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    Volume 34, Number 3

     

    Labor & Employment

    The Editors' Page

    The articles in this issue, summarized below, reflect the current depth and breadth of labor and employment law practice. It is our editorial goal to select articles that identify critical current legal problems and offer practical guidance to labor and employment attorneys, along with presenting larger policy issues that may be at stake.

    Articles

    Labor & Employment

    Labor Without Employment: Toward a New Legal Framework for the Gig Economy

    Just weeks before Uber’s IPO, as Uber drivers were preparing a strike to demand better wages and working conditions, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an advice memorandum declaring that Uber drivers were independent contractors, not employees, and were therefore not entitled to collective bargaining rights. Soon after, the United States Department of Labor issued an opinion letter coming to a similar conclusion for the workers at a different, unnamed gig-platform company, finding that those workers were not entitled to federal minimum wage or overtime protections.

    Labor & Employment

    Review of Cambridge Handbook of U.S. Labor Law for the Twenty- First Century (Rick Bales & Charlotte Garden eds.)

    Richard Bales and Charlotte Garden have done both union-side and management-side lawyers a great service in compiling the Cambridge Handbook of U.S. Labor Law for the Twenty-First Century (Handbook).1 The Handbook is comprised of over thirty essays, each its own chapter, written by leading labor law scholars. The book also includes chapters by practitioners, including former National Labor Relations Board member William Gould IV and union-side attorney David Rosenfeld.

    Labor & Employment

    A Recipe for a Racially Diverse, Thriving Workforce According to People of Color

    Today has been long anticipated. Today, you received a notification from the famous, three Michelin-star baker, L’Avocat, stating that the chocolate chip cookies you have been waiting months for, are finally ready for pickup. After doing endless research, reading reviews, and waiting three years for your name to be called, the day has finally arrived. You cross the steps into L’Avocat’s bake shop, excitement in your belly, anticipation on your tongue, and money out of your pocket. However, when the server hands you the cookies, the box is misshapen, the cookies look stale and the “chocolate chip” cookies you anticipated for so long are chocolateless. How would you react? Can a cookie, without chocolate be called a chocolate chip cookie? Further, is this what L’Avocat promised you when you ordered?