Minimal Wage

Dedicated to my Employment Law students.

Easterbrookian claptrap

In my Employment Law class today, I am covering intentional interference with the employment relationship, for which the students are reading Judge Frank Easterbrook’s opinion in Kumpf v. Steinhaus, 779 F.2d 1323 (7th Cir. 1985). The opinion is noteworthy, not so much for its treatment of the intentional tort issue, as for the tortured logic [...]

Employment At-Will

I put together this video for my Employment Law students.

Romance without finance ain’t got no chance

“Online dating coach” is an occupation so nonsensical that it could be the perfect synecdoche for early 21st Century American late capitalism.

Court holds federal law prohibits discrimination against transgender employees

Feminist Law Professors reports on an historic decision recognizing that an employer’s refusal to hire a qualified job applicant after learning she is transitioning from male to female violates the prohibition against sex discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: After a full trial (described in previous posts here and here), [...]

NASCAR discrimination lawsuit follow-up

SI.com reports that NASCAR has suspended two of the officials named in the Mauricia Grant race and gender discrimination lawsuit. According to SI.com, the two officials, whom NASCAR declined to identify, “have been placed on administrative leave for violating company policy”. The SI.com story also contains this chuckle-inducing tidbit: one of the officials Grant accuses [...]

Former NASCAR employee sues over racist, sexist treatment

A lawsuit by a former NASCAR employee alleges a disturbing pattern of racist and sexist harassment and discrimination, including co-workers who referred to her as “Nappy Headed Mo” and “Queen Sheba” and told her she worked on “colored people time”, and a supervisor who made repeated references to the Ku Klux Klan. Mauricia Grant, an [...]

Wal*Mart launches new market-based initiative to change law firm employment practices

Wal*Mart has written its outside legal counsel, complaining about recent pay hikes for law firm associates. The retail giant — which, coincidentally, labels its own wage-slaves “associates” — is unhappy that the firms have tried to pass along the cost in the form of higher billing rates. Wal*Mart — which, coincidentally, is currently the defendant [...]

Take this agreement, or shove it

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has lambasted mega-law firm O’Melveney & Myers (whose website boasts, “We are a values-driven law firm, guided by the principles of excellence, leadership, and citizenship”) over an unconscionable arbitration clause it imposed on employees. Having spent the past year litigating against OMM in a case over their client’s [...]

Illegal immigration takes its toll in the corporate suites

In a special report on “Immigration: The Human Cost“, the Onion News Network addresses the plight of corporate executives losing their jobs to low-paid illegal immigrants. (Thanks to TomPaine.com for the tip.)