Alyssa Rosen serves as the Electronic Services and Reference librarian at the Stetson University College of Law. She holds a law degree from New York University School of Law and a Masters of Library Service degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Ms. Rosen can be contacted at: [email protected]. This guide updates the one dated April 1, 1998 by Michael Dahn.
The Internet offers the researcher interested in labor and employment law a variety of free information on this topic. This guide will help you find such material quickly and easily. Please note that this guide covers only free Internet resources. While many labor and employment law materials are available over the Internet for a fee, this guide does not cover fee-based resources. The following outlines the resources presented:
COMPREHENSIVE LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW PAGES
Comprehensive sites offer one-stop shopping for links to labor and employment law resources on the Internet. These sites generally consist of a list of links to sites that may contain substantive information of assistance to your labor/employment law research.
Labor Law Resources at FindLaw
FindLaw divides its labor and employment law resources into the following major categories: Databases, Government Agencies, Journals, Newsletters and Articles, Laws and Government Documents, Other Discussion Groups, Outlines, and Software. Also, Findlaw’s main labor law page provides an extensive listing of labor law resources, such as a listing of labor and employment law attorneys and law firms, as well as expert witnesses.
I. The Databases section contains a list of links to sites offering statistical data helpful to a labor/employment law researcher, such as labor market information from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor statistics, disability statistics, employee benefits survey data, etc.
II. The Government Agencies section provides a list of U.S. government agencies that would be relevant to the labor law researcher. (If you don’t find the agency you’re looking for, try FirstGov or Federal Web Locator).
III. The Journals, Newsletters, and Articles section lists many articles on labor law topics from law firm Web sites or other reliable sources.
IV. The Laws and Government Documents section contains links to much of the U.S. federal primary law material that is available on the Internet, including links to Title 29 of the U.S. Code, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the OSHA Act of 1970. Unfortunately this site does not provide links to NLRB or FLRA decisions.
V. Other Discussion Groups section includes a fairly active message board on employment matters, access to Labor Net (online communication center for the labor movement), as well as variety of labor/employment related mailing lists and Usenet Groups.
VI. The Outlines section contains a collection of law school labor/employment class outlines, as well as links to several past law school exams given on this subject.
VII. The Software section provides links to several software programs that might be of interest to the labor law practitioner.
Hieros Gamos Guide to Employment Law
The Hieros Gamos divides its guide into the following primary sections regarding labor/employment law:
I. The U.S. section includes links to federal government resources, courts and cases, and state law resources.
II. The Supranational Organizations section provides links to the U.N., the European Union, GATT and NAFTA websites.
III. The National Regimes section provides excellent links to non-U.S. national labor/employment sources.
IV. The Other Resources section has links to miscellaneous sites covering various labor/employment issues.
V. The Publications section provides links to both Internet and non-Internet publications on labor/employment issues.
VI. The Associations Involved With Employment Law, Other Hieros Gamos Related Information, and Online Commercial Case Services (links to Lexis and Westlaw) sections.
Labor Law Materials from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute
Cornell’s LII site provides a well-organized and easy to use guide to labor law. The site features an excellent introductory overview to labor law in an essay entitled “labor: an overview.” The rest of the site focuses on U.S. federal and state primary materials such as statutes and case law. The site contains a small amount of international materials (limited to human rights treaties), as well as links to related labor/employment materials such as federal agencies and labor union sites.
OTHER RECOMMENDED COMPREHENSIVE LABOR/EMPLOYMENT SITES
U.S. Department of Labor, How to Comply with Department of Labor Laws & Regulations, http://www.dol.gov/dol/regs/main.htm.
Saint Louis University School of Law’s Selected Internet Resources in Employment Law and Policy. This site provides links to federal and state sources, as well as commentary and newsletter links.
WWW Virtual Library: Law: Labor and Employment Law (sponsored by Indiana University School of Law) The site’s links are listed in alphabetical order, but a search feature allows you to search terms in link names and their descriptions.
