Overlawyered » Wisconsin

Labor and employment law roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:18:19 +0000

“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]

Tags: labor unions, Mitt Romney, The Excuse Factory, wage and hour suits, Wisconsin

December 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:04:27 +0000

Exoneree’s ex sues him for share of state’s wrongful-imprisonment payout [Dallas Observer via Balko]
Gibson’s alleged crime: ebony veneer too thick [Andrew Grossman, earlier here, here]
About that flap over “free” lawyer representation of Wisconsin high court justice [Rick Esenberg, Shark and Shepherd]
Allegation: Binder & Binder, largest Social Security advocacy firm, used red stickers to flag clients’ unfavorable medical info, often withheld it from disability-claim judges [WSJ]
“Judge Dismisses Landmark Bribery Conviction, Rips DOJ” [WSJ Law Blog, Lindsey order, more, my Cato post] FCPA reverse for federal prosecutors in arms trade case [BLT]
Congress passes bill clarifying jurisdiction, venue [Howard Wasserman, Prawfs]
Important reason to record cop-citizen interactions: to protect police from false claims [Scott Greenfield]

Tags: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, forum shopping, police, Wisconsin

Wisconsin lawyer: I won’t represent GOPers since they voted to limit fees

Walter Olson — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:32:24 +0000

“A Milwaukee lawyer who calls himself the ‘lemon law king’ is vowing to never take on a Republican client because of a new law limiting attorney fees in Wisconsin. … In a statement issued on Monday, [Vince] Megna compared Wisconsin to North Korea.” [ABA Journal]

Tags: lawyers, politics, Wisconsin

A swipe at school choice?

Walter Olson — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:31:19 +0000

“The Department of Justice has begun an investigation into Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, probing whether Milwaukee’s state-administered voucher system is discriminating against students with disabilities.” [Joy Resmowits, Huffington Post]

Tags: disability & schools, Milwaukee, schools, Wisconsin

Wisconsin considers curbing “one-way” attorney fees

Walter Olson — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:44:01 +0000

American legislatures since the 1970s have widely employed “one-way” fee provisions — under which courts award fees to prevailing plaintiffs, but not to prevailing defendants — as a way of encouraging plaintiffs and their lawyers to bring a maximum of legal action; especially when the fee shifts are generously calculated, such provisions also put strong pressure on defendants to settle potentially defensible cases rather than take the risk of a big fee award that may exceed the sums in controversy. Now Wisconsin lawmakers are thinking of making the playing field a bit more level by reining in one-way awards, especially those that exceed the underlying dispute; another way of approaching the issue, of course, would be to make the shifts two-way. [Rick Esenberg]

Tags: attorneys' fees, Wisconsin

Labor and employment law roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:18:04 +0000

Ohio vote looms on Wisconsin-style public labor reform [NRO Corner, Columbus Dispatch, Atlantic Wire, Buckeye Institute "S.B. 5", Brian Bolduc/NRO]
Florida lawmaker proposes leave for some employees with domestically abused pets [Eric Meyer]
UK proposal: let employers have frank talks with underperforming workers without fear of liability [Telegraph]
“Wisconsin legislation could restrict punitive damages for job bias” [AP]
No, your mover can’t enter the building: a Chicago lawyer encounters union power [Howard Foster, Frum Forum] An insider’s game: “Two teachers union lobbyists teach for a day to qualify for hefty pensions” [Chicago Tribune]
Alternatively, we might just want to go back to freedom of contract: “An employer’s bill of rights” [Hyman]
Michael Fox on “Healthy Workplace Act” proposal creating rights to sue over on-job bullying [Jottings]
Feds put employer use of “independent contractors” under microscope [Omega HR] FLSA risks to employer of using unpaid interns [SmartHR]
A bit of health care deregulation from Obama [Tyler Cowen] Related on nurse practitioners: [Goodman]

