Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

The Paga Saga, Tamar Meshel

Pepperdine Law Review

Employees routinely enter into employment contracts that contain arbitration ‎agreements and prohibit ‎them from bringing class and/or representative actions. These employees may therefore only bring claims against their ‎employers, ‎whether contractual or statutory, in arbitration on an individual basis. Such arbitration agreements and the class/representative action waivers that they contain are enforced nationwide pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In California, however, a judge-made rule (the Iskanian rule) prohibits the enforcement of representative action waivers found in arbitration agreements with respect to employees’ claims of Labor Code violations under California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA). A judicial battle is …

Beyond Citizens United: Democratizing The Economy In The Wake Of The Small-Dollar Revolution, Jay Hedges

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Citizens United increases the power of corporations over our political process. Under current corporate governance laws, permission for corporations to behave as political actors ignores the consent of a particularly important constituency of these business entities—labor. This neglect of workers reveals three democratic crises resulting from the corporate structure in the United States, which have only intensified following Citizens United. First, while the political speaking-power of corporations has been substantially increased, these entities lack legitimacy to speak on behalf of their labor constituency. Second, the use of corporate profits, generated by the corporation’s labor force, as the means …

A Title Vii Dead End? Machine Learning And Employee Monitoring, Kayla Burris

William & Mary Law Review Online

This Note will argue that Title VII, as courts currently apply the law, does not adequately protect employees from algorithmic discrimination when companies use machine learning to monitor their employees' computers. Part I will provide an introduction to how employee monitoring tools work, how employers are using machine learning in their monitoring programs, and how these programs can discriminate. Because scholars have already done significant work in this area, this Note will not try to replicate this research but will provide an overview of how this discrimination can occur. Parts II and III will then analyze how an employee might …

Charles Mushitu (Sued In His Capacity As Secretary-General Of Zambia Red Cross Society) V. Christabel M. Kaumba Scz Appeal No. 122/2015, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

An employee worked under a project that terminated and was then placed on unpaid leave for almost nine (9) months when she was appointed to another post in another town, Choma. The issue here was does the employee have any relief for being unpaid for the 9-month period?

The Supreme Court held that the employers conduct amounted to a fundamental breach of contract when the employee was placed on unpaid, forced, indefinite leave. Therefore, due to their failure to pay the employee whilst he was still an employee, the employer not only breached the duty to pay wages, which constitutes …

Kenny Sililo V. Mend-A-Bath Zambia Limited And Spencon Zambia Limited Scz Appeal No. 168/2014, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

The employer and employee had entered a written contract of employment. However, during the employment, a statutory instrument made pursuant to the Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment Act came into effect. As a result of this statutory instrument, certain minimum wages were prescribed for protected employees, of which the employee in question was one. The employer thereafter offered him a reduced salary as his current salary was above that prescribed by the statutory instrument. The employee complained about the employer’s conduct and declined the offer, as he considered it to be a unilateral alteration of his conditions of service. …

Mumba Malila, An Advocate For The Vulnerable Worker: Tiger Chicks (T/A Progressive Poultry Limited) V. Tembo Chrisford And Others Scz Appeal No. 06/2020 And Kasembo Transport Limited V. Collins John Kinnear Scz Appeal No. 89/2010, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

Basic conditions of employment refer to minimum conditions of employment that an employer must provide for employees. The law in Zambia has set minimum standards and basic conditions of employment for workers in the Employment Code Act. In addition to the Employment Code Act, specific groups of vulnerable workers have Ministerial Orders in the form of statutory instruments that provide specific basic conditions of employment. These statutory instruments, namely the General Order, Shop Workers Order, Domestic Workers Order and Truck and Bus Drivers Orders provide for the minimum wage and basic conditions of employment for specified, vulnerable workers and together …

Vol. 39, No. 2, Nicki Bazer, Stephen A. Yokich

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Bargaining in the Time of Covid: How Collective Bargaining Impacts Schools and Their Mitigation Strategies

By Nicki Bazer

Fighting for the Living

By Stephen A. Yokich

Recent Developments

By the Student Editorial Board: Bradley Kupiec, Carrie Kumiega, Damia Marshall, Sara Rash

Frida Kabaso (Sued As Country Director Of Voluntary Services Overseas Zambia) V. Davies Tembo Scz Appeal No. 04/2012, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

This action concerned an appeal from the Industrial Relations Court where an employee was employed on a permanent contract by Voluntary Services Overseas Zambia as an Administrative Officer on 11th July 1996. He was later promoted to the position of Officer Manager.

In 2001/2002, the employer changed its employment policy from employing staff on permanent terms to employing them on fixed-term contract. By 2008, the employer begun restructuring and informed employees. The employee’s position of Officer Manager was phased out and removed from the employer’s organisational structure, with two positions created, including that of Finance Manager. The employee claimed a …

What’S In A Form? Employment Background Checks Under The Fair Credit Reporting Act, Emily Scace

Connecticut Law Review

For employers, background checks, credit checks, and similar measures are a prudent step to guard against negligent hiring claims and other potential losses that can result from poor hiring decisions. But these practices necessarily require employees to relinquish some of their interests in privacy and may also introduce bias into the hiring process. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which applies to many of these employment screening measures, requires employers to follow certain procedural requirements that seek to ensure that employees and applicants understand the scope of the information that will be sought in a background or credit check, provide …

Domesticated: Migrant Domestic Workers In Jordan And Their Place In Jordan’S Law And Homes, Jeromel Dela Rosa Lara

