Overlawyered » labor unions http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “Democrats vs. Teacher Unions: The Battle Heats Up” http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/democrats-vs-teacher-unions-the-battle-heats-up/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/democrats-vs-teacher-unions-the-battle-heats-up/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:11:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27387 Walter Russell Mead notes a reformist initiative on teacher certification with perhaps an unexpected sponsor, the Democratic governor of Connecticut. [The American Interest; CTNewsJunkie.com]

P.S. On the ultimate frontier of teacher reform — the firing of bad teachers — see new reports from Troy Senik [Public Sector Inc.] and Marcus Winters [NY Post].

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/democrats-vs-teacher-unions-the-battle-heats-up/feed/ 1 Labor and employment law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-4/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:18:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27058
  • “Off-clock work: Flintstone laws in a Buck Rogers world” [Robin Shea] “NY Times offers unpaid internships after reporting on their questionable legality” [Poynter]
  • Walker labor reforms in Wisconsin get results [Christian Schneider: City Journal, NY Post] “Watch the Walker recall election” [John Steele Gordon, Commentary]
  • No prize for spotting fallacy: complaints that too many Europeans are collecting state disability payments construed as “demonizing disabled people” [Debbie Jolly, ENIL]
  • “What could be worse than a self-righteous TSA agent? Answer: A TSA agents’ union advocate.” [Ken, Popehat]
  • “Why Mitt Romney likes firing people” [Suzanne Lucas]
  • Free speech and union dues: Tim Sandefur on the oral argument in Knox v. SEIU [PLF Liberty Blog]
  • My book on employment and labor law, The Excuse Factory, is alas still not available in online formats but you might find a bargain on a hardcover [Free Press/Simon & Schuster]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-4/feed/ 0     New York’s “Triborough Amendment” http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/new-yorks-triborough-amendment/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/new-yorks-triborough-amendment/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:19:32 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26952 A distinctively unfair bit of favoritism toward public sector unions, it legally locks in benefits after a contract expires, thus encouraging and rewarding union intransigence in negotiating the next. [Michael Allegretti, Public Sector Inc.; Empire Center for New York State Policy]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/new-yorks-triborough-amendment/feed/ 3     Labor and employment law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:12:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26697
  • NLRB rules employment contracts that specify arbitration for group grievances violate federal labor law even in nonunion workplaces [D. R. Horton, Inc. and Michael Cuda; Ross Runkel, Corporate Counsel]
  • Richard Epstein on “living wage” legislation [Defining Ideas]
  • In Greece, law providing early retirement for “hazardous” jobs was extended to some that are not so hazardous, like hairdressing, pastry making and radio announcing [Mark Steyn via Instapundit, IBTimes, Reuters]
  • “Prosecutor’s double-dippers draw millions from New Jersey pension funds” [Mark Lagerkvist, DC Examiner] Even if convicted on felony charges of misappropriation of public funds, Beverly Hills school superintendent unlikely to forfeit pension [LA Times]
  • “Against Forced Unionization of Independent Workers” [Ilya Shapiro on Cato amicus brief in Harris v. Quinn]
  • Whoops: UAW officials appeal extortion sentence, 6th Circuit sends it back as too lenient [AutoBlog via Kaus]
  • New York appeals court makes it harder to get weak NYC job-bias cases dismissed on summary judgment [Judy Greenwald, Business Insurance] Connecticut’s job-bias commission doesn’t seem to consider any cases frivolous any more [Daniel Schwartz]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-3/feed/ 2     Great moments in public sector arbitration http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/great-moments-in-public-sector-arbitration/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/great-moments-in-public-sector-arbitration/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:11:50 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26600 “A police lieutenant, fired for covering up a hit and run crash involving a fellow officer [she] was involved in a relationship with, has been reinstated following an arbitration decision that chastised the city’s Police Commission.” Christine Burns also got six months back pay. The arbitrator found that Burns’s boyfriend had been treated leniently, drawing only a one-year unpaid suspension despite serious misconduct, which in turn deprived her of her right to be treated “evenhandedly and without discrimination.” [Connecticut Post]