CataLaw’s Labour and Employment Law Guide. CataLaw’s site includes multinational and foreign labor law sites, in addition to U.S. sites, which are divided into the following areas: employment benefits, comprehensive legal sites, discrimination, and workers compensation.
Emory Law Library’s Electronic Reference Desk: Employment and Labor Law Links. Emory’s site provides links to labor law journals, labor organization (an extensive list), and research guides.
WashLaw Web’s Employment & Labor Law Guide. This guide breaks down a relatively small number of links into two groups: governmental Internet resources, and non-governmental Internet resources.
E.B. Williams Law Library (Georgetown University Law Center): Employment and Labor Law Guide. A short but diverse list of links to labor law resources containing primary government materials, other government resources, associations/organizations, as well as journals, newsletters and publications.
INDIVIDUAL LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW SITES
I. Government Sites
NLRB Home Page
Aside from general information about the National Labor Relations Board, you will find summaries of recent NLRB decisions in addition to the actual NLRB decisions (from 1984 to present). Decisions are posted in Adobe PDF, text format, or both. A very useful feature of the site is that the decisions are searchable.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
This cornucopia of statistical information regarding labor/employment provides items such as the following: current unemployment rates, consumer price index, and wages. In addition, links to information on demographics, productivity, and publications and research papers can be quite helpful to the legal researcher.
U.S. Department of Labor
This site helps the researcher find information by allowing searches of the site by: topic, audience, form, organization or location. In addition to statistics and news, the site has a useful page devoted to the Minimum Wage. In addition, the elaws page has interactive “advisors” that provide customized information about Federal employment laws to the researcher.
II. Non-Government Sites
Nolo’s Employment Law Center
This site provides an overview of labor/employment law, with everything from legal forms to FAQ’s and news updates. A fantastic resource for the novice legal researcher!
LawMemo.Com
Formerly called “Ross Runkel’s Labor and Employment Law Page” this comprehensive and informative site for labor and employment law has many excellent features. Be sure to check out its “unofficial” NLRB and EEOC Web pages, which provide links to most of the resources at the official pages, as well as links to additional resources not appearing on the official pages. LawMemo also offers frequently updated current labor/employment news headlines, as well as recent relevant articles.
U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding labor and employment law are available going back to 1998, as well as a listing of labor and employment law cases currently on the Supreme Court’s docket. LawMemo provides summaries of these cases, and for most decisions, links to the full-text opinions.
American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Page
At the ABA’s Section of Labor and Employment Law page, you can download the latest issue of Labor and Employment Law News and track the meetings and publications of the Section’s committees.
LaborNet
LaborNet provides global online communication for the labor movement, providing news, articles and other relevant information such as action alerts and email discussion lists.
III. University Sites
Catherwood Library at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations
This site provides a useful labor relations Research and Internet Guide, covering topics such as: Workplace Diversity, E-Commerce, and How Unions Can Use the Internet.
Institute of Industrial Relations (University of California, Berkeley)
In addition to being a guide to Berkeley’s program, this site has some valuable features such as a publications guide and an excellent comprehensive labor research portal.
IV. Selected Union Web Sites
For a complete list of labor union websites, see Cornell’s Catherwood Library’s List of Union Names.
V. Other Helpful Labor/Employment Web Sites
- Employment Law Newsbriefs (Schmeltzer Aptaker & Shepard)
- Federal Labor Relations Authority Decisions
- National Labor Committee Home Page
- The Labor Policy Association
- ACLU Workplace Rights
- LaborNet’s Labor Quotes Page
- National Employment Lawyers Association
- Law.com’s Employment Law Practice Center
- Jurist
Summary
Here’s a quick summary to help you find what you’re looking for quickly:
For an overview of labor law:
For current labor/ employment law related news:
For quick access to U.S. primary labor/employment law materials:
- Labor Law Materials from Cornell LII
- U.S. Department of Labor, How to Comply with Department of Labor Laws & Regulations, http://www.dol.gov/dol/regs/main.htm.
Copyright © 2002 by Alyssa Rosen. All Rights Reserved.