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Academic

Adjunct Law Prof Blog

By Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Post Frequency: 42.5/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 01:00:00

Multi-tasking can lead to cognitive difficulties

Posted on September 01, 2009
I had previously posted on another blog about a new bookthat declared multi-tasking a "myth" insofar as the human brain lacks the ability to engage in multiple endeavors that require deep thinking. The book's author analogized the brain's ability to....

Study shows you need a vacation - you really do.

Posted on September 01, 2009
Between teaching and work commitments, adjunct profs in particular run the risk of not finding enough time for themselves to recharge the batteries. Several new studies now suggest that neglecting to take some quality personal time can cut years off....

Mass: State statutory, tort claims were outside scope of arbitration clause

Posted on August 31, 2009
Warfield v Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, ___N.E.2d___ (Mass. Sup. Ct. July 27, 2009), is an interesting post-Pyett state law case. The court held that a former chief of anesthesiology was not required to arbitrate her statutory discrimination and retaliation...

9th Holds Individual Managers May Face Exposure Under FLSA

Posted on August 31, 2009
Boucher v Shaw, __F.3d___ (9th Cir. July 27, 2009), is an interesting FLSA case. The 9th held that individual managers can be liable for unpaid wages under the FLSA. The lawsuit was against a hotel and its managers for unpaid...

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Modern Day Yellow Dog Contracts??

Posted on August 31, 2009
NY Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse wrote an excellent August 29, 2009 article revealing the practice of Regis Corporation that is apparently encouraging employees, but not requiring them, to sign a document agreeing to insist on a union election...

Employee Free Choice Act Tabled??

Posted on August 31, 2009
The EFCA Report, a management side blog, reported on August 28, 2009 that Congress will not get to the Employee Free Choice Act this year. It quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as saying that the Senate has too many...

2 Member NLRB Cert Petitions

Posted on August 30, 2009
Workplace Prof Blog reported on August 26, 2009 that a cert petition has been filed in another 2 member NLRB decision case, the First Circuit's Northeastern Land Services case. The legal issue is that can the Board act when it...

Court used wrong analysis for hostile environment claim

Posted on August 30, 2009
Winspear v Community Dev, Inc, ___F.3d___(8th Cir. July 29, 2009), is an interesting case. The 8th held that a lower court erred when it treated an employee?s hostile work environment claim as if it were a constructive discharge claim. The...

NY Times Picks Up On Poor Job Market For Lawyers

Posted on August 29, 2009
The New York Times ran a revealing August 25, 2009 article outlining the dim employment prospects for today's law students, here. As the article states: This fall, law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as...

Remembering Senator Kennedy

Posted on August 29, 2009
Senator Kennedy's wonderful career has been reviewed and discussed throughout the media and in households across America. One thing that I have not seen discussed is the fact that he has been a champion for children and the disabled. He...

New law grads - the rich get richer and the poor get poorer

Posted on August 28, 2009
The National Association for Law Placement ("NALP") recently published its annual report on salary distribution for the graduating law school class of 2008 and the results are not pretty. The report shows a dramatic and widening gap between the graduating...

Age bias claim fails under cat?s paw theory and indirect method of proof

Posted on August 28, 2009
Martino v MCI Comm Servs, Inc, ___F.3d___(7th Cir. July 28, 2009), is an interesting case. the 7th held that a 55 year-old employee discharged in a RIF presented insufficient evidence of age bias to survive summary judgment. The employee presented...

Pope's June 29, 2009 Encyclical Supports Labor Unions

Posted on August 28, 2009
On June 29, 2009, the Pope issued an Encyclical where he strongly supports unions and the need for workers to receive decent wages. Download Encyclical - Caritas in Veritate In the below passage, the Pope also stresses the importance of...

Lifetime health benefits are vested, but scope of benefits can be modified

Posted on August 27, 2009
Reese v CNH America, ___F.3d___(6th Cir. July 27, 2009), is another important employee benefits case coming out of the 6th circuit. An employer promised in a collective bargaining agreement to grant retirees healthcare for life, the Sixth Circuit held...

Arbitration Fee Splitting Agreements

Posted on August 27, 2009
There is an excellent July 31, 2009 New York Law Journal article on the legality of arbitration agreements which contain fee splitting agreements, available here (registration required). The article concentrates on New York law and in particular, Brady v...