Tags: bullying, Chicago, labor unions, wage and hour suits, Wisconsin, workplace

March 28 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:34:14 +0000

Maricopa-cabana: Sheriff Arpaio uses tank (with Steven Seagal along) to raid cockfight suspect [KPHO, Coyote, Greenfield, Balko]
Malpractice reform in New York is about more than money (though it’s about that too) [Paul Rubin, TotM; NYDN]
EEOC initiative combats alleged employer bias against unemployed job applicants [Bales/Workplace Prof, Hyman]
After court rejection of Google Books settlement, where next? [Timothy Lee/ArsTechnica, David Post]
When your lawyerly conduct has been eviscerated by Judge Easterbrook, you know it [Above the Law]
Ninth Circuit rules on legality of keyword advertising using other firms’ trademarks [Coleman]
Election showdown over future of Wisconsin Supreme Court [PoL, more, Esenberg, Althouse]
Legal battle follows NYC’s attempted application of sidewalk bicycle ban to unicyclist [AP]

Tags: advertising, copyright, EEOC, Frank Easterbrook, Google, medical malpractice, New York, NYC, Phoenix, Wisconsin

International human rights law roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:52:21 +0000

Recent clips on a subject treated in much more detail in Schools for Misrule:

Claim: Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s reforms to public sector labor law violate international human rights [HRW, Mirer/Cohn, FoxBusiness (views of Marquette lawprof Paul Secunda)] Related: UAW threatens charges against automakers [ShopFloor]
Per some advocates, “right to health” has emerged as an “established international legal precept” even if it is “still to be fully embraced in the United States” [Friedman/Adashi, JAMA]
GWB at risk of arrest if he visits Europe? Or are some of his enemies just posturing? “Bush trip to Switzerland called off amid threats of protests, legal action” [Atlantic Wire, WaPo, Daily Dish and more, Frum Forum, more and yet more]
Oh, good grief: Tennessee solon “proposes law to make following Shariah law a felony” [Tennesseean] More states prepare to join unsound “ban all recogition of international law” movement [Ku, OJ] Background: Volokh.
For those interested in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recently given a favorable nod by the Obama administration, a copy of the text is available here [CWB]
“Conceptualizing Accountability in International Law and Institutions” [Anderson, OJ]
Human rights initiative in UK: “Rapists and killers demand right to benefits” [Telegraph] European Court of Human Rights, Human Rights Acts “merely pretexts for judicial activism, argues Alasdair Palmer” [Telegraph]
Claim: U.S. is odd-country-out in international law. Reality check please [Bradford, Posner et al, OJ]
Opponents charge trying Pennsylvania 13 year old for murder as adult could violate international law [AI]

Tags: George W. Bush, Indian tribes, international human rights, international law, labor unions, medical, Tennessee, United Nations, Wisconsin

“I do not advocate violence in Wisconsin”

Walter Olson — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:09:35 +0000

Lawprof Brian Leiter, it seems, has just been misunderstood. [Zincavage, Althouse, Taranto]

Tags: law schools, Wisconsin

March 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:37:58 +0000

“A conversation with class action objector Ted Frank” [American Lawyer]
Reviews of new Lester Brickman book Lawyer Barons [Dan Fisher/Forbes, Russell Jackson] Plus: interview at TortsProf; comments from Columbia legal ethicist William Simon [Legal Ethics Forum]
“Collective Bargaining for States But Not for Uncle Sam” [Adler] Examples of how Wisconsin public-sector unionism has worked in practice [Perry] Wisconsin cop union: nice business you got there, shame if anything were to happen to it [Sykes, WTMJ] “Union ‘rights’ that aren’t” [Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe]
“Minnesota House Considering Significant Consumer Class Action Reform Measures” [Karlsgodt]
10,000 lawyers at DoD? Rumsfeld complains military overlawyered [Althouse via Instapundit]
“Are Meritless Claims More Prevalent in Copyright?” [Boyden, Prawfs]
Claim: availability of punitive damages reduces rate of truck accidents. Really? [Curt Cutting]
Now with improved federalism: “The Return of the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act” [Carter Wood, more, earlier here].

Tags: class actions, copyright, labor unions, Lester Brickman, military, Minnesota, police, public employment, punitive damages, sanctions, Ted Frank, Wisconsin

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