By Margareth Etienne, Published on 02/01/19
By Bennett Capers, Published on 02/01/19
The television show The Wire depicts a plan called “Hamsterdam” in which police let people sell drugs in isolated places, and only those places, without fear of arrest. Based on limited but decent empirical evidence, we can make educated guesses about what would happen if that were tried in real life. Indeed, Swiss police tried something remarkably similar in the 1980s. More...
By Rachel E. Barkow, Published on 02/01/19
Allegations of police brutality are generally credibility contests between the officer and the accuser, and thus their resolution hinges on pre-existing assumptions about what stories arecredible. As long as aggressive policing is considered an aberration or a deserved response, legal accounts of unprovoked police violence will be considered incredible. This article explores the...
Employers use noncompete clauses at all levels of employment, from executives to managers to delivery drivers. Such agreements allow employers to protect their business interests like trade secrets, customer contact lists, and investments in employee training. But restrictions on mobility could disproportionately impact low-wage employees. Moreover, enforcement of noncompetition...
Despite the prevalence of internships in today’s economy, the law is unsettled as to whether unpaid interns are entitled to harassment and discrimination protections under federal law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars harassment and discrimination from the workplace, but only towards employees. The circuit courts are divided as to what test to apply in determining...
Unpaid internships in the United States often result in social waste by employing workers with valuable skills in positions that fail to efficiently use those skills. Because information asymmetry exists between the employer and the intern, interns are at a disadvantage in determining whether an employer will actually compensate the intern with the opportunity to engage in future...
In deciding the constitutionality of abortion regulations, courts often apply an “undue burden” standard in order to determine whether such regulations impermissibly hinder the ability of women to exercise their right to obtain abortion care. That standard focuses on patients rather than abortion clinics, despite the fact that a significant number of abortion regulations target...
The Second Circuit’s recent extension of the cat’s paw doctrine to include the discriminatory and retaliatory actions of low-level co-workers without a supervisory role created a circuit split and set the stage for increased Title VII challenges against employers. This Comment argues against the Second Circuit’s decision and contends that the cat’s paw theory of liability, an...
The Ninth Circuit recently challenged a well-established notion that state laws cannot disrupt arbitration agreements by invaliding an arbitration contract under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a statute designed to enforce the state’s labor code. Just four years earlier, the Supreme Court held in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that state laws cannot nullify the...
By Lauren Croft, Published on 02/05/18
Employers often use broad language in employee confidentiality agreements to protect company information. Recently, several administrative agencies have proactively regulated language in these agreements to protect various employee rights, including the right to communicate with agencies, bring claims against their employers, and discuss employment conditions amongst each other...
By Kirstie Brenson, Published on 02/05/18
By Patrick Wright, Published on 02/05/18
By Heather M. Whitney, Published on 02/05/18
By Laura Weinrib, Published on 02/05/18
The confluence of two digital forces—a shift towards platform-mediated peer-to-peer exchange, and a rise in the cognitive capabilities of artificial intelligence and robotics technologies—will dramatically reshape tomorrow’s workplace by making it difficult for a growing fraction of the population to earn a living as a provider of labor and talent. I contend that the emerging...
By Ilya Shapiro and David McDonald, Published on 02/05/18
By Paul M. Secunda, Published on 02/05/18
By César F. Rosado Marzán, Published on 02/05/18
Labor law and related regulations were created long before the current growth of the on-demand economy and the associated innovation in provision of goods and services. The current labor law structure contains only two primary categories of employment classifications—workers are either employees or contractors. Within this binary structure, the status of workers providing...
By Martin H. Malin and Jon M. Werner, Published on 02/05/18
By Michael H. LeRoy, Published on 02/05/18
By Jedidiah J. Kroncke, Published on 02/05/18