Supreme Court to Tackle Non-Title VII Mixed Motive Standard

4united_states_supreme_court_112904 I was just completing an exam review today with my employment discrimination law students and I noted that they should remember that the old Price Waterhouse standard might still apply to mixed motive cases under Section 1981, the ADEA, ADA, and retaliation claims under Title VII.  The argument is that the Civil Rights of Act of 1991 only applies to Title VII claims and not to the other laws which are not mentioned in the amendment.

Today, the Supreme Court decided to take cert. in the case of Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., No. 08-441 (opinion below: Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. (8th Cir 05/14/2008), which will help decide exactly what standards should apply in a non-Title VII mixed-motive discrimination case.

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European IORP Pension Scheme Still Years Away

Eulogo In our forthcoming case book on Global Issues in Employee Benefits Law, Sam Estreicher (NYU), Rosalind Connor (Jones Day-London), and I write about the emergence of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions (IORPs) in the European Union:

A driver in Europe over recent years has been an attempt to create a single market in employee benefits, particularly pensions.  The recent Pensions Directive (the “IORPs Directive”) and the applications of the draft new insurance directive (“Solvency II”) has been part of a push to make a level playing field.  The Directive grappled with a range of different pension plan structures (UK trust-based plans, Dutch wholly insured plans, German self-funded plans and French government underwritten plans, to name a few) with a view to allowing Belgian employers to employ German employees through an Irish trust based plan, if that is what is wanted.

Apparently, according to Global Pensions, there is still much work to be done:

The European Commission consultation on possible changes to the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) law should not lead to further harmonisation in the current climate, an industry body has warned.

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Professor Fired for Humiliating Students for Plagiarism

Writingcomp From the Daily Texan a couple of weeks ago:

Texas A&M International University in Laredo fired a professor for publishing the names of students accused of plagiarism.

In his syllabus, professor Loye Young wrote that he would “promptly and publicly fail and humiliate anyone caught lying, cheating or stealing.” After he discovered six students had plagiarized on an essay, Young posted their names on his blog, resulting in his firing last week.

“It’s really the only way to teach the students that it’s inappropriate,” he said.

Young, a former adjunct professor of management information systems, said he believes he made the right move. He said trials are public for a reason, and plagiarism should be treated the same way. He added that exposing cheaters is an effective deterrent.

This seems like a shaming method of punishment. Does it actually matter whether it works as an effective deterrent or is the medicine much worse than the disease?

Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog.

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