    And while we’re at it: Police union defends Denver cop fired for driving drunk at 143 mph [Tina Korbe, Hot Air; The Truth About Cars]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/great-moments-in-public-sector-arbitration/feed/ 6     Labor law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:26:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26435
  • But don’t call it quotas: “New Proposal May Force Federal Contractors to Hire More People with Disabilities” [Diversity Journal]
  • Wow: SEIU local advertises job described as “Train/lead members in … occupying state buildings and banks” [Instapundit]
  • $174K/year annual pension, collected for several decades? “Public retirement ages come under greater scrutiny” [AP] “Report makes ‘progressive’ pension-reform case” [Steven Greenhut, Public Sector Inc.] “Retired Cops and Firefighters in RI Town Accept Pension Cuts in Bankruptcy Deal” [Debra Cassens Weiss/ABA Journal, earlier] New York officials move to cut off public access to information about who’s getting what [NY Post]
  • In end run around Congress: “Obama instating labor rules for home-care aides” [LAT]
  • Artificial “take home pay” rule helped some highly paid Connecticut public workers qualify for emergency food stamps [Hartford Courant, more]
  • Lawyers, business groups alarmed at Department of Labor’s proposed “labor persuader” regulations [ABA Journal, earlier]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Schools roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/schools-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/schools-roundup/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:54:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26084
  • Students respond to L.A.’s “healthful” school lunch initiative with a loud “yuck” [L.A. Times, Michelle Malkin/NRO]
  • L.I.: School suspends students for “Tebow” kneeling in hallway [Newsday]
  • “Growing number of college students asking for wiggle room with their academic workloads due to mental health issues.” [WSJ]
  • Proposal to address “learning disability” tangle: give all test-takers extra time [Ruth Colker, SSRN, see p. 126] A.D.H.D. diagnosis and the academic struggle for advantage [Melana Zyla Vickers, NYT "Room for Debate"] “Pediatrician Group Seeks to Boost ADHD Diagnoses” [Sullum]
  • Will distance technology defeat the teachers’ union? [Larry Sand, City Journal]
  • Time to repeal Maryland’s awful “maintenance of effort” law on school funding [WaPo, Baltimore Sun] Contra: MSEA, PDF.
  • French-language cops: “Montreal schools move to scan playground chatter” [Ottawa Citizen]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/schools-roundup/feed/ 3     Labor law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:24:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25844
  • Union withdraws, and NLRB drops, complaint against Boeing over plant location decision [Adler, earlier] “Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Introduces Bill to Reverse NLRB’s ‘Micro-Union’ Decision” [LRT via @jonhyman] Video of “Organized Labor & Obama administration” panel [Federalist Society convention]
  • Suing Atlantic City is an established sport for current, former employees [Press of AC] After lawsuit win, former Gotham sanitation worker litters neighborhood with cars [NY Post via Christopher Fountain] Why have House, Senate reversed usual ideological lines on federal employee workers’-comp reform? [WaPo]
  • Murder of reformist professors reinforces difficulty of changing Italian labor law [Tyler Cowen] UK considers relaxing “unfair dismissal” controls on employers [BBC, earlier]
  • Taylor Law and NYC transit strike: “ILO Urges that U.S. Stop Violating International Obligations It Hasn’t Agreed To” [Ku, OJ; Mitch Rubinstein, Adjunct Law Prof]
  • Maryland’s misnamed 2009 “Workplace Fraud Act” bedevils carpet installers and other firms that employ contract workers, and perhaps that was its point [Ed Waters Jr./Frederick News-Post, Weyrich Cronin & Sorra, Floor Daily]
  • “Government pay is higher” [Stoll] Notwithstanding “Occupy” themes, interests of unions and underemployed young folks might not actually be aligned very well [Althouse]
  • More on outcry over proposed federal restrictions on kids’ farm chores [WSJ, NPR, Gannett Wisconsin, CEI, earlier]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup/feed/ 0     “Battleground Ohio: John Kasich’s Collective Bargaining Reform Goes Down” http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/battleground-ohio-john-kasich%e2%80%99s-collective-bargaining-reform-goes-down/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/battleground-ohio-john-kasich%e2%80%99s-collective-bargaining-reform-goes-down/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:48:18 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26145 At Capital Research Center, James Antle has a post-mortem on the defeat of Ohio Republicans’ ambitious attempt to turn around the public sector employment climate.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/battleground-ohio-john-kasich%e2%80%99s-collective-bargaining-reform-goes-down/feed/ 0     SEIU to Washington legislators: raise taxes or we’ll keep suing you http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/seiu-to-washington-legislators-raise-taxes-or-well-keep-suing-you/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/seiu-to-washington-legislators-raise-taxes-or-well-keep-suing-you/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:02:29 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26154 “Washington [the state] is getting hit with so many lawsuits over budget cuts that it’s not clear at times who controls the state’s purse strings: lawmakers or the court system. … Overall, the state has been sued more than a dozen times because of cuts lawmakers made in recent years to curtail state spending and balance the budget.” A spokesman for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the groups suing the state over cuts, describes program cuts as “violating people’s rights” and says the state should raise revenue if it doesn’t want to be sued. [Seattle Times] (& Bainbridge).

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