an internal committee). Such extensions of employment past the “retirement age for …

Danbury Hatters In Sweden: An American Perspective Of Employer Remedies For Illegal Collective Actions, César F. Rosado Marzán, Margot Nikitas

All Faculty Scholarship

The European Court of Justice's ("ECJ") Laval quartet held that worker collective actions that impacted freedom of services and establishment in the E.U. violated E.U. law. After Laval, the Swedish Labor Court imposed exemplary or punitive damages on labor unions for violating E.U. law. These cases have generated critical discussions regarding not only the proper balance between markets and workers’ freedom of association, but also what should be the proper remedies for employers who suffer illegal actions by labor unions under E.U. law. While any reforms to rebalance fundamental freedoms as a result of the Laval quartet will have to …

Punishment And Work Law Compliance: Lessons From Chile, César F. Rosado Marzán

All Faculty Scholarship

Workplace law activists and reformers find it increasingly more difficult to obtain redress for violation of workers’ rights. Some of them are calling for stricter enforcement and tougher penalties to bring employers into compliance. However, after seven and half months of participant observation at the Labor Directorate and the labor courts of Chile, institutions that use punishment as their main tools of enforcement, I am skeptical about the likelihood of success of mere punishment for effective workplace law enforcement and compliance. I am skeptical even though Chile is a country recognized as the Latin American “jaguar” for its successful economy …

The Talent Agencies Act: Reconciling The Controversies Surrounding Lawyers, Managers, And Agents Participating In California's Entertainment Industry, Gary E. Devlin

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medicating The Ada - Sutton V. United Airlines, Inc.: Considering Mitigating Measures To Define Disability, Ian D. Thompson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unpacking The Employee-Misconduct Defense, Sachin S. Pandya

Faculty Articles and Papers

When a worker sues an employer, the employer sometimes learns thereafter that the worker had committed some misconduct at the time of hire or while on the job. In those cases, most American work laws provide the employer with a defense that precludes employer liability, or at least limits remedies, if the employer shows that, had it known of the worker’s misconduct at the time of its allegedly wrongful act, it would have fired the worker because of that misconduct. This Article evaluates the prevailing arguments for and against the employee-misconduct defense as it appears in the National Labor Relations …