This post is the first in a three-part series. Nothing sells like a perverse consequences argument. The movement to “Ban the Box” has run into an objection familiar from debates over the minimum wage and affirmative action: this policy could exacerbate exactl... More »
After the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this year, many rushed to evaluate his legacy (for good or for bad). While Justice Scalia’s missing vote in Freidrichs v. California Teachers Association drew a great deal of immediate attention, few discuss... More »
Automation has captured the aspirations and anxieties of both companies and cultural commentators: while the promises of automation might include improved quality of life and lower prices, the peril of potential unemployment looms large. As the discussion cont... More »
Ben Levin, a frequent contributor to the blog, has a great new piece up at Time arguing that the President’s ban-the-box proposal, while cause for celebration, doesn’t go far enough. According to Ben, the proposal’s main limitations include t... More »
Last week, the comment period closed on the EEOC’s proposed revision of the Employer Information Report. Also known as EEO-1, the Employer Information Report records the demographic information of employees. The EEOC’s revision seeks to expand data collectio... More »
Three years ago, a HuffPost/YouGov poll found that 69% of Americans (incorrectly) believed that firing an employee for being gay was already illegal. Now, in a post-Obergefell legal regime, those Americans would likely find it even more incredible that the fe... More »
Many articles have been written about a diversity crisis in Silicon Valley, perhaps due to tech firms’ initial resistance to releasing employee demographics. Enter Tracey Chou, an early Pinterest engineer, who launched a (still running) Google spreadsheet of ... More »
Money, sex, religion, and politics. We all know these topics are taboo at the dinner table. However, not discussing one of these in the work place might be costing us – especially women – more than we realize. Federal law has prohibited pay discrimination ... More »
Employers tend to dismiss job applications where the “box”—indicating that an applicant has a criminal history—is checked, making it incredibly difficult for ex-offenders to obtain employment. Ban the Box legislation aims to give ex-offenders a fair chance at... More »
Sachin S. Pandya is Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut. When does paying workers via tips count as illegal employment discrimination? Arguments against tip compensation–around for a while (e.g., Scott, 1916)—re-emerged last month (e... More »
Over three months ago, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. The issue was whether an employer can be liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for ref... More »
The Supreme Court has ruled, 6-3, in favor of Peggy Young in this Term’s major PDA case, Young v. UPS. As the NYT reports, the Court adopted the “middle ground” approach that Justice Kagan elaborated during oral argument. We will have a mor... More »