Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Labour Law, Technology, And The Attack On The Rules-Based-Order, Valerio De Stefano

Conference Papers

This paper argues that current debates on artificial intelligence and algorithmic management at work are also debates about private power, managerial prerogative, and democracy. It situates recent attacks by major technology companies and their political allies on the European Union and other rule-based international institutions within a broader struggle over who should regulate technology and govern society. It contends that the anti-democratic turn of parts of the tech world is closely connected to authoritarian ideas about work, hierarchy, and obedience. The workplace is one of the principal sites where authority is exercised, surveillance normalised, and habits of subordination formed, with …

Correspondence Sen. Lister Hill To Mr. R.C. Barnes On Establishment Of Fsu Nursing Program, Lister Hill

Correspondence

July 8th, 1968, letter from Alabama Senator and Labor and Public Welfare Committee Chair Lister Hill to Mr. R. C. Barnes, general manager of Eliza Coffee Memorial (ECM) Hospital in Florence, Alabama. The letter is concerned with the establishment of the nursing program at Florence State University and cooperative with ECM under the Nurse Training Act of 1964.

“Conditional” Class Certification Under The Flsa: Violation Of Rule 23 And The Rules Enabling Act, Markham R. Leventhal

University of Miami Law Review

So-called “collective” actions under § 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”) are nothing more than “opt-in” class actions. This Article exposes the unjustifiable failure to apply Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to these actions, the erroneous conclusion by several circuit courts that these actions are not “representative” actions but rather some kind of “mass joinder,” and the resulting violation of the Rules Enabling Act when courts allow these “collective” actions to proceed without satisfying the requirements of Rules 23(a) and (b). The author explains why the vast majority of federal courts, using an …

To Compete Or Noncompete: Lessons On The Impact Of Unenforceable Noncompete Agreements In The Entertainment Industry, Guy Mannick

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Economic and legal literature has increasingly focused on how the American legal system fails workers. One way it does so is through employee noncompetition agreements (“NCA” or “noncompete”) that limit a worker’s ability to join another company, often for better compensation and/or more responsibility. Some states enforce NCAs if they are reasonable in scope, geography, and duration; others either prohibit their application to certain types of workers or (as in California) outright prohibit them in most circumstances. More narrowly, new empirical literature about the behavioral effects of unenforceable noncompete agreements raises new questions about the behavioral impact on workers.

This …

Long Covid, Silent Suffering, And Work, Joseph A. Seiner

Washington and Lee Law Review

Though most recover from COVID quickly, countless others remain chronically ill. Five years after the start of the pandemic, Long COVID continues to harm the economy, forcing thousands from employment at a time when businesses are struggling to find workers. With over thirty million individuals in the United States having contracted Long COVID, the illness cannot be dismissed as merely malingering or psychosomatic in nature.

With no diagnostic test for identifying Long COVID, skepticism about the illness persists. Many are scared to acknowledge their affliction with the disease and fear being stigmatized. Those who suffer silently struggle to perform their …

Forever Young: Student Employee Unionization In Higher Education, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

This article presents history and data about unionization among graduate and undergraduate student employees in the United States. It demonstrates that student employee unionization is not a new phenomenon and is part of a second curriculum for higher education students, which provides first-hand experience in workplace representational democracy and citizenship, including maintaining a majority coalition and making hard necessary compromises

Community Lawyering In Coal Country: Empowering Those Who Power America, Gregory Robertson

West Virginia Law Review

Despite the intense and prolonged efforts of thousands of activists in the 1960s and 1970s to obtain safer working conditions for coal miners, pneumoconiosis rates, disease that develops as a result of inhalation of particle material, is on the rise. The Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo has shaken the ground upon which administrative agencies’ ability to promulgate rules to protect miners rests. This Note profiles a handful of attorneys, archetypes of community lawyering, who advocated for Appalachian coal miners during the height of the Black Lung Movement and continue to do so today. Through conversations with …

Practical Reason In The Portfolio Economy: Accept: Amend, Or Abandon, The Flsa?, Kevin Frazier

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unwelcomeness Reconsidered: Adapting Sexual Harassment Law In The Long Wake Of #Metoo, Collin Christner

Michigan Law Review

The federal cause of action for sexual harassment in employment grew out of Title VII’s prohibition of workplace sex discrimination. In many circuits, for sexual harassment claims to be actionable, the plaintiff must show they found the referenced conduct “unwelcome.” Commentators have criticized that requirement since its inception; nonetheless, it has been wielded by courts that are either resistant or reluctant to abandon it. “Unwelcomeness” (or lack of evidence thereof) has been used to permit swaths of inappropriate workplace conduct— enshrining old, sexist stereotypes into America’s employment regulations. This Note evaluates the current approach to the unwelcomeness requirement and proposes …

The Sour Truth: Maine's Refusal To Provide Agricultural Workers Equal Employment Rights By Statutory Exclusion, Natalie Jump

Maine Law Review

Agricultural work is some of the most dangerous and grueling work there is, but you wouldn't know that from the way Maine's wage and hours laws have treated agricultural workers, both historically and today. Until 2025, farmworkers were not entitled to Maine minimum wage and were guaranteed only the significantly lower federal minimum wage. The Maine State Legislature decided that agricultural workers deserved more and passed a law during the first session of the 132nd Legislature that required agricultural workers to be paid Maine minimum wage. However, agricultural workers remain statutorily exempt from the definition of "employee" and therefore still …

Cardozo Law Introduces New Course On Theatre Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo School of Law introduced Theatre Law, the first law school course devoted entirely to the legal framework of the live stage industry. Taught by Adjunct Professor Ben Feldman, the course explores contracts, intellectual property, labor relations, licensing, financing, and other legal issues unique to theatrical productions, providing students with specialized training in entertainment law.

