Workplace Prof Blog

Shu to Join Rothstein & McGinley on Disability Law Casebook

D'Andra Shu (South Texas) will be joining Laura Rothstein (Louisville, retired) and Ann McGinley (UNLV) on the 7th edition of Disability Law: Cases, Problems, and Materials (Carolina Academic Press, forthcoming in time for classes in fall 2024). Shu's a terrific addition to a terrific team and a critical casebook. Here's an excerpt from the authors' letter to adopters:

This message is being sent to you as a current or recent adopter of the 2017 edition of DISABILITY LAW: CASES, PROBLEMS AND MATERIALS. Except for this past summer, we have sent an annual Letter Update to all adopters. Our letter noted previously that until there was a significant number of changes to this area of law, a 7th edition was not contemplated. It is now time for the 7th edition, and we are scheduled to complete that edition for Carolina Academic Press in time for classroom use by Fall 2024. We will also be bringing in D’Andra Shu, Assistant Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law Houston, as a co-author.

Although there have been few Supreme Court decisions and no major statutory changes since 2017, a new edition makes sense now to address the range of COVID-related issues that have affected disability law and because of the current Supreme Court’s approach to areas of law that are highly regulated.

The 7th edition will retain what we believe to be key assets of our textbook—the Chapter Goals, Key Concepts and Definitions, and Hypotheticals (including some new ones). We do not contemplate any major reorganization of the text or adding or deleting any chapters. The Instructor Materials will be updated and will guide the faculty member through the changes and will continue to suggest areas where the instructor might wish to add material relevant to the state in which the course is being taught. The Power Points (and content for those with visual impairments) will be updated.

We would welcome any suggestions and thoughts from our adopters—including what you like about the text and what you would like to see more of. Are there parts of the book that you do not use? Are there topics you would like to see added?

For those of you using the textbook in fall 2023 or spring 2024, we are already working on the Letter Update and plan to make it available by July 1, 2023. This would incorporate issues from the previous letter updates and major new developments through this spring.

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Lobel's New Book: Equality Machine

Congratulations to Orly Lobel (San Diego) on the publication of her new book, The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future (PublicAffairs 2022). Here's the author's description:

The Equality Machine is a cautiously optimistic response to the current techlash and fears of AI, automation, and datafication. I envision a more balanced path forward, one where we redirect digital technology for good. Much has been written about the challenges tech presents to equality and democracy. I argue that while we cannot stop technological development, we can steer its course according to our most fundamental values. Already, digital technology frequently has a comparative advantage over humans in detecting discrimination, correcting historical exclusions, subverting long-standing stereotypes, and addressing the world’s thorniest problems: climate, poverty, injustice, literacy, accessibility, speech, health, and safety. The book offers vivid examples, new research, and stories of leaders from academia, policy, and industry—from labor markets to dating markets-that inspire to have skin in the tech game and restore human agency in a rapidly evolving artificial reality.

 

Congrats, Orly!

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New Ed.: Employment Law in a Nutshell

Congratulations to Joe Seiner (South Carolina) on the publication of the 5th edition of Employment Law in a Nutshell (with the late Robert Covington). Here's the publisher's description:

This Nutshell provides an overview of individual employee rights and responsibilities. It addresses a number of areas, including establishing and ending the employment relationship, protection of employee privacy and reputation, discrimination, regulation of wages and hours, employee physical safety, fringe benefits, and employee duties of loyalty. This edition includes a discussion of the many changes in harassment law and the impact of the #MeToo movement, a look at the recent Supreme Court case law extending employment discrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status, an examination of the trend toward a more virtual economy and platform-based work, and a description of the changes in how employees work, and the terms of that work, in the face of an ongoing health pandemic.

