September 23, 2010
MEMORANDUM
TO: Students in LIR 863, Fall, 2010
FROM: Richard N. Block
SUBJECT: Term Paper Information and Library Instruction
Term Paper Assignment
All students in LIR 863 must submit a short term paper that is 30% of the grade in the course. The purpose of the term paper is to provide you with experience in researching the case law on a selected issue in labor law and reporting the results of your research in a manner that is understandable to your professional colleagues in an organization. Therefore, the term paper assignment is to choose an issue in labor law and write a term paper that analyzes NLRB and Court decisions on that issue. In addition, you are to arrive at some conclusions regarding the legal doctrine you have researched.
Your primary source material should be NLRB and Court decisions. You must rely on your research and interpretation of the cases. You may, if you wish, consult law review articles, but this is neither necessary nor expected, as reasonable people can differ on how they interpret legal opinions.
A list of possible term paper topics is attached. You may select any topic on this list without prior approval. If you wish to select a topic that is not on this list, please consult with me in order to guard against writing a paper on a topic that is unmanageable or that involves research in areas unrelated to labor law (e.g., constitutional law, anti-trust law).
The term paper should be no more than eight pages in length, double-spaced (9 pages with endnotes), with 12-point font and one-inch margins. It is due on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 4:00 P M.
Resources
The important sources for labor law cases are in print and electronic formats and are discussed in the course syllabus. A session with LIR Librarian Laura Leavitt will be
Students in LIR 863, Fall, 2010
September 23, 2010
Page 2
scheduled during class time to familiarize you with these resources. (More information will be forthcoming.) You are asked to refrain from starting research on the paper until Laura Leavitt’s session.
International Students
International students have the option of writing a term paper on U.S. labor law or making a class presentation on labor law in their home country. International students are strongly encouraged to take the presentation option. If you are an international student and wish to make a class presentation, please inform me by the first week in November. If I do not hear from you, I will assume that you do not wish to make a presentation and that you will do a term paper on U.S. labor law.
Citation Information
When citing cases from the reporting services, use the case name, the volume number, the abbreviation for the reporting service (BNA or CCH), the page number or paragraph number at which the case starts, the court (if a court decision), and the year. If you quote from the case, add the page number at which the quote appears, if you know it. Some examples follow.
Supreme Court Decision - Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB, 100 LRRM 2728, U.S. Supreme Court, 1979;
Court of Appeals Decision - NLRB v. Burkart Foam, 128 LRRM 2772, 2774, 7th Cir., 1988 (for a quote at p. 2774);
NLRB Decision -Dubuque Packing Co., 137 LRRM 1185 (1988);
NLRB Decision - McLean Hospital Corp., 1992-93 CCH NLRB Par. 17630 (1992).
When citing cases off the Web, use the closest Web address, the case number or numbers, the circuit, and the year of the decision, and the search term. An example follows:
Great Lakes Corporation v. NLRB, Nos. 00-2226, 00-2191, 7th Cir. (2001) at http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/op3.fwx, search term = “NLRB.”
RNB/
LIR863TermPaperSpring10
Attachment (topic list)
LIR 863
APPROVED TERM PAPER TOPICS
Richard N. Block
1. The Limits of Employer "Free Speech" under Section 8(c).
2. The Concept of "Laboratory Conditions."
3. The Validity of Employer Promulgated Rules That May Have an Impact on Employee Attempts to Organization a Union.
4. Employer Interrogation and Polling of Employees.
5. Employer Discrimination Because an Employee Filed Charges or Gave Testimony Under the Act (Section 8(a)(4)).
6. Employer Domination and Assistance to Labor Organizations.
7. Criteria in Unit Determination Decisions.
8. The Duty of the Employer to Provide Information in Collective Bargaining.
9. The Rights of Employees, Union or Nonunion, to Representation During a Discipline Investigation (Weingarten rights).
10. The Conditions Under Which Private Sector Firms that Have Contracts with Public Agencies are Covered by the NLRA.
11. The Extent of the Obligation of the Purchaser of a Business to Deal with the Union Representing the Employees of the "Old" Business (the “successor” doctrine).
12. The meaning of the Term "Independent Contractor" under Section 2(3).
13. The Meaning of the Terms "Picket" and "Picketing under Section 8(b)(4) and/or 8(b)(7).
14. The Meaning of "Good Faith" Under Sections 8(d) and 8(a)(5).
15. The "Ally Doctrine" under 8(b)(4).
16. The Legality of "Consumer Picketing" under the "Publicity Proviso" to Section 8 (b) (4).
17. The Impact of Union Racial Discrimination on NLRB Certification.
18. The Union's Duty to Bargain under Section 8(b)(3).
19. Union Restraint and Coercion under Section 8(b)(1).
20. "Hot Cargo"' Agreements.
21. The Union's Duty of Fair Representation.
22. NLRB and Court Decisions on "Dual Purpose Discharge."
23. Bargaining by college and university faculty Under the National Labor Relations Act.
24. The Use of Section 10(j) injunctions by the NLRB.
25. The extent of the obligation of the employer to bargain with the union concerning a partial closing of its business or other decisions involving changes in corporate structure.
26. The legality of labor-management cooperation programs/employee participation plans in nonunion settings under Section 8(a)(2).
27. The rights of nonemployee union representatives to "organize" on the premises of the employer.
28. The "managerial employee" exclusion under the NLRA.
29. Work preservation agreements.
30. The authority of courts to overturn an arbitration award.
31. The status of “contingent” or “temporary” employees under the NLRA.
32. The conditions under which the NLRB may conduct a mail ballot for a representation election.
33. Gissel Bargaining Orders
34. The “supervisor” exclusion under the NLRA.
35. The “labor nexus” principle under the NLRA.
36. The meaning of “concerted activity” under the NLRA.
37. The right of the employer to implement its final proposal at impasse.
38. The definition of impasse under the NLRA.
39. The circumstances under which an employer may withdraw recognition from a union.
40. Union dues and political/noncollective bargaining expenditures.
41. The inclusion of temporary employees in bargaining units.
42. Unlawful domination of, or assistance to, a labor organization.
43. The rights of graduate assistants at private universities under the National Labor Relations Act.
44. Coverage for private employers who are contractors of public agencies.
45. Employer “surveillance” of employees.
46. The conditions under which a union is considered to have waived its right to bargain over a term or condition of employment under a management rights provision in a collective bargaining agreement.
47. A review of the case law and other supporting material involving a long-term labor dispute between a company and a union provided the dispute involves the NLRA. Companies and unions involved in such disputes that are appropriate for a term paper are:
- Smithfield Packing and United Food and Commercial Workers Union;
- Overnite Transportation and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters;
- EnerSys and International Union of Electrical Workers/Communications Workers of America.