Workplace Prof Blog

Minding the Gap Conference Friday at FIU

Thanks to Howard Wasserman over at PrawfsBlawg for word that this Friday, FIU Law Review will host Minding the Gap: Reflections on the Achievement Gap between Men and Women in the Workplace in 2013. The conference is organized by Kerri Stone. Here is the stellar list of speakers:

• Ann C. McGinley
• Sandra F. Sperino
• Nicole Porter
• Michael J. Zimmer
• Nancy Leong
• Brenda Smith
• Henry L. Chambers Jr.
• Joyce Sterling
• Nancy Reichman
• Marcia L. McCormick
• June Carbone
• Naomi R. Cahn
• Kingsley Browne
• Wendy Greene
• Lauren Sudeall Lucas

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LawAsia Employment Law Conference

The 8th Annual LawAsia Employment Law Conference will be held 24-25 May 2013 in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  The theme is Workplace Law in the Asia Pacific: The Issues and Challenges in 2013.  I'll be there, co-presenting on labor outsourcing with Pak Cornel Juniarto of Jakarta.

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Biagi Conference in Modena Italy

The Eleventh Conference in commemoration of prof. Marco Biagi, organized by the Marco Biagi Foundation, will take place in Modena (Italy) on 18 and 19 March 2013. The Conference is entitled The Transnational Dimension of Labour Relations: a New Order in the Making?.

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Denver Law Symposium on Ann Scales

The University of Denver Sturm College of Law is sponsoring a symposium: "On Having Fun & Raising Hell: Symposium Honoring the Work of Professor Ann Scales," on Saturday, March 30, 2013.

A flyer with links to the full agenda and online registration can be found here.

The symposium is being co-sponsored by the Workplace Law Center at Denver and a few employment law people are speaking at it (including Ann McGinley and Nicole Porter).  This ia great symposium for people with an overlapping interest in employment law and feminist legal theory.

PS

IALLJ Call for Papers

Steve Willborn, current president of the International Association of Labour Law Journals, writes to let us know about the IALLJ's call for papers for presentation at its upcoming meeting on June 6-7, in Bordeaux, France.  The topic is "Access to Justice" and the topics include both diversification and activation of social justice.  More info on the call for papers, as well as the tentative program for the meeting is available here (scroll down for the English section):   Download IALLJ Meeting.

If you're interested, note that the deadline for abstract submissions is March 1.

-JH

ABA Symposium on Tech in LEL

The ABA National Symposium on Technology in Labor & Employment Law will be held at Bancroft Hotel in Berkeley, California on April 21-23, 2013.

The symposium is an annual event organized by the ABA Technology in the Practice and Workplace Committee.  This year, the event is being co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

The ABA has reserved a block of rooms at the Bancroft.  Reservations may be made by calling the hotel directly at 800-549-1002 and referring to the "ABA Technology in the Practice and Workplace Meeting."

Here's information for online registration; here's a pdf of the event's Agenda.

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Call for Papers: Comparative Sciences

Thanks to Daria Chernyaeva, National Research University Moscow, for passing along word of this call for papers:

The event I'd like to bring to your attention is the International Symposium on Comparative Sciences organized by the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society. It will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, 8 - 11 October 2013. In the the Symposium program there are at least two sections that may be of interest to you and/or your colleagues involved in comparative research:
1. Section on Comparative Labour Studies;
2. Section on Comparative Law.
 
Main deadlines:
- abstract submission deadline is March 20, 2013.
- abstract acceptance notification is May 30, 2013.
- full paper submission deadline is August 15, 2013 (for those who would like his/her paper to be considered for publication).

Further details and requirements concerning abstracts, registration, accomodation, ect. can be obtained from the Symposium website.

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Call for Papers: Work and Vulnerability Conference at Emory Law

The Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative the Feminism and Legal Theory Project at Emory Law School has put out a call for papers for their Work and Vulnerability Conference which is due to take place on April 5th and 6th at Emory Law School in Atlanta, Georgia.

Topics may include, among others:

**To the extent that the social contract addresses our shared vulnerability, what specific aspects directly address labor and employment?