Here's what's new for the 5th edition:

The fifth edition takes on a number of transformative changes that have occurred in the last several years in the area of workplace law, including: (1) The impact of the #MeToo moment on claims of gender discrimination and harassment; (2) The changing ways employment status is considered in the face of an ongoing health pandemic; (3) The move toward a more virtual workplace and employment that relies more heavily on technology; and (4) The recent Supreme Court case law extending employment discrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status.

Congrats, Joe!

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New Edition of Craver/Crain/Hayden's Labor Relations Law

Congratulations to Charlie Craver, Marion Crain, and Grant Hayden on the publication of the fourteenth (!!!) edition of Labor Relations Law: Cases and Materials (Caroline Academic Press). The book will be available for courses this fall. Here's a description:

The casebook is designed for an intensive examination of the union-management relationship throughout its major phases. Largely tracking the organization of the National Labor Relations Act, it covers the right of employees to join together for organizational purposes, the regulation of the union-organizing process including the use of economic weapons, the development of bargaining relationships, the negotiation and enforcement of collective agreements, and, more briefly, the law governing internal union affairs. The text responds generously to the most significant current developments in the field and provides a set of materials that will be truly manageable in the usual three- or four-hour courses. The fourteenth edition includes over sixty new hypothetical problems designed to test students’ knowledge of existing doctrines and push them to explore issues that don’t admit of ready answers (with detailed answers and explanations in the teacher’s manual). As with previous editions, the book will come with a comprehensive teacher’s manual and a biennial supplement to keep the book up-to-date.

Faculty should contact Erin Matthews at Carolina Academic Press for electronic review copies ([email protected] or 919-489-7486 ext. 123).

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Hayden & Bodie: New Article, Book on Codetermination & Corporate Governance

Grant Hayden (SMU) and Matt Bodie (SLU) have both a new article and a new book out. The article is Codetermination in Theory and Practice, 73 Fla. L. Rev. 321 (2021). Here's the abstract:

Codetermination—a system of shared corporate governance between shareholders and workers—has been mostly ignored within the U.S. corporate governance literature. When it has made an appearance, it has largely served as a foil for shareholder primacy and as an example of corporate deviance. However, over the last fifteen years—and especially in the last five—empirical research on codetermination has shown surprising results as to the system’s efficiency, resilience, and benefits to stakeholders.

This Article reviews the extant American legal scholarship on codetermination and provides a fresh look at the current state of codetermination theory and practice. Rather than experiencing the failures predicted by our law-and-economics framework of shareholder primacy, codetermination has fared better than alternative systems, particularly with respect to the ravages of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. At a time when corporate leaders, politicians, and academics are rethinking the shareholder primacy model, this Article presents an updated perspective on codetermination and invites U.S. scholars to reexamine their prior assumptions.

The new book is Reconstructing the Corporation: From Shareholder Primacy to Shared Governance (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021). Here's a description:

Modern corporations contribute to a wide range of contemporary problems, including income inequality, global warming, and the influence of money in politics. Their relentless pursuit of profits, though, is the natural outcome of the doctrine of shareholder primacy. As the consensus around this doctrine crumbles, it has become increasingly clear that the prerogatives of corporate governance have been improperly limited to shareholders. It is time to examine shareholder primacy and its attendant governance features anew, and reorient the literature around the basic purpose of corporations. This book critically examines the current state of corporate governance law and provides decisive rebuttals to longstanding arguments for the exclusive shareholder franchise. Reconstructing the Corporation presents a new model of corporate governance - one that builds on the theory of the firm as well as a novel theory of democratic participation - to support the extension of the corporate franchise to employees.

Congratulations!!!

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New Edition: Harris et al. Modern Labor Law

Congratulations to Seth Harris, Joseph E. Slater, Anne Marie Lofaso, Charlotte Garden, and Richard F. Griffin, Jr. on the imminent publication of the Third Edition of Modern Labor Law in the Private and Public Sectors: Cases and Materials. Here's the publisher's description:

This casebook adopts a truly modern approach to labor law in the United States, introducing students to the subject as it is practiced today. It is built around two important trends: the shift of union density from the private sector to the public sector and the growth of organizing outside the NLRA process. The third edition adds a new coauthor: Richard F. Griffin, Jr., who served as the NLRB’s General Counsel under President Obama. It also includes the numerous changes in private-sector labor law made by the NLRB under President Trump, Janus v. AFSCME, and more.

