The tragic loss in a West Virginia coal mine of 12 miners last week reminds us that there still are workers in America who risk their lives on a daily basis to produce those things that we cannot live without. Although coal mines, and the workplace in general, are more safe today than in generations …
Heartbreaking Miners’ Story Reminds Us Not All Workers are Safe Read More »
It’s the holiday season, where you can read all kinds of heart-warming stories designed to make you feel all warm, fuzzy, and generous inside. However, if you’re an American worker, there isn’t that much good news around right now: a New York City transit strike, massive corporate layoffs among former industry leaders, and an increasing …
Peace and Good Will Towards Workers: It Starts at Home Read More »
The headline for a column in Monday’s Des Moines Register says it all: Rethink entrusting health care, pensions to corporations. It’s starting to sound like something we need to revisit, considering the states of both the health care and pension systems. However, if employers stop being the primary source of health care and retirement benefits, …
Should Corporations Be Responsible for Health Care and Pensions? Read More »
Fed up with the commercialism of the holiday season? Want to make sure your purchases go toward helping workers, rather than exploiting them? While we can’t wave a wand and make all of the excesses of this time of year go away, we have some suggestions for making a difference with your holiday shopping, if …
You might think that employers these days are way too subtle to fire a female employee for getting pregnant, and admitting to that as the reason. But you’d be wrong, especially as it relates to Catholic schools. The latest in what has been a string of cases involving female teachers at Catholic institutions is unlikely …
Get Pregnant. Lose Your Job. Welcome to Catholic School Reality. Read More »
In a case that perhaps attracted more attention than usual because it was Chief Justice Roberts’ first oral argument and participation in an opinion, workers recently scored a unanimous Supreme Court victory in the case of IBP v. Alvarez. While workers probably shouldn’t expect too many unanimous victories from the Roberts Court, once in a …
Workers Win Their First Case Before the Roberts Court Read More »
The retail juggernaut known as Wal-Mart is not having a very easy time of it these days. Reeling from the release of some very damaging internal memos, and gearing up to combat a new documentary that chronicles Wal-Mart’s role in bringing down wages and working conditions, the company has been forced to establish a PR …
Goliath is Reeling: Not a Good Time to Be Wal-Mart Read More »
Loyalty to your employer used to be one of the most important values that any employee could have, and no one can deny the role it has always played in career advancement. And until as recently as last week, you might have been forgiven for thinking that it was one of the values held most …
Loyalty: Not What It Used to Be, But is Washington to Blame? Read More »
What do the band U2 and the movie North Country have in common? Even when you count lead singer Bono’s commitment to social consciousness, the answer is not that much, except for the fact that I saw them both in the past week. But after having one of U2’s most recent hits embedded in my …
North Country: Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own Read More »
We all want to figure out how to do more work in less time. Why is that? In days past, it meant you were a more valuable employee, and could expect more wages and advancement. Now, it may mean that you want to spend more time with your family, or have room for a social …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
