Employment/Labor Law

Discrimination cases are generally difficult to argue in court. “You need a smoking gun,” said Khiara M. Bridges, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former professional dancer. The array of aesthetic judgments involved in dance casting and hiring scenarios can make them especially difficult to parse.

“The power of police is not just that they have guns and have a high degree of solidarity in their unions,” said UC Berkeley law Professor Catherine Fisk. “The power is the political threat that elected officials feel.”

“There’s only so much the administration can do without action from Congress,” said Catherine L. Fisk, professor of labor and employment law at Berkeley Law. “Expanding the liability chain for businesses that have illegal child labor present in their supply chains would be the best way to tackle the crisis.”

Professor Catherine Fisk, a faculty director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Work, talks with Law360 about why she thinks stronger laws are crucial and a moral imperative.

“If companies are going to be risk-averse going forward, then all of the groups that have benefited from DEI programmes are going to be harmed,” warns Khiara M. Bridges, a professor at UC Berkeley law school.

“Changing the language of a program by itself is not enough to avoid litigation and the design of DEI programs must make clear that there is no racial, gender, religious, or national origin exclusion,” said Professor Catherine Fisk..

“The court opened the door to arguments like Whole Foods’,” said University of California at Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk. “I expect we will see a lot more.”

Berkeley Law Professor Diana Reddy discusses what is behind this “hot labor summer” and whether the promising trends are here to stay.

Negotiating collectively could help boxers reap the benefits that other professional sports players have long enjoyed, said Catherine Fisk, an employment and labor law professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law

Assistant professor at Berkeley Law Diana Reddy said that allegations that fall outside legally protected categories could undermine Lizzo’s body-positive message and “could certainly encourage a settlement.”