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9th ed. of Rothstein et al.'s Employment Law casebook published

Congratulations to Mark Rothstein, Lance Liebman, Kimberly Yuracko, & Charlotte Garden on the publication of Employment Law, Cases and Materials (9th ed. 2020). Here's the publisher's description:

This popular casebook provides a comprehensive overview of the constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and common law principles of employment law. The doctrinal development of the law is assessed in light of contemporary economic, technological, social, and political conditions. The 9th edition includes a more detailed treatment of independent contractors and gig workers, sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination under Title VII, updates on employee health coverage, and the Secure Act of 2019 dealing with small employer retirement plans. Among the statutes covered by the casebook are Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

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New edition of Arbitration Law

The new (4th) edition of Arbitration Law will be published in November and available for Spring 2021 courses. Authors are Kathy Stone (UCLA), Rick Bales (ONU), and Alex Colvin (Cornell ILR). Here's an excerpt from the publisher's description:

This casebook presents a comprehensive treatment of the legal issues involved in arbitration. The first four chapters address issues that arise under written agreements to arbitrate contained in private contracts. They present the law that has evolved under the Federal Arbitration Act, a statute that governs arbitration in contracts involving interstate commerce. Chapter 5 looks at arbitration in the labor management context that is governed by the Labor Management Relations Act. Chapter 6 addresses international commercial arbitration. Together the book is designed to give students a thorough understanding of arbitration law, and to provide a solid foundation for legal practice, whether in alternative dispute resolution tribunals or in the civil justice system.

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New Book: NAFTA & NAALC

Congratulations to Tequila Brooks and Lance Compa (emeritus, Cornell ILR) on the publication of the second edition of NAFTA and NAALC: Twenty-Five Years of North American Trade - Labour Linkage (Wolters Kluwer 2019)! The book is an excellent resource on the various petitions that have been filed, and includes comparisons of labor provisions of various recent US, Canadian and Mexican FTAs - as well as a comparison of NAALC with USMCA's labor chapter. Here's the publisher's description:

The 25th anniversary edition of the NAFTA and NAALC monograph in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Labour Law and Industrial Relations is a comprehensive and up-to-date 270-page resource that contains essential background on the structure and operation of labour provisions in North American free trade agreements, including NAFTA, USMCA, CAFTA-DR, TPP, CPTPP, TTIP, CETA, EU-Mexico, and Canadian and US bilateral free trade agreements with partners in Latin America and around the world. It also contains a complete digest of all of the citizen petitions filed under the NAFTA labour side agreement since 1994. The monograph includes early petitions filed about trade union rights at the Honeywell and Echlin plants in Mexico, the McDonald's case in Canada, and the Washington Apple and DeCoster Egg cases in the United States – not to mention recent petitions filed about migrant worker rights under the H-2A and H-2B visa programs in the US.

In addition to being the most complete compilation of NAALC cases in existence today, NAFTA and the NAALC Twenty-Five Years of North American Trade-Labour Linkage outlines the internal mechanics leading to the filing of a 2000 NAALC petition with the Government of Mexico about unequal treatment of migrant workers in the US, and describes changes in the treatment of petitions by US, Mexican and Canadian authorities over the last 25 years. It also contains a chapter that compares the NAALC to the OECD Guidelines for Multi-National Enterprises and highlights recent North American cases filed under the OECD Guidelines including the relatively lesser known 2004 Yucatan Markey Tex-Coco Tex petition, which was dual filed under both mechanisms, and dual petitions filed under NAALC and the OECD Guidelines about working conditions at Chedraui grocery stores in Southern California and Northern Mexico.

