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Economic, Workplace and Environmental Regulation

The work of the Economic, Workplace, and Environmental Regulation Group encompasses a broad range of issues in the areas of labor law, environmental protection, economic opportunity, and administrative law. Among the topics it examines are workplace democracy, climate change and the enforcement of environmental laws, the regulatory process, corporate governance, and wealth inequality.

The Issue Group's Co-Chairs are:

To get involved in the work of the Economic, Workplace and Environmental Regulation Issue Group, please fill out the Issue Group Sign-Up Form.

Also, please note that ACS ResearchLink features a number of topics related to the Economic, Workplace and Environmental Regulation Issue Group’s work on which law students are encouraged to focus their academic scholarship.
Recent Stories

September Massacre: The Latest Battle in the War on Workers' Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act


Anne Marie Lofaso

Tue, 05/13/2008

In September Massacre: The Latest Battle in the War on Workers’ Rights under the National Labor Relations Act, Associate Professor of Law at West Virginia University College of Law Anne Marie Lofaso focuses on several of the sixty-one decisions issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in September 2007, a group of decisions that many in the labor community have referred to as the “September Massacre.” Professor Lofaso discusses the decisions and their effects on the right to organize, but also explores “the aggregate, weakening effect by both the Bush Board and prior governmental action.” In exploring the decisions within this larger context, the author explains that “many of the September decisions fit into a long history of legislative, administrative, and judicial cutbacks to the original NLRA [National Labor Relations Act],” and might most accurately be viewed as “the latest, and perhaps most serious, attack on workers’ rights.” Professor Lofaso pays special attention to the NLRB’s Dana Corporation decision, one of the September decisions that the author finds particularly harmful and revolutionary. Concluding with some thoughts on what the labor movement can do to regain economic and political power, Professor Lofaso suggests a course that includes political activism, legislative changes (both substantive and procedural) to the NLRA, a federal judiciary willing to reverse the NLRB in appropriate circumstances, labor advocates being willing to use what remains of the NLRA to further workers’ rights, and renewed attention to the teaching of labor law in our nation’s law schools.

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ACS September Massacre.pdf290.77 KB

Women of Color in the Legal Profession: Why It Means Success for Everyone

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy joined the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and other host organizations in sponsoring this event on hiring and retaining women of color. This is not simply an issue for women of color. With increasing globalization, it makes good business sense to craft strategies to ensure that women of color thrive. Our panelists will discussed concrete steps that can be taken to ensure that women of color succeed.

This program builds on the Commission's report, "Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms." The report can be accessed here.

The panel included:

Retaliation Claims Under the Civil Rights Laws: Three Cases Reach the Supreme Court

On February 12, ACS hosted a press briefing on three cases currently before the Supreme Court addressing the protections workers receive under the civil rights laws against retaliation by their employers when they complain of discrimination. Two of the cases are scheduled for argument this month. Gomez-Perez v. Potter, to be argued February 19, was brought by a U.S. Postal Service employee who alleges that her supervisors retaliated against her when she complained of age discrimination. CBOCS West v. Humphries, to be argued on February 20, was brought by an African American employee of a Cracker Barrel restaurant who was fired when he complained about his supervisor's racially discriminatory behavior. Crawford v. Metropolitan Gov't of Nashville, not yet scheduled for argument, was brought by an employee of the Nashville government who was fired after cooperating in an internal investigation into complaints by other women in the office about sexual harassment by their supervisor. Civil rights experts discussed the issues presented in these cases, which arise under three different civil rights statutes, and addressed their potential significance.

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