**What are the specific vulnerabilities of employees? Employers? How do their distinct vulnerabilities interrelate?

**What are the legal and political implications of the identification of Labor-Rights with Human-Rights across nations?

**To what extent should the state and public concerns be involved in regulating the private workplace outside of basic health and safety issues?

**Can we still talk about "employees" as a generality? Or should we distinguish between categories and groups of workers? If so, how?

**How might the idea of the union or social collective be redefined and how can the entities that emerge (traditional or reinvented) gain support to, not only be tolerated, but facilitated in the 21st century?

All the details of the conference and how to submit a paper can be found here.

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Washburn Symposium: LEL in the 21st Century

Joe Mastrosimone sends us word of Washburn School of Law's upcoming symposium Employment and Labor Law in the 21st Century: Changes in the Arenas of Conflict.  The symposium will be held on Thursday, February 28, 2013.  It will feature three panels: (1) Technology, Social Media, and Privacy Issues in Employment and Labor Law; (2) The Landscape of Private Sector Labor Law in the 21st Century; and (3) The Landscape of Public Sector Law in the 21st Century. 

A keynote address will be given by Former Chairman and Member of the National Labor Relations Board Peter Schaumber.

The panelists and moderators include a number of labor and employment law scholars:

• Associate Dean Aïda Alaka (Washburn University School of Law),
• Associate Dean Rafael Gely (University of Missouri School of Law),
• Prof. Robert Sprague (University of Wyoming College of Business), 
• Prof. Michael Duff (University of Wyoming College of Law), 
• Prof. Joseph Mastrosimone (Washburn University School of Law),
• Prof. John Raudabaugh (Ave Maria School of Law),
• Prof. Stephen Befort (University of Minnesota Law School),
• Prof. Joseph Slater (University of Toledo College of Law).

The panelists and moderators also include a number of practitioners:

• Terry Mann, Partner Martin Pringle Attorneys at Law,
• Lisa Jones, Washburn University Counsel and Secretary to the Washburn Board of Regents,
• Martin Walter, General Counsel, Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis & Vicinity, and
• W. Terrence Kilroy, Partner Polsinelli Shughart PC, Kansas City.

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Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal's 30th Anniversary Symposium

To celebrate thirty years of publication, the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal is holding the Journal’s 30th Anniversary Symposium titled “Past, Present, and Future: Thirty Years of Labor and Employment Law.”  The Symposium will be on Friday, February 8, 2013, from 8:30AM - 5:00PM, at Sentry Centers Midtown East, 730 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10017.

The Symposium will feature a keynote address from the current Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, Mark Gaston Pearce, and four different panel discussions by leading practitioners and academics in a variety of substantive labor and employment law topics. The specific panels will focus on: a) Arbitration/Mediation in labor and employment law; b) Traditional labor law; c) Employee Benefits/ERISA; and d) Employment discrimination.

Interested parties can register for the Symposium here. Hofstra University School of Law will be offering CLE credit (interested parties can register to receive CLE credit for attending the Symposium at the same website) to attorneys in attendance.

Here is the Symposium schedule:

a)    Panel #1: Arbitration and Mediation in LEL: 9:00-10:30AM
    Employer Side Perspective: Jonathan Kozak, Partner, Jackson Lewis LLP – White Plains, NY
    Employee Side Perspective: Wayne Outten, Managing Partner, Outten & Golden LLP – NY
    Neutral Perspective: Robert Douglas, Arbitrator/Mediator – NY
    International Law Perspective: Jacquelin Drucker, Arbitrator/Mediator – NY

b)    Panel #2: Traditional Labor Law: 10:45AM-12:15PM
    Employer Side Perspective: Michael Marino, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP – NY
    Employee/Union Side Perspective: Robert Archer, Managing Partner, Archer, Byington, Glennon &      Levine, LLP – NY
    Neutral Perspective: Michael Fischl, Professor of Law, Univ. of Connecticut School of Law
    International Law Perspective: David Doorey, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Labour and Employment Law, York University – Toronto, Canada

c)    Panel #3: ERISA/Employee Benefits: 1:30-3:00PM
    Employer Side Perspective: Susan Hoffman, Co-Chair, Employee Benefits Litigation Practice Group, Littler Mendelson – Philadelphia, PA
    Employee Side Perspective: Daniel Campbell, Professor – St. John’s Univ. School of Law
    Neutral Perspective: Andrew Oringer, Senior Attorney, Dechert LLP – NY
    International Law Perspective: Kathryn Moore, Professor – Univ. of Kentucky School of Law

d)    Panel #4: Employment Discrimination: 3:15-4:45PM
    Employer Side Perspective: Allan Bloom, Partner, Paul Hastings – NY
    Employee Side Perspective: Adam Klein, Partner, Outten & Golden LLP – NY
    Neutral Perspective: Deborah Malamud, AnBryce Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
    International Law Perspective: Marjorie Culver, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP – NY

