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Safeguarding the Public: Why Workers’ Rights Education Should Be Required Learning for Nurses
Get PDFNurses are integral to the delivery of quality health care in this country. They set aside their own needs and fears to provide care and other social services to people across a multitude of settings, taking on the burdens and stresses of others. However, our profit-driven health care system incentivizes employers to maximize productivity at reduced costs by asking nurses to do more with less. Nurses are expected to endure harsh working conditions, proven to be harmful to the nurses’ health and well-being, despite evidence showing that poor working conditions can lead to poor patient outcomes.
There are numerous worker protection laws designed to empower nurses, as workers in this country, to advocate for better working conditions. Yet, despite the inextricable link between poor working conditions and compromised patient safety, licensing bodies do not require nurses to understand their rights in the workplace. This has resulted in a nursing workforce that is woefully unprepared to deal with the adverse working conditions that are naturally borne from our profit-driven health care system. Thus, this Article argues that, as a public health and safety measure, workers’ rights education should be required for nursing licensure
Blurring the Line Between Student and Employee: Exploitation of For-Profit College Students
Get PDFFor decades, for-profit colleges throughout the United States have exploited their students through a predatory business model. In February 2022, the Education Department approved $415 million in borrower defense claims for nearly 16,000 students who attended for-profit schools finding that these schools misrepresented post-graduation employment prospects. For-profit colleges also use manipulative recruitment tactics such as targeted advertising of low-income and minority students and providing false information to prospective students about loan repayment obligations post-graduation. Some for-profit institutions also rely on student labor in their facilities rather than hiring paid employees. This review discusses why it is imperative that courts scrutinize the tactics used by for-profit institutions when faced with a Fair Labor Standards Act claim
Baby, We Were Born This Way: The Case for Making Sexual Orientation a Suspect Classification Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Get PDFCurrently, the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides minimal constitutional safeguards against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Laws that treat queer Americans differently than their straight counterparts are presumptively constitutional if those laws bear a rational relationship to any legitimate government interest. Consequently, states may limit same-goods and services of certain businesses, and qualify for government programs. The Supreme Court established enhanced equal protection guarantees for classifications based on race, ethnicity, and national origin which are deemed suspect classifications. These classifications will only survive judicial review if the government proves the law is necessary to achieve a compelling government interest. Classifications based on race, ethnicity, or national origin rarely meet this high legal burden, making it nearly impossible for states to discriminate based on these protected categories. However, the Supreme Court has never extended these protections to any other category of people, despite having ample opportunity to do so.
To achieve suspect classification status, the Court will ask whether the particular group “(1) constitutes a discrete and insular minority; (2) has suffered a history of discrimination; (3) is politically powerless; (4) is defined by an immutable trait; and (5) is defined by a trait that is generally irrelevant to one’s ability to function in society.”1 Sexual orientation meets all five categories based on the LGBTQ+ community’s longstanding history of oppressive government laws and regulations, inability to exert significant power through the democratic process, and the inability of a person’s sexual orientation to change. This Note argues that the Court must now extend enhanced constitutional protections to queer communities as the pillars of equal protection jurisprudence demand it
Compulsory Licensing of Patents in Times of Public Health Emergency
Get PDFIn March 2020, the United States shut down to avoid the continued spread of the COVID-19 virus as it spread globally. In December 2020, the first COVID-19 vaccines were granted emergency usage authorization in the United States. Wealthy nations were able to quickly purchase and hoard vaccines for public distribution, leaving many third-world countries and developing nations struggling to continue to survive the pandemic without vaccination.
Compulsory licensing should be allowed on otherwise patented or patentable new technology in times of global health emergency, regardless of which entity creates the technology. This will enable governments of countries spanning all wealth levels to manufacture and distribute technology without the obstacles of the high cost of paying the full royalty rate to the patent owner or an excessive wait period while the patent’s monopoly period runs
Theft, Extortion, and the Constitution: Land Use Practice Needs an Ethical Infusion
Get PDFThere are many ways in which property owners/developers interact with regulators. To the extent that texts and articles deal with the ethical duties of the regulators, they tend to focus on things like conflicts of interest. But there is more. This article will examine numerous other ways in which regulators may run afoul of ethical practice in dealing with those whom they regulat
This Aggression Will Not Stand, Schools: The Need for Federal Legislation Protecting Bullied Students with Disabilities
Get PDFA boy with Autism comes home from school, visibly upset. His parents ask him why, and he responds that nobody in his class likes him. To his parents’ horror, they learn that their son’s teacher encouraged a class discussion about why they dislike their son. When the boy’s parents complain to the school about this issue, school administrators brush it aside. The next day, students sitting near the boy move their desks away from him and taunt him for the way he acts every time he tries to socialize with them. The boy then refuses to go to school each morning, and his grades plummet. Students continue to tease the boy, feeling as if their teacher gave them permission to do so. When the boy’s parents go back to the principal looking for a solution, they are again dismissed. With no remedy in sight and unable to afford a private school, the boy’s parents feel that they have no other choice but to keep the child in the school, where his grades and mental health continue to take a toll.
The aforementioned vignette illustrates aspects of real-life scenarios faced by students with disabilities who experience bullying. While current legal remedies are available to mitigate the effects of bullying, they fall short of protecting students with disabilities. A cohesive piece of legislation is needed to provide students with disabilities uniform protections and rights when they experience bullying
Modification Requests in Community Associations: Do We Know What’s Reasonable?
Get PDFThe Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) as well as the New York State Human Rights Law (“HRL”) provide, inter alia, that qualifying individuals shall be granted reasonable modifications or accommodations to afford such individuals either full enjoyment of the premises or an equal opportunity to enjoy their dwelling, respectively. Both laws likely extend to common areas of the development but arrive at this protection in different ways. Namely, through the FHA’s implementing rules (“Rules”) and with guidance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), courts have easily interpreted the FHA to extend to common areas but stop short at expecting the community to pay for modifications. However, the HRL is less explicit, and at least one court has held that it does not even apply to condominiums or homeowners associations. This article will briefly explain the significance of the community association governing documents and the business judgment rule within the context of reasonable modifications and discrimination. It will analyze whether modifications and accommodations are viewed as mutually exclusive; discuss general rights and obligations under the FHA and HRL concerning modifications to common areas. Furthermore, it will also address the application of the modification requirement to condominium and homeowners associations; explore some relevant case law; and examine the reasonableness standard