Law Courses Catalog

Description: Employment Law I provides an introductory survey of the rapidly evolving law of the workplace. Traditional common law doctrines such as the “Employment At Will” doctrine are first reviewed. The course briefly sketches the background and development during the 1930s and 1940s of the laws relating to collective bargaining as an alternative to the traditional common law system. Civil Service systems are briefly reviewed as well as constitutional protection for public employees. The “status discrimination” laws enacted in the 1960s and 1970s are surveyed including the laws respecting sexual harassment, race, ages, national origin and some other forms of discrimination. The course then takes up “new generation” common law claims such as wrongful discharge, tort, and breach of contract claims that evolved in the 1970s through 1990s. The course then concludes with a brief look at the newest trend to regulate aspects of the workplace relationship by statute. (This later trend is covered more extensively in Employment Law II).