Workplace Prof Blog

Marty H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace (and Mar. 10 Celebration)

Dean Anita Krug from Chicago-Kent has just announced the official renaming of the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace. Anyone in the labor law field is well aware that a more fitting name and tribute could not be had. Indeed, as evidence of the widespread appreciation that Marty earned over his career, the institute successfully raised over $1 million in his honor. Congratulations Marty, well deserved!

Below is the full announcement from Dean Krug, including an invitation for a "virtual toast" on March 10:

I am pleased to announce the official renaming of the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace for founding director Martin "Marty" Malin at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Since 1996, the ILW has been a leader in research, training, dialogue, and reflection on the law that governs the workplace, and was named the nation's top program in employment law by preLaw Magazine. Now the Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace will continue that work. We plan to mark this significant moment in our history on March 10, 2022 at 6 pm for a virtual toast where you can hear from Marty, and we can celebrate this successful history together. For more information and to register, please visit here.

Marty and all of us at Chicago-Kent are grateful for the support from our community in developing ILW from an innovative idea to its current status as a leader in the workplace law community. With gifts and pledges from community members, we created an endowment in Marty's honor that will support the Institute in perpetuity. I'm pleased to share with you that the endowment commitments now exceed $1 million. We could not have attained this milestone without the labor and employment law community’s commitment to the ILW’s mission. There is still much work to do, however, and if you haven't done so already, I invite you to join other members of the community in making a gift or pledge to support the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace. Your gift will help us continue to be the go-to law school for aspiring labor and employment lawyers and to continue our mission of serving the current labor and employment law community and the next generation of workplace law attorneys. You can contribute online here. If you would prefer to send a check or consider other ways to give, please contact our Assistant Dean of Advancement, Chrissy Brown, at [email protected] or by phone at (312) 906-5236.

Congratulations to Marty and to everyone who supported this significant achievement. I can't wait to see what the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace will accomplish. I hope you can join us for the virtual toast to celebrate this successful campaign!

Jeff Hirsch

Malin Announced Chair of FLRA Federal Services Impasse Panel

A huge congratulations to Marty Malin (Chicago-Kent)  and Joe Slater (Toledo), who the Biden Administration has announced will be appointed to the Federal Labor Relations Act Federal Impasse Panel. Marty will Chair the panel. Here's the announcement:

Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint the following members to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) Federal Service Impasses Panel: ...

The Panel is a component of the FLRA that resolves impasses between federal agencies and unions representing federal employees. If bargaining between the parties, followed by mediation assistance, does not result in a voluntary agreement, then either party or the parties jointly may request the Panel’s assistance.

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Harpur Awarded Future Fellowship to Work on Workplace Disabilities

A huge congratulations to Paul Harpur (U. Queensland), who this week was awarded a four-year $1.1M Future Fellowship. His project  is entitled Normalizing Ability Diversity through Career Transitions: Disability at Work.

The project, with Phd candidates funded, fellows, and a buyout of teaching,  aims to investigate how the higher education sector can better support people with disabilities to transition from economic exclusion to work. Here's a description:

One in five Australians have a disability and of these 47.3% are not employed. This is a significant issue with regulatory failures and challenges often affecting rights to education and work being exercised on an equal basis. This project seeks to examine international legal norms, theories and strategic and operational practices in the higher education sector. Expected outcomes include advances in scholarship on ableism, informed policy reform, and transferable operational processes for the education and employment sectors, to improve the transition of people with disabilities to work.

Paul will be working on this project in close collaboration with the Harvard Law School Project on Disability and the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.

Additionally, Paul recently published a TEDx speech Universities as Disability Champions of Change.

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Final Respects to Bob Covington

I'm sadly reporting the news, from Alvin Goldman via Jeff Hirsch, that labor law legend Bob Covington died November 29 at the age of 84. Below is his bio from Vanderbilt, where he taught for 46 years. Please feel free to use the comment section to recall your memories of Bob.

Bob Covington joined the law school faculty immediately after his graduation from Vanderbilt Law School in 1961. During his 46-year tenure at Vanderbilt, Professor Covington established himself as a wide-ranging scholar and teacher, with a recognized expertise in labor law. In addition to his scholarship in labor law, over the course of his distinguished career, Professor Covington published books and articles on evidence, insurance, legal method and legal education. He has recently published the third edition of Employment Law in a Nutshell (Thomson West, 2009) and will publish a fourth edition of Legal Protection for the Individual Employee in late 2010 (Thomson West, forthcoming 2010, with Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Clyde W. Summers, Alvin L. Goldman and Matthew W. Finkin). In recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university, he received the University's Thomas Jefferson Award in 1992. Professor Covington was a visiting professor at a number of prominent law schools, including Michigan, Texas, and California. He retired from Vanderbilt's law faculty in 2007.