2d Holds employment-related grievances may relate to matters of public concern

Posted on August 26, 2009
Sousa v Roque, Jr., ___F.3d___(2d Cir. August 21, 2009), is an important decision to be aware of. The curt held that ?The speaker?s motive is not dispositive in determining whether speech is on a matter of public concern.? The court...

Transgender substitute teacher retires over lack of assignments

Posted on August 26, 2009
After William McBeth underwent sex reassignment surgery and became Lily McBeth, the two southern New Jersey school districts were she had been teaching as a substitute decided to keep her on. However, she got only a handful of assignments since...

Concerns about principal?s skills and judgment justified non-promotion

Posted on August 26, 2009
A U.S. district court in Virginia has dismissed a high school principal?s Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) suit. During plaintiffs final year as principal of he applied for the position of assistant superintendent of operations, but the Augusta County...

Fourth Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor & Employment Law, September 25-26, 2009, Seton Hall University School of Law

Posted on August 26, 2009
The 4th Annual Conference on Current Scholarship In Labor and Employment Law is on Sept. 25 and 26th at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, N.J. I went to last years conference in San Diego and it was wonderful. It...

Just how bad is the job market for recent grads?

Posted on August 25, 2009
Here's a blog I found called "Big Debt, Small Law: Dirt poor lawyers in a filthy rich town" written by a recent (top 1/3) grad of a second tier law school who chronicles his experiences working as a contract lawyer...

Specious law suit of the week (or perhaps the year): N.Y. plaintiff brings claim to establish he is JFK/Marilyn Monroe "love child"

Posted on August 25, 2009
You read that right - despite the fact that MM was constantly in the public eye yet not a single photo exists showing her pregnant, a plaintiff recently filed a complaint with a New York federal district seeking to establish...

Rare Court Decision Overturns N.Y. Civil Service Section 75 Decision

Posted on August 25, 2009
Matter of Penderleith v. Lakeland Central School Dist., ___A.D.3d___(3d Dep't. Aug. 18, 2009), is a rare case where a court overturned the decision of a Civil Service Section 75 Hearing Officer whose decision was adopted by the appointing authority. Why?...

Court Punts Issue Whether Just Cause Contractual Provision Is A Property Interest

Posted on August 25, 2009
Biliski v. Red Clay Consolidated School Dist., ___F.3d___(3d Cir. 2009), is an interesting case. Computer technician for school district was not deprived of property interest without due process when he was discharged for performance problems and inappropriate behavior in workplace,...

An individual serving an extension of his or her probationary period may be summarily dismissed from the position

Posted on August 25, 2009
Matter of Ward v Metropolitan Transp. Auth., 2009 NY Slip Op 05973, decided on July 21, 2009, Appellate Division, Second Department The New York City Transit Authority terminated Steward Ward from his position. Ward while serving his 12-month probationary period...

Arbitration agreement?s unconscionable provisions severed

Posted on August 25, 2009
In a suit for unpaid overtime, a Washington State court granted an employer?s motion to compel arbitration; however, on appeal, two clauses of the arbitration agreement were deemed unconscionable and were severed from the agreement?s enforceable provisions...

Employee can proceed with claim based on unauthorized access to email

Posted on August 24, 2009
A city employee who alleged that the mayor, the municipality and an IT technician read and forwarded emails from her professional email account to the mayor?s account without authorization could proceed with her state law invasion of privacy claim, a...

Federal District Court Holds Employee Had No Objectively Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy In Cubicle

Posted on August 24, 2009
A taped discussion was not an ?oral conversation? within the meaning of the Federal Wiretap Act, a federal district court concluded, denying an employer?s motion to exclude the recording as illegally obtained and thus inadmissible as evidence in a former...

Does A Typo On My Resume/Coverletter Doom My Chances??

Posted on August 24, 2009
On August 21, 2009, Prof. Jim Levy (who has guest blogged here) of Legal Writing Prof Blog highlighted an important issue that it picked up from Sweet Hot Justice. Namely, is a typo fatal to a job application. Their bottom...

Institutional Age Discrimination In The Legal Academy

Posted on August 24, 2009
I am sorry to say that most professors realize that there is institutional age discrimination in the faculty hiring process.Schools prefer candidates with just a few years of practice. They advertise for specialists in particular fields, but prefer newly minted...

ADA Amendments Act is not retroactive

Posted on August 23, 2009
The D.C. Circuit recently held that Congress clearly indicated that the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), enacted to ?reinstate a broad scope of protection under the ADA,? does not apply retroactively.Instead, the pre-Amendments ADA to the disability discrimination claims...

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