The course will proceed in two parts. In the first the instructor will assign pressing issues in labor law for class discussion: e.g., wage theft, precarity of hours, wage payment, and the like. There will be about five discussion sessions, to allow for students to commence on research in earnest, assuming an enrollment of nine or more students. The first four sets of readings will be posted. These readings can be found electronically. Whether more will be addressed will depend on enrollment.

Thereafter, student work will be assigned, one per week. Suggested research topics will be posted in due course but these will be only suggestive. The student is free to select any other, subject to the instructor’s approval.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation:   It is a “paper course.” The grade will be based on the quality of the final paper. The metrics are: (1) thoroughness of research – has every primary and important secondary source been searched[1]; (2) analytical cogency – have all the factors, economic as well as social, been dealt with in a persuasive manner; and, (3) style – adherence to proper forms of citation, proper syntax, avoidance of the personal pronoun or pontifical statements, etc. The paper should be between 20 to 30 pages inclusive of footnotes, depending on how much material must be dealt with. Papers receiving a grade of B+ or above will be eligible having the paper qualify for senior writing credit.

[1] The instructor requests that if students have copied any of this material – statutes, regulations, case decisions, statistical studies, government or NGO reports, etc. – these be submitted along with the paper. This will allow the instructor to check on the accuracy of these sources without unnecessary inconvenience.

The course will proceed in two parts. The first four sessions will introduce the student to the law of grievance arbitration in the private sector with echoes in the public sector (with reference to Illinois) and to the workings of the system. A syllabus of assigned readings will be placed online.

The rest of the course will be devoted to student engagement with important recurring issues arbitrators confront. The instructor has received the permission of the publisher of The Common Law of the Workplace, a treatise written by labor arbitrators on the nuts and bolts of arbitral decisions, to make that book available to students online (and free). It will be the text for the remainder of the course. In the course’s third session, a problem will be transmitted in which students will be asked to write an award not to exceed 500 words which they will transmit to the instructor who will share them with the class for discussion in the next class.

What will follow is the same process: the facts and arguments in a real case raising a recurring issue will be circulated. Students will be expected to write a brief decision on it. These student awards will be returned to the instructor who will circulate them for class discussion in the ensuing class session. This procedure will be followed in all of the following sessions.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: These awards will be graded by the instructor and averaged for the course’s final grade. Grades on each will not be disclosed to the student at the time, but grounds of criticism – weakness in comprehensiveness or lapses in reasoning not attributed to identified students – will be part of the post-submission class discussion. Further, in a rare case, if a student is in difficulty, meaning the recurring reception of a low grade, the instructor will alert the student for private consultation. As there is no single substantial paper, these awards will not satisfy the senior writing requirement, but they should provide students a valuable writing experience nonetheless.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Grading will be by a final administered exam.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Administered final exam

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Administered final examination

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Administered final examination

1. Prepare a “deep dive” report on the problem: on how extensive the problem is, surveying all the critical business, economic, scientific, or engineering or medical, or other necessary literature that explains and situates the problem.
2. Survey such law as many exist that deals with the problem – domestic and, if possible, foreign (depending on language facility) – and assess the strengths and deficiencies.
3. Draft a statute or ordinance setting out your proposal for a solution accompanied by a detailed explanation of how the law would work, pitfalls – practical as well as legal – that could be anticipated and how your proposal deals with them.

Enrollment Procedure:

Students should notify the instructor and secure approval of his or her selection as soon as possible. Because the depth of research is so critical it is strongly recommended that the topic be selected by the end of the preceding semester so that research can be commenced during break.

Students will select (or be assigned) a date for presentation of their work in progress. No later than the Monday preceding the class the student should circulate to the class: (1) a statement of the problem; (2) a summary or abstract of the business, economic, and scientific context based on the student’s in-depth research – a bibliography could suffice as background for the student’s oral representation; and (3) the text of the proposed statute or ordinance. The class will discuss, comment on and question the presenter on the proposal. The student’s final paper should deal with the criticism the class generates.

This course is eligible for upper-level writing credit.

Sequence and Prerequisites:  None

Evaluation: The grade in the course will be based 90% on the paper and 10% on class performance – of the student’s presentation and the acuity of student comment on the work of others.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Administered final exam