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AALS Employment Discrimination/Labor Relations & Employment Law Newsletter

Angela Onwuachi-Willig and Rebecca Lee pass along the following:

Dear Colleagues: Please see the attached for the 2012 joint annual newsletter for the AALS Section on Employment Discrimination and the Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law. Thanks very much for all of your contributions, and we hope you enjoy this year's newsletter.

You can get the newsletter here [ Download Employment Discrimination_L&E Newsletter_2012 ].  It has information on relevant AALS panels, faculty publication and personnel moves, important decisions from the past year, and cases pending in the Supreme Court.

-JH

University of Colorado Law School to Host 9th Annual Labor and Employment Law Colloquium in Fall 2014

Along with Joe Slater and Scott Moss, I am happy to announce that the Ninth Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law will be held in the Fall of 2014 at the University of Colorado Law School.  This will be the second time that Colorado will be hosting the event (it co-hosted the Second Annual Colloquium in 2007), and we are thrilled to be returning to Boulder.

As a reminder, the Eighth Annual Colloquium will be held next year in September 2013 at UNLV Law School.  You should look forward to hearing more information about the UNLV Colloquium soon on the various labor and employment law listservs and the Workplace Prof Blog.

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Symposium Honoring the Work and Life of Professor Ann Scales

Thanks to Nicole Porter (Toledo, Visiting at Denver) for brining to my attention a Symposium Honoring the work of Professor Ann Scales. Although not directly employment-related, this symposium should be of interest to folks whose labor and employment law scholarship overlaps with Feminist Legal Theory.

Ann McGinley (UNLV) will be one of the speakers at the symposium.

The rest of the details on the Scales Symposium can be found here.

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WJLGS Publication of Symposium on The Constitutionalization of Labor and Employment Law

I am happy to report that today saw the publication by the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society (WJLGS) four papers from the October 2011 Symposium on The Constitutionalization of Labor and Employment Law, which was held at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Here are the contents of the WJLGS Summer 2012 Symposium Issue (Vol. 27, No. 2):

Introduction: Symposium on The Constitutionalization of Labor and Employment Law - Carin A. Clauss & Paul M. Secunda

Disparate Impact and Equal Protection After Ricci v. DeStefano - Marcia L. McCormick

A Strategic Plan for Using the Thirteenth Amendment to Protect Immigrant Workers - Maria L. Ontiveros

Constitutionalizing Employees' Rights: Lessons from the History of the Thirteenth Amendment - George Rutherglen

First Amendment Protection for Union Appeals to Consumers - Michal C. Harper

Check out the articles in this fine volume when you get a chance!

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Call for Papers: SEALS New Voices in Labor and Employment Law Program

The Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual program will be having a discussion group entitled: “New Voices in Labor and Employment Law.”  This is a great opportunity for junior (i.e., five years or fewer teaching experience) labor and employment law scholars to show off their work in a wonderful, nurturing environment at the SEALS conference next August at The Breakers in Palm Beach (Aug. 4-Aug. 10, 2013).

I have been going to the SEALS conference for eight years now and I can tell you it is one of the best run and fun law conferences every year.  Of course, it doesn’t hurt that you stay at a very reduced price at one of the best hotels in the country.  It is great for those of you who have families too!

Here is the call for papers for the discussion group:

The Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) is pleased to host the first annual “New Voices in Labor and Employment Law” program during the August 2013 SEALS Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida. The purpose of this works-in-progress program is to bring together junior and senior labor and employment law scholars to help the junior scholars ready papers for the upcoming law review submission cycle.