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New Book: Greenhouse on the Future of U.S. Labor

Steven Greenhouse, long-time labor journalist for the New York Times, has a new book coming out just in time for your Labor Day gift-giving: Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (Knopf, forthcoming August 2019). Here's the publisher's description:

In an era when corporate profits have soared while wages have flatlined, millions of Americans are searching for ways to improve their lives, and they're often turning to labor unions and worker action, whether #RedforEd teachers' strikes or the Fight for $15. Wage stagnation, low-wage work, and blighted blue-collar communities have become an all-too-common part of modern-day America, and behind these trends is a little-discussed problem: the decades-long decline in worker power.

Steven Greenhouse sees this decline reflected in some of the most pressing problems facing our nation today, including income inequality, declining social mobility, the gender pay gap, and the concentration of political power in the hands of the wealthy. He rebuts the often-stated view that labor unions are outmoded--or even harmful--by recounting some of labor's victories, and the efforts of several of today's most innovative and successful worker groups. He shows us the modern labor landscape through the stories of dozens of American workers, from G.M. workers to Uber drivers, and we see how unions historically have empowered--and lifted--the most marginalized, including young women garment workers in New York in 1909, black sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968, and hotel housekeepers today. Greenhouse proposes concrete, feasible ways in which workers' collective power can be--and is being--rekindled and reimagined in the twenty-first century.

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New Book: Sperino's Law of Employment Discrimination

Congratulations to Sandra Sperino (Cincinnati) on the publication of her new book The Law of Employment Discrimination (1st ed., West 2019). Here's the publisher's description: 

This book provides comprehensive treatment of the major federal employment discrimination statutes, focusing on Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA, and Section 1981. It discusses who is liable for discrimination and the people the statutes protect from discrimination. The book offers an extensive discussion of the frameworks for analyzing discrimination, including frameworks for individual disparate treatment, pattern or practice, harassment, disparate impact, and retaliation. One chapter focuses on religious accommodation and another chapter focuses on disability accommodation. The book also contains separate treatment of affirmative action. It also explores defenses to discrimination claims, the procedure for pursuing claims, and remedies. The book provides extensive discussion of canonical cases.

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New Book on the Sharing Economy

Congratulations to Nestor Davidson (Fordham), Michèle Finck (Oxford), and John Infranca (Suffolk) on the publication of their book The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy (Cambridge U. Press). I had the pleasure of serving as a peer reviewer on the original proposal, and can verify that the book takes a comprehensive look at the sharing economy -- not just the employment stuff that readers of this blog mostly focus on. Here's the publisher's description:

This Handbook grapples conceptually and practically with what the sharing economy - which includes entities ranging from large for-profit firms like Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Taskrabbit, and Upwork to smaller, non-profit collaborative initiatives - means for law, and how law, in turn, is shaping critical aspects of the sharing economy. Featuring a diverse set of contributors from many academic disciplines and countries, the book compiles the most important, up-to-date research on the regulation of the sharing economy. The first part surveys the nature of the sharing economy, explores the central challenge of balancing innovation and regulatory concerns, and examines the institutions confronting these regulatory challenges, and the second part turns to a series of specific regulatory domains, including labor and employment law, consumer protection, tax, and civil rights. This groundbreaking work should be read by anyone interested in the dynamic relationship between law and the sharing economy.

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Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace - new edition

Congratulations to Ken Dau-Schmidt, Marty Malin, Roberto Corrada Chris Cameron, and Catherine Fisk on the imminent publication of their casebook Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace (3d ed. West, 2019).  Here are the publisher's notes:

Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace prepares students for the practice of labor law by introducing them to the principles of American labor law and many of the issues that labor attorneys face. The book is organized around contemporary problems as a means of teaching the core principles of labor law. Although the primary focus of the book is the National Labor Relations Act, considerable attention is given to the Railway Labor Act and public-sector labor laws because of their growing importance in contemporary practice. The third edition takes account of changes in the law since the first edition and second editions were published and in particular new interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act by the National Labor Relations Board and recent state restrictions on public sector collective bargaining.

