This new edition of An Introduction to the Law of Employment Discrimination summarizes the federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, age, and disability. Several major statutes, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Equal Pay Act, protect American workers from discrimination. In this handy reference guide, Michael Evan Gold discusses complex legislation in lucid, understandable terms. In his discussion of each statute, the author provides such information as: who is protected by the statute; who must obey the statute; principal definitions of discrimination together with numerous examples; ways of proving discrimination; reasonable accommodation; defenses to discrimination; retaliation; remedies; and procedures for bringing a claim.
It is no secret that since the 1980s, American workers have lost power vis-à-vis employers through the well-chronicled steep decline in private sector unionization. American workers have also lost power in other ways. Those alleging employment discrimination have fared increasingly poorly in the courts. In recent years, judges have dismissed scores of cases in which workers presented evidence that supervisors referred to them using racial or gender slurs. In one federal district court, judges dismissed more than 80 percent of the race discrimination cases filed over a year. And when juries return verdicts in favor of employees, judges often second guess those verdicts, finding ways to nullify the jury's verdict and rule in favor of the employer. Most Americans assume that that an employee alleging workplace discrimination faces the same legal system as other litigants. After all, we do not usually think that legal rules vary depending upon the type of claim brought. The employment law scholars Sandra A. Sperino and Suja A. Thomas show in Unequal that our assumptions are wrong. Over the course of the last half century, employment discrimination claims have come to operate in a fundamentally different legal system than other claims. It is in many respects a parallel universe, one in which the legal system systematically favors employers over employees. A host of procedural, evidentiary, and substantive mechanisms serve as barriers for employees, making it extremely difficult for them to access the courts. Moreover, these mechanisms make it fairly easy for judges to dismiss a case prior to trial. Americans are unaware of how the system operates partly because they think that race and gender discrimination are in the process of fading away. But such discrimination still happens in the workplace, and workers now have little recourse to fight it legally. By tracing the modern history of employment discrimination, Sperino and Thomas provide an authoritative account of how our legal system evolved into an institution that is inherently biased against workers making rights claims.
Employment Discrimination Law is an innovative new skills-based text designed for flexible use. To add a skills component to lecture courses, it can be used in conjunction with traditional casebooks, and is also an ideal text for a free-standing practicum or seminar. Employment Discrimination Law functions as a "course in a box" providing readers with basic background law, including constitutional and statutory law governing the employment relationship; general drafting principles important to lawyers in any field as well as an overview of drafting issues specific to employment discrimination law; an introduction to the key research strategies and sources; an overview of the ethical issues likely to arise; and a solid preview of client counseling, negotiation strategy, and preventative lawyering. The text features a combination of text, sample documents, checklists, charts, and exercises. These well-crafted exercises, for students to complete individually or in groups, range from discrete questions to be researched and answered in a 5-minute small-group class session to much more detailed problems that could serve as final evaluative documents. Employment Discrimination Law is an innovative new skills-based text designed for flexible use. To add a skills component to lecture courses, it can be used in conjunction with traditional casebooks, and is also an ideal text for a free-standing practicum or seminar. Employment Discrimination Law functions as a "course in a box" providing readers with basic background law, including constitutional and statutory law governing the employment relationship; general drafting principles important to lawyers in any field as well as an overview of drafting issues specific to employment discrimination law; an introduction to the key research strategies and sources; an overview of the ethical issues likely to arise; and a solid preview of client counseling, negotiation strategy, and preventative lawyering. The text features a combination of text, sample documents, checklists, charts, and exercises. These well-crafted exercises, for students to complete individually or in groups, range from discrete questions to be researched and answered in a 5-minute small-group class session to much more detailed problems that could serve as final evaluative documents.
"An Introduction to Labor and Employment Discrimination Law is not an attempt to teach law to undergraduates, but rather to introduce them to legal reasoning. The principal means to this end are cases that present competing arguments (e.g., in majority and dissenting opinions) on major issues. Each case is preceded by the author's introduction and followed by the author's comments and questions. Chapter 1 focuses on labor law in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, i.e., before the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. Chapter 2 surveys modern labor law under the Labor Act, covering such topics as representation and unfair labor practices. Chapter 3 is a brief introduction to the law of employment discrimination under the Equal Pay Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Americans With Disabilities Act. The book is accompanied by an appendix that contains a glossary of legal terms plus excerpts from the Constitution and relevant federal statutes"--Textbook Web page.
"The U.S. civil court system consists of three levels: 1) District Courts ("Trial Courts"), 2) Circuit Courts of Appeal ("appellate courts") and 3) the Supreme Court (see Figure 1.1). The United States has a total of 94 districts, representing distinct geographic regions (see Table 1.1). The number of districts varies by state. For instance, some states have only one district (e.g., Arizona, Colorado, Delaware), while others have multiple districts, such as California, Florida, and Michigan (e.g., Southern District of California, Central District of California)"--
This casebook is a pluralistic and yet concise introduction to the doctrine and theory of employment discrimination law. The new edition covers all the recent Supreme Court decisions and federal legislation in this field, including the ADA Amendments Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and it analyzes the effect of these developments on prior decisions of the Supreme Court. It covers discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, religion, age, and disability, and provides economic and political analysis from a wide range of different perspectives, both liberal and conservative. Comprehensive notes survey the current state of the law, raise questions for class discussion, and address the continuing controversies in this field. A Teacher's Manual contains brief summaries of all cases, offers additional commentary on selected issues, and provides further questions for students beyond those provided in the casebook itself. A supplemental CD is available with PowerPoint slides, a text of cases, and statutes. The Teacher's Manual is also offered on CD, thus allowing professors to modify the materials as desired.
An Introduction to Labor Law is a useful primer that explains the basic principles of the federal law regulating the relationship of employers to labor unions. In this updated third edition, which features a new introduction, Michael Evan Gold discusses the law that applies to union organizing and representation elections, the duty to bargain in good faith, economic weapons such as strikes and lockouts, and the enforcement of collective bargaining agreements. Gold describes the structure and functions of the National Labor Relations Board and of the federal courts in regard to labor cases and also presents a number of legal issues presently in contention between labor and management.
