Labor and Employment Law

All law students have a personal stake in understanding the law governing the employment relationship: nearly all will be employees, and some will become employers. As a field of practice, labor and employment law offers the opportunity to work on complex matters with profound and direct consequences for the quality of life of workers and the productivity of businesses. Labor and employment lawyers work in litigation, negotiation, compliance, alternative dispute resolution, regulatory, and planning settings. They practice in large corporate law firms and small boutique firms; in-house at corporations and labor unions; in civil-rights and other public interest organizations; as arbitrators and mediators; and at all levels of government (advocating on behalf of plaintiffs, defending governments as employers, and serving as policymakers, adjudicators, and mediators). The field of labor law has important administrative law dimensions, and provides an incomparable setting for considering the efficacy of law in the face of social and economic change.

NYU Law has a strong program for students interested in labor and employment law. There are four basic doctrinal courses in the field, and a core clinical offering. Labor Law focuses on employee collective action (e.g., union organizing and collective bargaining), with an emphasis on federal law governing the private sector (with some references to public sector developments). Employment Discrimination addresses federal protections against discrimination on statutorily prohibited grounds (e.g., race, gender, religion, age, disability). Employment Law covers the common-law rights and obligations inherent in the employment relationship, as well as a range of statutory schemes establishing minimum employment standards. Employee Benefits Law, a field with both taxation and employment law dimensions, focuses on federal regulation of employer-provided retirement and health benefits. The Civil Litigation – Employment Law Clinic offers hands-on and conceptual training in the litigation of discrimination cases and minimum wage and overtime cases. Other seminar and clinical offerings relevant to particular industry or practice area interests are also periodically available.

Find out more about Labor and Employment Law at NYU Law.

Other Individual Course Learning Outcomes

Labor Law (LAW-LW.11933)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1)), specifically:

1. the historical development of U.S. labor law and the institutional and political forces that shaped the current regime.
2. the statutory framework of the National Labor Relations Act, including its structure, purposes, and the jurisdiction and role of the National Labor Relations Board.
3. the legal processes governing union organizing, including representation elections, card-check recognition, and employer and union conduct regulated under Section 8.
4. the legal framework governing collective bargaining, including the scope of mandatory, permissive, and illegal subjects of bargaining, and the statutory duty to bargain in good faith.
5. the law governing weapons of economic conflict, including strikes, picketing, lockouts, and secondary activity, and the statutory and common-law limits on each.
6. the law governing grievance arbitration, including the enforceability of arbitration agreements, judicial deference to arbitral awards, and the relationship between arbitration and NLRB proceedings.
7. preemption doctrine under the NLRA and federal antitrust law, and its interaction with state law.
8. the Railway Labor Act as an alternative federal labor relations regime, including points of contrast with the NLRA.
9. various proposals to amend labor law.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3)), specifically, the ability:

1. to analyze and apply NLRA principles and NLRB/judicial precedent to novel fact patterns involving organizing campaigns, bargaining disputes, and economic conflict.
2. to critically evaluate the policy rationales underlying collective labor law, including the balance struck between employer, union, and individual worker interests.
3. to assess the effectiveness of the current U.S. labor law regime in light of changing economic conditions, evolving forms of worker organization, and union strategies, and to evaluate proposed reforms to amend labor law.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

1. The ability to engage in comparative legal analysis by evaluating labor law systems of other countries and analyzing labor issues arising in the context of foreign trade.
2. The ability to communicate legal analysis effectively in written and oral form, including the capacity to counsel clients or stakeholders on strategic and legal considerations arising in union organizing, bargaining, and labor disputes.

Employment Law (LAW-LW.10259)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1)), specifically:

1. the threshold definitions of "employee" and "employer," and the legal tests used to distinguish employees from independent contractors and joint employers.
2. the common law of the employment relationship, including the employment-at-will default rule and its public policy and implied-contract exceptions, relevant tort doctrines, employee duties of loyalty and confidentiality and the enforceability of post-employment restraints such as non-compete and non-solicitation agreements.
3. federal and state employment discrimination law, including the statutory frameworks, elements of claims and defenses, preemption and procedural issues.
4. the constitutional rights of [public] employees.
5. federal statutory regulation of wages, hours, and workplace conditions, including aspects of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, ERISA, the WARN Act, and family and medical leave laws.
6. state-level regulation of employment, including workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance schemes and laws governing workplace privacy.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3)), including the ability to:

1. analyze and apply employment law principles to novel fact patterns arising at each stage of the employment relationship, from hiring through discharge and post-employment restrictions.
2. to critically evaluate and compare competing models of employment regulation — contract, statutory regulation, litigation, and arbitration — and to assess their comparative effects on achievement of statutory goals, work life, labor markets, and society.
3. to evaluate current reform proposals in employment law and to assess their likely effects on employers, employees, and the broader regulatory landscape.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

1. The ability to identify practical compliance obligations facing employers under applicable employment statutes and to advise on active steps required to meet those obligations while achieving the firm’s business goals.
2. The ability to identify which employment law issues are commonly litigated, understand the procedural mechanisms through which they are resolved (including administrative agency processes, litigation, and arbitration), and communicate this analysis effectively in written and oral form.