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Michael Green Moving to Chicago-Kent

Congratulations to Michael Green, who announced today that he is leaving Fort Worth in fall 2021 to join the faculty at Chicago-Kent. At Chicago-Kent he will work with Marty Malin over the next year as Marty phases into a well-deserved retirement. When Marty retires, Michael will step into some really large shoes and become Director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace. Congratulations to all, and most especially to Chicago-Kent on a fantastic hire.

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Condolences on David Gregory

It is with great sadness that I write to report (thanks, Mitch Rubinstein, for letting me know) the passing of long-term and much-beloved Professor David Gregory (St. John's). Here's an excerpt from his law school obituary. Remembrances in the form of comments to this post would be much appreciated.

David L. Gregory [] served as the Law School’s Dorothy Day Professor of Law from in 1982 to 2017.

Professor Gregory came to St. John’s after working as an equal employment opportunity counselor with the Postal Service, a labor relations representative with Ford Motor Company, and an attorney with a prominent management labor and employment law firm in Detroit. He brought a keen intellect, a love of teaching and learning, and an encyclopedic knowledge of rock and roll to the classroom, where he enthralled generations of students.

And his students were always at the heart of Professor Gregory’s endeavors at the Law School, where he founded the Center for Labor and Employment Law with a focus on the importance, and the sanctity, of doing good work in the world. “The Center strives to show students, by engagement and example, that they can be successful practitioners who also give back to their communities,” Professor Gregory said early on.

Under his leadership, the Center met its mission with a range of offerings, from courses in Employment Discrimination, Labor and Employment Arbitration, Public Sector Labor and Employment Law, and ERISA to international conferences and symposia in Dublin, at the University of London, and at Cambridge University, to distinguished guest speakers at the Law School―including three chairs of the National Labor Relations Board, a Solicitor General of the United States, a former EEOC chairman, AFL-CIO presidents, His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, the former Archbishop of New York, and Cesar Chavez, founder of United Farm Workers of America, among others.

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Update: I'm adding this link to a tribute to David from the NYU LEL News - see p. 10. Thanks to Sam Estreicher for the heads-up.

Chicago-Kent Is Looking to Hire...

... two or more entry-level or pre-tenure lateral new faculty, including in labor/employment law. Below is a brief summary of the position announcement; here's the full copy. Thanks to César Rosado for the heads-up.

Chicago-Kent College of Law expects to hire two or more entry-level or pre-tenure lateral faculty to join our vibrant and nationally recognized intellectual community. We are especially interested in candidates with a demonstrated commitment to scholarship and teaching in ... fields [which include] first-year subjects (including Legislation) and Labor/Employment law.

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New Biography on Ron McCallum

Congratulations to Ron McCallum (emeritus at Sydney) on the publication of his memoir Born at the Right Time : A Memoir (Allen & Unwin, 2019). Here's the publisher's description:

Ron McCallum has been blind from birth. When he was a child, many blind people spent their lives making baskets in sheltered workshops, but Ron's mother had other ideas for her son. She insisted on treating him as normally as possible.

In this endearing memoir, Ron recounts his social awkwardness and physical mishaps, and shares his early fears that he might never manage to have a proper career, find love or become a parent. He has achieved all this and more, becoming a professor of law at a prestigious university, and chairing a committee at the United Nations.

Ron's glass is always half full. He has taken advantage of every new assistive technology and is in awe of what is now available to allow him and other blind people to realise their potential. His is a life richly lived, by a man who remains open to all people from all walks of life.

And here's a brief description of Ron from his U. Sydney bio:

Ronald C McCallum AO was the foundation Blake Dawson Waldron Professor in Industrial Law in the University of Sydney Law School. He took up this position in January 1993 and retired from this position on 30 September 2007. This Blake Dawson Waldron professorship was the first full professorship in industrial law at any Australian university. Ron is the first totally blind person to have been appointed to a full professorship in any field at any university in Australia or New Zealand. Ron McCallum was employed on a fixed-term contract as a Professor of Labour Law in Sydney Law School from 1 February 2008 until 31 December 2010. In January 2011, he was appointed to an Emeritus Professorship in Sydney Law School.