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ILERA Call for Book Proposals

Here are the details:

ILERA is pleased to announce the third call for book proposals with the theme of comparative labour and employment relations. The term “labour and employment relations” will be interpreted broadly to include all aspects of work including labour policy, labour market analysis, labour relations and collective bargaining, human resource management, and work- and workplace- related topics. Book proposals by a single author, multiple authors, or edited volumes will all be welcome. Books in this series will be published by ILERA in English, French or Spanish, based on the language of the manuscripts received.

A Committee of Editors was established under the leadership of Prof. Mia Rönnmar (Lund University, Sweden), President-Elect of ILERA, who will act as Editor-in Chief. Editorial members include: Prof. Anil Verma (University of Toronto, Canada), Prof. Annette Jobert (ENS Cachan, France), and Prof. Cecilia Senén González (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina).

To encourage members to submit high-quality book proposals, ILERA provides an incentive of USD 5,000 as a contribution towards the expenses of preparing a manuscript which is accepted for publication. Future book royalties will accrue to ILERA.

The deadline for submission of the book proposal has been extended to 30 November 2018.

Proposals should elaborate on the following headlines:

1. a brief description of the themes of the book;
2. its contribution to existing knowledge in the field;
3. its novelty compared with similar previous books;
4. a summary of the structure and contents of the book;
5. the names, full contact details and institutional affiliations of the authors and editors (if necessary);
6. a curriculum vitae of all contributors; and
7. a proposed time-table for completion of the manuscript.

Proposals can be sent by e-mail to: [email protected] and [email protected].

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Secunda, Hirsch, & Seiner "Master" Employment Discrimination

Congratulations to Paul Secunda, Jeff Hirsch, and Joe Seiner on the publication of their book Mastering Employment Discrimination Law (2d ed Carolina Academic Press.). Here's the publisher's description:

The second edition of Mastering Employment Discrimination Law coincides with a defining moment in U.S. culture: the #metoo movement and the many sexual harassment scandals that have roiled American society. In addition to covering all procedural and substantive aspects of U.S. sexual harassment and sex discrimination law, the second edition also takes on a wide variety of employment discrimination law subjects. The book begins first with coverage and jurisdiction issues and then turns to complex federal and state procedural topics surrounding the filing of administrative charges of discrimination and civil lawsuits. Moreover, the book comprehensively addresses the substantive aspects of Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA (including recent amendments), the Equal Pay Act, and the Civil Rights Acts, as well as related issues such as remedies, attorney fees, and settlements. By adding Professor Joseph Seiner of the University of South Carolina School of Law—a former attorney with the EEOC—as a new co-author, the book has added substantial new focus on administrative topics and procedural issues in employment discrimination litigation.

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Lifetime Disadvantage goes to paperback

Congratulations to Susan Bisom-Rapp (Thomas Jefferson) and Malcolm Sargeant (Middlesex Univ. London) on the paperback publication of their book Lifetime Disadvantage, Discrimination and the Gendered Workforce (Cambridge Univ. Press).  The book has garnered favorable reviews since its publication in October 2016. Richard Poole (Newcastle University, UK) described the book as “a fine achievement…a thorough, compelling, and valuable book.” Erika Kispeter (University of Warwick, UK) called the book a “successful combination of the sociological and legal aspects of women’s lifetime disadvantage in work” and “an accessible often fascinating analysis of current laws and their implementation.”

Nicole Porter (University of Toledo, USA), in a forthcoming review notes, “To my knowledge, this is the only book that outlines, in a systematic way, how all of the disadvantages and discrimination women face over a lifetime accumulate to contribute to women’s economic insecurity in old age.” Praising its “ambitious” and “broad-minded approach,” and “voluminous body of research,” she added, “I thoroughly enjoyed this book.”