Vesting Villainy: The Call To Ban 401(K) Vesting Schedules, Samantha Prince

Faculty Scholarship

The American employee’s efforts to accumulate retirement wealth have been stunted by 401(k) plan vesting schedules for over half a century, yet vesting schedules continue to be legally permissible and pervasively used. Empirical research now exists to show the astronomical number of American workers that annually lose their employer contributions due to vesting schedules—over 1.8 million across 909 plans in 2022 alone. The same research also reveals that in 2022, workers forfeited over $1.5 billion in retirement savings. Critically, employers recycled over 82% of these funds, directly reducing their own contribution obligations. Many private-sector employees in the United States rely …

Revisiting The Dk Gandhi Sc Judgment 2024 On The Liability Of Advocates Under The Consumer Protection Law, Jeet Singh Mann

International Journal on Consumer Law and Practice

A Division Bench of the Supreme Court in Bar of Indian Lawyers v DK Gandhi concluded on 14 May 2024 that advocates are covered by a contract of personal service; thereby, no professional negligence or deficiency in service by advocates can be said to arise under the Consumer Protection Act 1986/2019. The said judgment is per incuriam as it ignores fundamentals of the contract of service, the mandate, the scheme of social welfare legislation and consumer protection law, and judgments of larger benches on accountability of professionals, including advocates, for professional negligence. This article critically examines whether advocates are covered …

Domestic Guestworkers: A Call To End The H-2b Program And Empower American Workers, Preston Huennekens

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Fall Of America's Final Free Labor Market: Considering The New Age College Athlete As An Employee Under The Nlra And Flsa, Ethan Schaaf

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Review Of Manufacturing Employees’ Experiences Of An Inclusive Workplace And Career Advancement, Abdi Mahad

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Ministerial Exception And Defamation: Navigating Churches’ Autonomy And Their Communications, Zachary Runge

Pepperdine Law Review

In two recent cases, the Supreme Court has adopted what scholars and lower courts have called the “ministerial exception.” The Court only addressed the ministerial exception’s application to employment discrimination claims. But the Court did not foreclose the possibility of its application to other claims. This Comment argues that the ministerial exception applies to defamation claims arising out of a minister’s termination. After providing the background for the ministerial exception, this Comment explains the current state of the law. Then, this Comment argues that the ministerial exception, as a form of the church autonomy doctrine, applies to the defamation claims …

The Section 301 Surge Continues: Investigating The Adoption/Enforcement/Administration Of Forced Labor Import Bans, Desiree Leclercq

Faculty Datasets

This blog post critiques the March 12, 2026, announcement by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launching a sweeping Section 301 investigation into 60 economies—including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico—for failing to effectively prohibit forced labor imports. While the U.S. claims these regulatory failures harm domestic commerce, the author argues that the investigation highlights deep flaws in American trade governance. Specifically, the critique outlines four primary deficiencies in the U.S. approach: inadequate Customs and Border Protection (CBP) procedures lacking independent oversight, a dramatic decline in CBP enforcement actions, mistargeted pressure against the EU despite its superior evidentiary …

Does Textualism Constrain Supreme Court Justices?, James J. Brudney, Lawrence Baum

Northwestern University Law Review

A principal justification for textualism is the constraint hypothesis. Conservative Justices and leading textualist scholars contend that—in stark contrast to reliance on legislative history—focus on the ordinary meaning of enacted text leaves little room for the Justices to be policy-oriented or ideological in their interpretations. This Article represents the first systematic study probing the validity of the constraint hypothesis, one that employs both quantitative and qualitative analysis.

The Article examines the Justices’ reliance on interpretive resources in over 660 statutory decisions in the field of labor and employment, decided by the Burger Court, the Rehnquist Court, and the Roberts Court—during …

Negligent Hiring: Recidivism And Employment With A Criminal Record, Benjamin Pyle

Northwestern University Law Review

This Article tackles a difficult legal and policy challenge— reducing the impact of criminal records on job applicants’ chances in a manner that does not spur more discrimination—by looking at how another area of law, tort liability, impacts employers’ decision-making. It uses theoretical and empirical methods to study the most common reason employers report being reluctant to hire workers with a criminal record: legal liability generated by the tort of negligent hiring. While the purpose of the tort is ostensibly to protect and make whole those harmed when an employee misbehaves in a foreseeable manner, I show that, in practice, …