Neither of these descriptions do Ron justice, even halfway. His faculty bio somehow omits the fact that he was a longstanding and very successful dean at Sydney, and I think it's fair to say that he was the first "modern" dean of the law school in the sense that he elevated the position from that of a mostly internal administrator to an external representative of the Law School to the external world at a global level. More than that, Ron was extremely generous with his time mentoring generations of young labor academics, and one of the nicest, down-to-earth academic leaders I have ever had the privilege of meeting. Apropos of this, here's a tribute from Paul Harpur (Queensland), one of Ron's biggest fans:

Ron has had a profound impact upon those he has touched. I lost my eyesight at the age of 14 in a train accident and  followed Ron’s career with interest. It was no surprise that I followed Ron into labor law. in 2003 Ron and I became friends and ever since then I have seen Ron as a hero. It is no surprise that Ron and I are both blind, both labor lawyers, both academics, and both with an interest in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Ron on formerly charring the CRPD Committee and Paul publishing on that same committee). Outside work Ron’s stories and generosity has influenced tens of thousands, and through his work on the UN CRPD Committee all persons with disabilities across the globe.

Thanks to Dennis Nolan (emeritus, South Carolina) for providing a heads-up on Ron's memoir.

UPDATE: Ron wrote to ask me to post the following:

Thank you for all of the very kind comments. I am truly humbled by your words. My life has been devoted to the teaching and practice of labour law to play my part in seeking to ensure fairness between workers and entrepreneurs. My book is titled “Born At The Right Time: A Memoir” and it comes out on 1 July in Australia and is published by Allen and Unwin. Overseas friends can purchase it through the book depository website.

Ron McCallum AO

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Moberly Named Interim Vice-Chancellor at Nebraska

Congratulations to Richard Moberly (Law Dean, U. Nebraska - Lincoln), who has been named Interim Vice-Chancellor. He steps in for Donde Plowman, who has left to become Chancellor at U. Tennessee-Knoxville. Congrats, Richard!

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Harpur Coming to U.S. on Fulbrght

Congratulations to Paul Harpur for having been awarded a Fulbright Future Scholarship Fellowship (funded by The Kinghorn Foundation, Harvard University, Syracuse University, and the University of Queensland) entitled “Universally Designed for Whom? Disability, the Law and Practice of Expanding the 'Normal User'”.  Harpur will use his Fulbright Futures Scholarship to spend 3 months between the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University and Harvard University. H will be collecting data and building relationships between Australian and U.S. advocates and researchers involved with the development and promotion of design that  is accessible to everyone in society, whether they be able or disabled.  Harpur’s research project aims to combat ableism’s influence on human life, so that in the future different ability is not associated with disablement, but instead is accepted as a part of human diversity.

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Minnesota Looking for Labor & Employment Law Professor

If you're on the law teaching job market this year, this post is for you. Among the areas that Minnesota Law School is searching for is labor & employment law. Here's the job announcement:

The University of Minnesota Law School plans to fill one tenure-track junior (entry-level and/or lateral) faculty position, to begin in the 2019-20 academic year. Rank upon hire will depend on qualifications.  This is a full-time, nine-month appointment.

Qualifications-Applicants should hold a J.D. or degree of equivalent rank and should demonstrate outstanding potential in scholarship and teaching.  We are especially interested in the following academic subject areas:  constitutional law, employment/labor law, administrative law, civil procedure, environmental law, health law, international law, intellectual property law, property law, and tort law; however, the Law School will consider outstanding candidates with interest or expertise in other subject matter areas.

 People of color, women, individuals with disabilities, members of the LGBT community, and other candidates who will contribute to the cultural and intellectual diversity of the faculty are strongly encouraged to apply.  The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer.

To apply, please go to http://humanresources.umn.edu/jobs and reference job ID 326112.

-Jeff Hirsch

Cornell Hiring Conflict Resolution Faculty Member

Tenure-Track Assistant or Associate Professor Position in Conflict Resolution

https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/11371

 The ILR School at Cornell University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in the area of conflict/dispute resolution at either the Assistant Professor or Associate Professor level, to begin August 2019. Applicants should have research and teaching interests related to topics such as arbitration, mediation, negotiation, conflict management, dispute resolution, collective action, and social movements. We are open to scholars using qualitative, quantitative, legal, and mixed methods, and studying conflict at various levels of analysis including societal, organizational, group, or individual. Applicants should have a doctorate (PhD or JD) in a relevant field, such as industrial relations, organizational behavior, law, psychology, sociology, or management. A successful candidate’s appointment will be in either the Department of Labor Relations, Law, and History or the Department of Organizational Behavior. Faculty in these departments publish in top-tier journals in their field, such as ILR Review, Industrial Relations, Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, and in major law reviews.  Evidence of very strong research and teaching potential is essential.  Review of applications will begin October 1, 2018. Questions about this position can be directed to Professor Alex Colvin ([email protected]), Professor Harry Katz ([email protected]), Professor Marya Besharov ([email protected]), Professor Pam Tolbert ([email protected]), or Professor Kate Griffith ([email protected]).