Cambridge University Press is presently offering the book at the discounted price of $27.99 (£18.39). The flyer for this pricing is available here.

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Yamada in the News

Congratulations to David Yamada (Suffolk) on a couple of fronts. First, check out his new book, Workplace Bullying and Mobbing in the United States (Maureen Duffy & David C. Yamada eds., Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2018), a two-volume, multidisciplinary book set for scholars and practitioners, featuring 25 chapters and 27 contributors. Here's a brief description:

With over two dozen contributors (including a Foreword by Dr. Gary Namie of the Workplace Bullying Institute) and some 600 pages packed into two volumes, we believe this will be an important, comprehensive contribution to the growing literature on workplace bullying and mobbing, useful for scholars and practitioners alike. The project deliberately takes a U.S. focus in order to take into account the unique aspects of American employment relations.May 9 issue of

Second, David was quoted in Bloomberg Business Week in the article Companies Have an Aha! Moment: Bullies Don’t Make the Best Managers. Here's an excerpt:

The surprise announcement in March that 55-year-old Nike brand president Trevor Edwards—who had a reputation for humiliating subordinates in meetings—would leave following an internal investigation about workplace behavior issues suggests the coddling of tough guys may have come to an end. “Some companies are realizing that a bullying boss isn’t the best way to manage a company,” says David Yamada, a professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston who’s authored antibullying legislation. “Maybe we’re starting to see a tipping point.”

Congrats, David!

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Lobel's "You Don't Own Me" Reviewed in WSJ

Orly Lobel's new book You Don't Own Me, which we posted on here a couple of weeks ago, was favorably reviewed by Jacob Gershman in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. Congrats again Orly!

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Lobel on Barbie v. Bratz

Congratulations to Orly Lobel (San Diego) on the publication of her book You Don't Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie's Dark Side (Norton 2017). Here's the publisher's excerpt:

The battle between Mattel, the makers of the iconic Barbie doll, and MGA, the company that created the Bratz dolls, was not just a war over best-selling toys, but a war over who owns ideas.

When Carter Bryant began designing what would become the billion-dollar line of Bratz dolls, he was taking time off from his job at Mattel, where he designed outfits for Barbie. Later, back at Mattel, he sold his concept for Bratz to rival company MGA. Law professor Orly Lobel reveals the colorful story behind the ensuing decade-long court battle.

This entertaining and provocative work pits audacious MGA against behemoth Mattel, shows how an idea turns into a product, and explores the two different versions of womanhood, represented by traditional all-American Barbie and her defiant, anti-establishment rival―the only doll to come close to outselling her. In an era when workers may be asked to sign contracts granting their employers the rights to and income resulting from their ideas―whether conceived during work hours or on their own time―Lobel’s deeply researched story is a riveting and thought-provoking contribution to the contentious debate over creativity and intellectual property.

Congrats Orly!

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Seiner's New Book On SCOTUS LEL

A huge congratulations to Joe Seiner (South Carolina) on the publication this week by Cambridge University Press of his book The Supreme Court's New Workplace: Procedural Rulings and Substantive Worker Rights in the United States. Here's the publisher's description:

The US Supreme Court has systematically eroded the rights of minority workers through subtle changes in procedural law. This accessible book identifies and describes how the Supreme Court’s new procedural requirements create legal obstacles for civil-rights litigants, thereby undermining their substantive rights. Seiner takes the next step of providing a framework that practitioners can use to navigate these murky waters, allowing workers a better chance of prevailing with their claims. Seiner clearly illustrates how to effectively use his framework, applying the proposed model to one emerging sector - the on-demand industry. Many minority workers now face pervasive discrimination in an uncertain legal environment. This book will serve as a roadmap for successful workplace litigation and a valuable resource for civil-rights research. It will also spark a debate among scholars, lawyers, and others in the legal community over the use of procedure to alter substantive worker rights.

Congratulations, Joe!

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