Spring 2013
Law No.: LAW7023
Sched. No.: 113219304
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Employment Law: Contracts, Torts, and Statutes
Section 1
X
Verkerke, J H.
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Administrative Information:
During SIS enrollment, check on SIS for real-time enrollment numbers
| Days, Times (Room): | WF, 1130-1250 (WB102)
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| Credits: | 3 | Type: | Lecture |
| Capacity: | 45 **This information is current as of 05/22/2013 06:17:45 AM** |
| Current Enrollment: | 40 **This information is current as of 05/22/2013 06:17:45 AM**
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Course Description:
Have you ever had a job? If it was a private sector position, the odds are greater than 11 to 1 that you were not a union member and that you worked under an individual contract of employment rather than a collective bargaining agreement. It is also more likely than not that your contract incorporated the nearly universal default rule of “employment at will.” This legal rule nominally gives employers the right to fire workers at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. During the past three decades, however, myriad common law and statutory developments have significantly eroded the “at-will” presumption and created new causes of action that allow employees to challenge terminations they consider unjustified. Other statutory provisions impose minimum employment standards, regulate workplace privacy, protect trade secrets, and establish rules for employee benefits, computer access, arbitration of employment disputes, and post-employment restraints on competition. Employment lawyers thus counsel clients about and litigate over a breathtaking array of individual employment rights.
In order to begin to develop your knowledge of the legal rules that animate the contemporary world of employment practice, we will read judicial opinions, statutes, briefs and other litigation materials, as well as academic and popular commentary. For each topic we study, I will provide short screencast lectures and a detailed outline designed to explain important rules and clarify difficulty concepts. We will focus the great majority of our classroom time together on in-class simulations, debates, and problem-solving exercises. You will also take periodic low-stakes comprehension quizzes. I will deliver brief in-class lectures highlighting key issues and offer frequent opportunities for you to ask questions. You will complete at least two longer written exercises designed to mimic the sort of writing, advocacy, problem solving, and counseling that occupy practicing employment attorneys. Finally, students will write a short position paper in lieu of a final exam. Designed to complement Employment Law: Health & Safety and Employment Discrimination Law, this course has no prerequisite, and students should feel free to take these introductory employment law offerings in any order they wish.
Please note that we will negotiate the laptop and technology policy for this course during either our first or second class meeting. I will propose a menu of alternatives. We will try to reach consensus on a preferred policy and on any modifications to that policy that students might propose.
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Law of Work
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Multiple low-stakes content quizzes, participation grade for in-class simulations, debates, and problem-solving exercises, at least two graded written exercises, and a short position paper in lieu of a final exam.
| Mutually Exclusive with: | Law of Work |