 

-Jeff Hirsch

Congratulations Cyndi Nance and Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Congratulations to two important worklaw scholars and two of my personal idols, Cyndi Nance (left, Arkansas) and Angela Onwuachi-Willig (right, moving to Boston Univ.)!

Cyndi will be receiving the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the ABA this year, and Angela will be the new Dean at Boston University School of Law.

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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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Terri Beiner Named UALR Law Dean

Congratulations to Terri Beiner, who has been named dean of University of Arkansas - Little Rock School of Law. UALR is fortunate to have her at the helm!

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Labor & Employment Academic Hiring

Courtesy of Prawfsblawg, the following schools are in the market this year for faculty in the labor and employment law area. Feel free to add any schools in the comments section.

School: University of Alabama

Information in spreadsheet contained in post

School: Brooklyn Law School

Chairs: Minor Myers (entry levels); Alex Stein (laterals)

Committee Members: Bill Araiza, Julian Arato, Miriam Baer, Jocelyn
Simonson (entry levels); Dana Brakman Reiser, Christopher Beauchamp,
Robin Effron (laterals)

Subject Areas: securities regulation and corporate law; academic success;
and potentially civil procedure, constitutional law, labor law, antitrust, and
torts

Communications: [email protected]; [email protected]

Number of positions: 2

Direct applications by email are welcome

School: University of Kansas School of Law

Chair: Lou Mulligan

Other Committee Members: Chris Drahozal, Laura Hines, Elizabeth Kronk-Warner

Subject Areas: We are particularly interested in evidence, but will consider other subject areas including: employment law, health law, real estate/commercial land use/housing law.

We are currently authorized to make one hire.

Applications should be made online at https://employment.ku.edu/academic/9594BR and should include cover letter, a curriculum vitae, a detailed statement of research interests and future plans, and the names of three references.

The law school will participate in the AALS Recruitment Conference in D.C. November 2-4, 2017.

For further information, contact Professor Lou Mulligan, University of Kansas School of Law, 1535 West 15th Street, Lawrence, KS 66045-7608, 785-864-9219, [email protected]

School: University of Richmond School of Law

Chair: Jessica Erickson

Other Committee Members: Jim Gibson, Hank Chambers, Carol Brown, Andy Spalding, and Allison Tait

Subject areas: Our primary areas of interest are employment law and corporate & securities law. We are also open to candidates in other areas, including critical theory, torts, professional responsibility, property law, and civil procedure.

Packets: We are happy to receive individualized expressions of interest from candidates via email.

Communication: You can email [email protected].

Positions available: We have three open positions, and we are focused primarily on entry-level or junior lateral candidates.

School: The Wharton School

Chair: William Laufer
Committee: Eric Orts, Diana Robertson, David Zaring
Subject Areas: From the announcement: Applicants must have a demonstrated research interest in an area of law relevant to the Wharton School’s business education and research missions. Examples of such fields include, without limitation, corporate law, employment and labor law, financial regulation, securities regulation, and global trade and investment law.
Communications: [email protected], apply through https://facultyrecruiting.wharton.upenn.edu/ApplicationPage.aspx?form_id=30088

-Jeff Hirsch

Bisom-Rapp, Bodie Cited in WSJ Article Re: Fired Google Engineer

Yesterday, Jeff posted on Google Engineer Files NLRB Complaint Regarding Post-Memo Termination. Today's Wall Street Journal quotes Susan Bisom-Rapp (TJSL) and Matt Bodie (SLU) extensively on the viability of the engineer's claims. Here's an excerpt:

Thomas Jefferson School of Law Prof. Susan Bisom-Rapp, who researches employment discrimination law, said while she disagreed with Mr. Damore’s views, she could envision potential legal arguments he could make to invoke the NLRA.