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study is to bring attention to the labor conditions for migrant women domestic workers and what agency they have in the workplace (the home of their employers) and the law in Jordan. Jordan is considered as having a model labor law for migrant workers in the region. Officials from the Ministry of Labor have claimed that this makes the Kafala System––a system of labor that puts migrant workers under the care, standards, and control of the employer––non-existent in the country. This study will look further on the extent that this is reflected to the experiences of …

The Law Of Employee Data: Privacy, Property, Governance, Matthew T. Bodie

Indiana Law Journal

The availability of data related to the employment relationship has ballooned into an unruly mass of performance metrics, personal characteristics, biometric recordings, and creative output. The law governing this collection of information has been awkwardly split between privacy regulations and intellectual property rights, with employees generally losing on both ends. This Article rejects a binary approach that either carves out private spaces ineffectually or renders data into isolated pieces of ownership. Instead, the law should implement a hybrid system that provides workers with continuing input and control without blocking efforts at joint production. In addition, employers should have fiduciary responsibilities …

Women, Retirement, And The Growing Gig Economy Workforce, Caroline Bruckner, Jonathan B. Forman

Georgia State University Law Review

Gig work—the selling or renting of labor, effort, skills, and time outside of traditional employment—is a long-standing feature of the U.S. economy. Today, millions of “online gig workers” sell goods and services, or rent rooms, houses, vehicles, and other assets using app-online and app-based platforms (for example, Uber, Lyft, Rover, DoorDash, eBay, Etsy, Postmates, VRBO, and Airbnb) to connect with customers. Millions more of “offline gig workers” run errands; walk dogs; care for children and the elderly; do housework, yardwork, and other occasional jobs; rent rooms; and sell goods at outdoor markets and roadside stands—without using online platforms to connect …

California And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Statutory Employee Classification Scheme, Richard H. Gilliland Iii

Washington and Lee Law Review

The battle over worker classification between state governments, on the one hand, and gig economy companies, on the other, has raged since at least the first time someone ordered an Uber. Nowhere has this battle played out more prominently in recent years than in California. In 2019, the state legislature passed AB 5, a bill which adopted a stringent independent contractor standard and effectively classified all gig economy workers as employees of the companies whose apps they use to find work. AB 5’s ripple effects were enormous—the significant popularity of gig economy apps among consumers launched what might have been …

Not So Special! Georgia Court Of Appeals Clarifies Special Circumstance And Special Mission Exceptions To Vicarious Liability, Samantha Thompson

Mercer Law Review

The ever-increasing mobility of today’s workforce threatens employers with a risk of vicarious liability for injuries arising from their employees’ driving under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Although common law protects employers from liability for injuries arising from an employee’s commute to or from work, the special circumstance exception and the special mission exception can create vicarious liability for a Georgia employer. These exceptions bring an employee’s commute within the scope of employment when an employee acts under a special circumstance or in furtherance of a special mission at the time of an automobile accident; this creates vicarious liability for …

The Correct Procedure For Commencing An Action In The Industrial Relations Division Of The High Court: Edward Chilufya Mwansa And 194 Others V. Konkola Copper Mines Plc Scz Appeal No. 99/2015 And Concrete Pipes V. Kingsley Kaimba And Another Scz Appeal No. 014/2015, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

In Edward Chilufya Mwansa and 194 Others v. Konkola Copper Mines Plc, the Supreme Court dealt with a scenario where several employees had been dismissed and sought to enter an out of court settlement with their employer, through the assistance of the Labour Office. This process lasted over three years

In Concrete Pipes v. Kingsley Kaimba and Another, the Supreme Court dealt with an appeal from a Ruling of the Industrial Relations Court dismissing a preliminary issue in relation to the need to exhaust internal administrative channels before commencing an action before the court.

Chansa Ng’Onga V. Alfred H. Knight (Z) Limited Selected Judgment No. 26 Of 2019, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

An Appellant was employed as the Sectional Leader in the Lubricants Testing Department of the employer’s business. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Lubricant Testing Manager.

During his employment as Lubricant Training Manager, he was suspended due to being absent from work for five days without his supervisor’s permission. Under the employer’s Disciplinary Rules and Procedures, the penalty for a first offender was a written warning. This notwithstanding, he was dismissed after three weeks, without any formal charges raised against him and his letter of dismissal outlined that he was dismissed for offences for which he was not …

Rabson Sikombe V. Access Bank (Zambia) Limited Scz Appeal No. 240/2013, Chanda Chungu

SAIPAR Case Review

The employee was employed as a Transaction Officer with effect from the 17th of November 2008. He was suspended from duty on the 15th of May, 2009 following an investigation into the sum of K804 million, unauthorized overdraft on an account held in the respondent's Bank by a company called ZCON,it being alleged that the appellant failed to manage the credit portfolio by not constantly reviewing the overdrawn account, leading to the customer's overdrawn position exceeding the approved limit of K350 million.

It was further alleged that the employee had provided false information that the client had an approved facility …

Sex Work Is Real Work: The Implications Of U.S. Strippers Winning The Right To Unionize, An International Comparative Study, Katherine Fustich

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note examines the landmark NLRB decision in *Nolan Enterprises*, which granted U.S. strippers the right to unionize by classifying them as employees rather than independent contractors. This ruling has significant implications for labor rights in the sex work industry, both domestically and internationally. The analysis compares this development with international perspectives from the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for sex worker unionization and the broader implications for labor movements globally.

Community Lawyering In Resistance To Neoliberalism, Jeena Shah

Michigan Law Review

A Review of An Equal Place: Lawyers in the Struggle for Los Angeles. By Scott L. Cummings.

Ability Apartheid And Paid Leave, Ryan H. Nelson, Michael Ashley Stein

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Ableism at Work: Disablement and Hierarchies of Impairment. By Paul David Harpur.