Empirical Research And Workplace Discrimination Law

In Empirical Research and Workplace Discrimination Law, Alysia Blackham offers a succinct comparative survey of empirical research that is occurring in workplace discrimination law.

There is much to understand about employment discrimination law as a social system. What drives the growing trend toward litigation? To what extent does discrimination persist and why does it vary by organizational and market context? How do different groups perceive discrimination and what, if anything, do they do about it? How do employers respond to discrimination law? What is the effect of broader political and legal currents? What is the relationship between anti-discrimination law and social inequality? This book presents answers, from a distinguished group of scholars, and social scientists, offering a broad reconsideration of employment discrimination and its treatment in law.

This volume contains a collection of original papers by leading legal scholars and social scientists that develop new perspectives on anti-discrimination law, with an emphasis on employment discrimination. The articles were written for a conference held at Stanford Law School in Spring 2003 that was sponsored by the American Bar Foundation and Stanford Law School. The purpose of that conference, this volume, and ongoing work by the Discrimination Research Group based at the American Bar FoundationandtheCenterforAdvancedStudyintheBehavioralSciencesistoadvance the social scienti?c understanding of employment discrimination and the operation of employment discrimination law as a social system, and to consider the legal and policy implications of this emerging body of social science. Now is a pivotal moment for an attempt at a deeper understanding of discrimi- tion and law. After three decades of theoretical development and empirical research onemploymentdiscriminationanditstreatmentinlaw,itiscrucialthatlawyers,social scientists,andpolicymakersassesswhatweknowanddonotknowaboutemployment discrimination and its treatment by law. To date, there are several streams of active research that only occasionally engage with each other. Economists and sociologists continue to debate the extent to which women, minorities, and other traditionally disadvantagedgroupsfacediscriminationinlabormarketsandorganizations. Orga- zation scholars and legal scholars have begun to map the effect of anti-discrimination law on organizational structures and processes, and to raise questions about the extent to which the legalization of organizational employment systems represents symbolic or substantive changes in employment practices.

This book addresses the evaluation of damage for discrimination or harassment claims, and explores the history and importance of this process, the legal standards, and the procedure for applying this evaluation in court. Specific ethical issues that may arise when conducting these assessments are discussed, along with suggestions to address and resolve them. A helpful review of empirical research related to the frequency and types of workplace discrimination and its potential effects on employees is also included.

This edited collection draws together papers delivered at a symposium on New Frontiers in Empirical Labour Law Research held at the University of Cambridge in April 2014. It contains contributions from established and emerging experts across a range of disciplines (including employment relations, industrial psychology, sociology, economics and political science) to consider four broad themes: the case for empiricism in labour law; the potential for mixed methods; methodological possibilities and insights from other disciplines; and practical challenges and words of caution for those conducting empirical research. This collection seeks to cultivate confidence and competence in empirical methods among both established and young labour law scholars, through an intergenerational and interdisciplinary 'lessons learned' dialogue. It contributes to the broader debate regarding empirical research methods in labour law, and casts light on how empirical research can be conducted in highly contested fields to enhance labour law policy-making. This collection aims to inspire labour lawyers to embark upon new forms of empirical research, both to enrich their existing research projects, and to ask new research questions. It offers the first stage of a collaborative and interdisciplinary dialogue on empirical labour law research, to emphasise the importance of collaboration and intergenerational mentoring in building empirical capacity.

This volume contains a collection of original papers by leading legal scholars and social scientists that develop new perspectives on anti-discrimination law, with an emphasis on employment discrimination. The articles were written for a conference held at Stanford Law School in Spring 2003 that was sponsored by the American Bar Foundation and Stanford Law School. The purpose of that conference, this volume, and ongoing work by the Discrimination Research Group based at the American Bar FoundationandtheCenterforAdvancedStudyintheBehavioralSciencesistoadvance the social scienti?c understanding of employment discrimination and the operation of employment discrimination law as a social system, and to consider the legal and policy implications of this emerging body of social science. Now is a pivotal moment for an attempt at a deeper understanding of discrimi- tion and law. After three decades of theoretical development and empirical research onemploymentdiscriminationanditstreatmentinlaw,itiscrucialthatlawyers,social scientists,andpolicymakersassesswhatweknowanddonotknowaboutemployment discrimination and its treatment by law. To date, there are several streams of active research that only occasionally engage with each other. Economists and sociologists continue to debate the extent to which women, minorities, and other traditionally disadvantagedgroupsfacediscriminationinlabormarketsandorganizations. Orga- zation scholars and legal scholars have begun to map the effect of anti-discrimination law on organizational structures and processes, and to raise questions about the extent to which the legalization of organizational employment systems represents symbolic or substantive changes in employment practices.

Gerry Handley faced years of blatant race-based harassment before he filed a complaint against his employer: racist jokes, signs reading “KKK” in his work area, and even questions from coworkers as to whether he had sex with his daughter as slaves supposedly did. He had an unusually strong case, with copious documentation and coworkers’ support, and he settled for $50,000, even winning back his job. But victory came at a high cost. Legal fees cut into Mr. Handley’s winnings, and tensions surrounding the lawsuit poisoned the workplace. A year later, he lost his job due to downsizing by his company. Mr. Handley exemplifies the burden plaintiffs bear in contemporary civil rights litigation. In the decades since the civil rights movement, we’ve made progress, but not nearly as much as it might seem. On the surface, America’s commitment to equal opportunity in the workplace has never been clearer. Virtually every company has antidiscrimination policies in place, and there are laws designed to protect these rights across a range of marginalized groups. But, as Ellen Berrey, Robert L. Nelson, and Laura Beth Nielsen compellingly show, this progressive vision of the law falls far short in practice. When aggrieved individuals turn to the law, the adversarial character of litigation imposes considerable personal and financial costs that make plaintiffs feel like they’ve lost regardless of the outcome of the case. Employer defendants also are dissatisfied with the system, often feeling “held up” by what they see as frivolous cases. And even when the case is resolved in the plaintiff’s favor, the conditions that gave rise to the lawsuit rarely change. In fact, the contemporary approach to workplace discrimination law perversely comes to reinforce the very hierarchies that antidiscrimination laws were created to redress. Based on rich interviews with plaintiffs, attorneys, and representatives of defendants and an original national dataset on case outcomes, Rights on Trial reveals the fundamental flaws of workplace discrimination law and offers practical recommendations for how we might better respond to persistent patterns of discrimination.

ÔWachter and Estlund have assembled a feast on the economic analysis of issues in labor and employment law for scholars and policy-makers. The volume begins with foundational discussions of the economic analysis of the individual employment relationship and collective bargaining. It then progresses to discussions of the theoretical and empirical work on a wide range of important labor and employment law topics including: union organizing and employee choice, the impact of unions on firm and economic performance, the impact of unions on the enforcement of legal rights, just cause for dismissal, covenants not to compete and employment discrimination. Anyone who wants to study what economists have to say on these topics would do well to begin with this collection.Õ Ð Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Indiana University Bloomington School of Law, US This Research Handbook assembles the original work of leading legal and economic scholars, working in a variety of traditions and methodologies, on the economic analysis of labor and employment law. In addition to surveying the current state of the art on the economics of labor markets and employment relations, the volumeÕs 16 chapters assess aspects of traditional labor law and union organizing, the law governing the employment contract and termination of employment, employment discrimination and other employer mandates, restrictions on employee mobility, and the forum and remedies for labor and employment claims. Comprising a variety of approaches, the Research Handbook on the Economics of Labor and Employment Law will appeal to legal scholars in labor and employment law, industrial relations scholars and labor economists.