Courses

    This seminar will study basic principles and controversial questions in employment discrimination law and theory. Our goal will be twofold: First, to understand the way the American legal system has dealt with a particular problem (e.g., how to define "discrimination"); and second, to critique the U.S. perspective by comparing it with similar protections against workplace bias found in other countries. We will frame the issues by examining U.S. federal statutes -- primarily Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act -- and studying recent decisions by American courts interpreting these statutes. We will then review codes, cases, and admininistrative pronouncements from other nations to gain insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the American approach. In engaging in this comparative analysis, we will encounter laws, remedies, and enforcement schemes from a diverse array of countries, including Canada, India, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, and Turkey. NOTE: This seminar is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of either U.S. or foreign law, but it will address a wide variety of fundamental and emerging topics in this field. The seminar will be co-taught by attorneys who have litigated many of the issues we will discuss. There are no prerequisites for this course, but we do encourage students with prior knowledge of domestic or foreign employment law to enroll. Grades will be based primarily on an open-book examination and class participation.