For this program, we are seeking submissions from labor and employment law scholars with five or fewer years of full-time teaching experience (not counting the 2012-13 academic year). Submissions should be drafts of papers relating to labor and employment law that will be near completion by the time of the SEALS meeting in August 2013.

To be considered for participation in the program, please send an email to Professor Michael Green, Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, at mgreen@law.txwes.edu and to Professor Paul Secunda, Marquette University Law School at paul.secunda@marquette.edu by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday, January 7, 2013. In your email, please include the title of your paper, a short description of the context (e.g., “Employee Privacy in the Digital Age”), and a full abstract. Full-time faculty members of SEALS member or affiliate member schools, who have been teaching labor and employment law courses for five or fewer years as of July 1, 2012, will be given a preference in the selection of those contacted to submit final papers.

To ensure an atmosphere conducive to feedback, space will be limited to 15 participants; any additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list and invited to participate on a space available basis only. Those individuals accepted into the program must submit a complete draft by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, May 31, 2013. Please submit your drafts electronically to the email addresses above. The draft should be accompanied by a cover letter with the author’s name, contact information, and confirmation that the submission meets the criteria identified in this call of papers. Submissions are limited to a maximum 40,000 word limit (including footnotes). Submitted in-progress papers can be committed for publication prior to their submission, as long as they are not actually scheduled to be printed prior to August 1, 2013. Each professor may submit only one paper for consideration. No papers will be accepted after the deadline, and no one may participate without submitting a draft by the deadline above.

Paper commentators may include Professors Tony Baldwin, Mercer University Law School, Rick Bales, Northern Kentucky Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Matthew Bodie, St. Louis University School of Law, Susan Carle, American University Washington College of Law, Richard Carlson, South Texas College of Law, Miriam Cherry, St. Louis University School of Law, Michael Green, Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, Wendy Greene, Samford University, Cumberland School of Law, Jeff Hirsch, University of North Carolina School of Law, Nancy Levit, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Anne Lofaso, West Virginia College of Law, Alex Long, University of Tennessee College of Law, Marcia McCormick, St. Louis University School of Law, Elizabeth Pendo, St. Louis University School of Law, Paul Secunda, Marquette University Law School, and others still to be determined.

Please be aware that selected participants and commentators are responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses related to attending the SEALS Annual Meeting, including the SEALS registration fee. Any inquiries about the SEALS New Voices in Labor and Employment Law Program should be submitted to Professor Michael Green, mgreen@law.txwes.edu or Professor Paul Secunda, paul.secunda@marquette.edu.

In any event, I hope many junior Scholars will consider submitting papers.  After reading all the details above, please let me or Michael Green (both of our email addresses are directly above) know if you have any questions.

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Call for News and Articles

Friends of the blog Angela Onwuachi-Willig (Iowa) and Rebecca Lee (Thomas Jefferson) write about the joint newsletter for the AALS sections on Employment Discrimination and Labor and Employment Law. Here is their call for submissions:

Dear Colleagues:

We are putting together a joint annual newsletter for the AALS Section on Employment Discrimination and the Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law, and we need your help as readers and section members.  Please forward this message to any and all people you know who teach or write in the Employment Discrimination, Labor Law, and Employment Law fields.

First, if you have news of any faculty visits, lateral moves, entry-level hires, or promotions and tenure not included here (http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2012/04/workplace-prof-moves-for-2012-2013.html), please e-mail that news to Angela Onwuachi-Willig at angela-onwuachi@uiowa.edu.

Second, please e-mail Angela Onwuachi-Willig at angela-onwuachi@uiowa.edu with any information about  conference announcements and calls for papers, employment or fellowship opportunities, honors and awards, and reports on recent conferences or other events of interest to the two Sections' members.

Third, we want to include a list of  relevant employment or labor law-related publications published in 2012; please hold your forthcoming 2013 publications for next year's newsletter. These publications can be books, articles, and chapters.  Please also send a list of your published 2012 articles to Angela Onwuachi-Willig at angela-onwuachi@uiowa.edu.