That Mr. Damore’s letter doesn’t appear to be drafted in concert with other Google employees doesn’t in itself mean the law cannot be invoked. Protections can be triggered by a single employee trying to rally colleagues around a wider workplace issue.

Mr. Damore could try to argue that he’s “protected in expressing himself in an effort to engage in dialogue with co-workers about Google’s diversity efforts,” said Prof. Bisom-Rapp.

However, “an employee gripe or complaint standing alone, without that call to fellow employees to gather together, is not enough,” said Julie Totten, an employment defense lawyer with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in Sacramento.

Labor law also forbids employers from firing a worker for alleging an unfair labor practice, making the timing of Mr. Damore’s formal complaint potentially relevant in a legal dispute, said Prof. Bisom-Rapp.

Legal experts said federal antidiscrimination law could offer Mr. Damore another possible, albeit narrow, legal avenue. His memo suggested Google is engaging in reverse discrimination, citing “special treatment for ’diversity’ candidates.” Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act bans employers from retaliating against workers for complaining about unlawful workplace discrimination.

“You would have to show what Google is doing is illegal. That would be difficult,” said Prof. Matt Bodie, an employment law scholar at Saint Louis University Law School and a former NLRB field attorney.

The NLRB generally doesn’t impose remedies beyond reinstatement of employment and back pay, Mr. Bodie said.

The full WSJ article is available at Jacob Gershman & Sara Randazzo, Fired Engineer Likely to Face Obstacles in Challenging Google, WSJ 8/9/17.

Gely Receives NAA Petersen Award

Congratulations to Rafael Gely (Missouri-Columbia),  who just received the David Petersen Award from the National Academy of Arbitrators.  In addition to all his labor/employment work, Rafael directs Missouri-Columbia's Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution.  He also is the founder of Workplace Prof Blog -- he created the blog and then handed it off to me way back when he was at Cincinnati. Here’s the announcement of the award, which is extremely well deserved:

The National Academy of Arbitrators conferred upon Rafael Gely the David Petersen Award at its annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The David Petersen Award recognizes and honors individuals who have given invaluable service to the Academy.

The Academy conferred the Petersen Award because of Professor Gely’s instrumental role in the startup and continual maintenance of arbitrationinfo.com, the neutral website which is a joint venture of the National Academy of Arbitrators and the University of Missouri School of Law.  Through Professor Gely’s work as an editor of the site, he has written content on a regular basis, designed and updated the site, supervised student assistants, and crucially connected with journals both before and after articles are written.  The Academy notes the creation of the website provided a source of information and education regarding arbitration for journalists, professionals, and the public. The Academy believes that the website has immeasurably improved the discourse and understanding of labor and employment arbitration in both United States and Canada.

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Columbia Law School Age Discrimination Complaint

TaxProf Blog and Leiter Law School Reports have been covering the complaint by Columbia Law professor, George Fletcher. Very briefly, he alleges that Columbia discriminated against him based on his age by refusing to allow him to teach a required LLM course (Columbia cited poor evaluations), which among other things, might mean that he falls below the required number of teaching hours for the year. Among the other factors that threaten his teaching load is his desire to maintain his tradition of working a full semester in Israel and the fact that the elective course he was assigned to teach is at risk of being cancelled for low enrollment.

I obviously don't know what's really going on here, but I've got to say that the former Academic Affairs Dean in me sees several red flags about his teaching that makes me less inclined to be sympathetic to his claim. That's not to mention the fact that part of the problem is that he expects to be able to leave for half the year, every year.

-Jeff Hirsch

Stone Receives Bob Hepple Award

Kathy Stone has been awarded the 2017 LLRN Bob Hepple Award for Lifetime Achievement in Labour Law, along with Prof. Kazoo Sugeno from Japan. The presentation will take place at this summer LLRN meeting in Toronto. According to LLRN:

The goal of the Award is to acknowledge exceptional and longstanding contributions to labour law scholarship. Such recognition from the global community of labour law scholars, which the LLRN represents, is intended to be meaningful both for the Award recipients and for the community bestowing this honour. The members of the Award Nominations Committee this year were Takashi Araki, Hugh Collins, John Howe, Kerry Rittich, and Mia Ronnmar (those interested in the guidelines detailing the process can find them at the LLRN website).
 
The Awards will be presented at a ceremony during the upcoming LLRN3 conference in Toronto. In the meantime, warmest congratulations to Kathy and Kazuo for this well-deserved honour!

You can also see UCLA's announcement here.

Congratulations Kathy!

-Jeff Hirsch