Fourth and finally, we want to solicit anyone who would be interested in writing a brief description of a recent "big" labor and employment case or significant new labor or employment legislation. Your subject could be a Supreme Court decision (but it does not have to be), a significant circuit court decision (or emerging circuit split), a state supreme court decision, or an innovative and potentially influential new federal, state, or local law. The description should be fairly short (under 2 pages). If you're looking for an easy way to get your name out there or want a quick outlet for your ruminations about a case or new law, this could be a good opportunity. Just let us know what you are interested in writing on.  Please send submissions to Rebecca Lee at rlee@tjsl.edu.

Please send all submissions by November 18, 2012.

MM

NYSBA Conference on Social Media and the Public Sector Workplace

Workplace Prof Blog readers may be interested in an upcoming program scheduled at Hofstra Law School on November 19, 2012: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR WORKPLACE. 

It is co-sponsored by New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Labor and Employment Section’s Technology in the Workplace and Practice Committee and the Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal.

More details are included in this announcement.

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Call for Papers: Young Scholars Workshop, Biagi Foundation

Susan Bisom-Rapp (Thomas Jefferson), writes to tell us of an exciting workshop for newer scholars. Here is her note:

I am pleased to attach the Marco Biagi Foundation’s Call for Papers for its Young Scholars Workshop, which will be held during the afternoon of March 19, 2013 at the University of Modena in Modena, Italy.  In addition to PhD candidates and post-docs, JSD students are welcome.  The deadline for the submission of abstracts is November 3, 2012.  Presenters of papers will receive free admission to the Eleventh International Conference in Commemoration of Professor Marco Biagi, hotel accommodations from March 18-20 (two nights), and breakfast and other meals on March 18 -19.

Abstracts, papers and any questions about submissions should be sent to: iacopo.senatori@unimore.it

The 2012 workshop, featuring 10 papers presented by doctoral and post-doctoral students from two continents, and two poster sessions, was an exciting and successful event.  I was honored to participate in the event last year as an organizer and commentator, and found the workshop to be a highlight of the International Conference.  Please spread the word to potential participants.

This looks like an incredible opportunity. A few more details are in this call for papers:  Download Call YSW

MM

Call for Papers: NKLR Symposium on Labor/Employment Law & Informatics

The Northern Kentucky Law Review and Salmon P. Chase College of Law seek submissions for the Law + Informatics Symposium on February 15, 2013. The focus of the conference is to provide an interdisciplinary review of issues involving privacy, data aggregation, security, communications, social media management, and related topics affecting the legal and business practices involving labor and employment law.

The symposium is an opportunity for academics, practitioners, consultants, and students to exchange ideas and explore emerging issues in informatics law as it applies to working conditions and employment practices. Interdisciplinary presentations are encouraged. Authors and presenters are invited to submit proposals on topics such as the following:

Privacy

• Application of the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Federal/state employment regulations regarding privacy
• HIPAA, FERPA, COPPA, GLBA & other sector-specific privacy issues
• EU & global privacy laws & policies
• Bioinformatics in the workplace
• Data mining of employee information
• Social media and political change

Collective Bargaining

• Use of informatics tools for collective bargaining
• Collective bargaining positions on internet usage, data aggregation and social media
• Online dispute resolution
• Ownership of databases & data
• Contracting & enforcement of agreements over sharing of data
• Assessment of significant commercial expansions of informatics practices affecting public expectations & norms

Social Media

• Employee discipline for internet and social media use
• NLRB responses to social media
• Use of social media in employee screening
• Implications for privacy and discrimination lawsuits

Training and Security

• Gamification in training
• Computer security
• Data protection & obligations regarding data breaches
• Data reliability, including people’s rights to review & correct collected data
• Retraining and employee obsolecense

Other Issues

• Discrimination and access to public and semi-public information
• Employee ownership of intellectual property and data information
• Post-termination obligations of employers and employees
• Employee contracting and end user license agreements
• Global issues for similarly situated employees in multiple jurisdictions

Submissions & Important Dates:

• Please submit materials to Nkylrsymposium@nku.edu
• Submission Deadline for Abstracts: October 1, 2012
• Submission Deadline for Articles: February 1, 2013
• Symposium Date: February 15, 2013

If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a note.

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LEL Colloquium

Today marks the start of the two-day 7th Annual Colloquium on Labor and Employment Law.  The Colloquium is jointly hosted by Northwestern Law School and Loyola-Chicago Law School.  Here's the program description.

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