About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

35 Lab. & Emp. L. 1 (2006-2007)

handle is hein.journals/laboemplo35 and id is 1 raw text is: Claiming that no substantive pat- tern is obvious in the decisions of the raonstituted Supreme Court n Secretary Robert Rabin detects a subtle shift' toward pragmatism in the Court s direction concerning statutory interpretation from its labor and employment de- cisions durig the 2005-2006 term Presenting the Section secretary s lecture on the Supreme Court term at the AIAAnnual Meeting's plenary session, Rabin, a professor at Syra- cuse University School of Law, ob- served that the departures of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Jus- tice Sandra Day 0 Connor- whom he described as strong textual- ists- and their replacement by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Auito may have brought about a Court that takes a less literal and more contextual approach to statutory interpretation. Rabin focused his review on three employment decisions, two of which turned on statutory con- struction. I , Inc. v. Alvarez. In this case the Court examined Section 4(a) of the Portal-to-Portal Act in consider- ing whether the time employees at a food-processing plant spent walk- ing between the place where they don and doff their protective gear and the assembly line was compen- sable under the Fair Labor Stan- dards Act. In an opinion that took into account the plain text of the statute as well as the public policy considerations underlying its en- actment, the Court unanimously concluded that, because donning and doffing equipment were inte- gral to the job, they were principal activities as defined by the act. Therefore, the time it took the em- ployees to get to the assembly line after donning the equipment and to return from the assembly line at the end of their shift before doffing the equipment was compensable. From his review of the oral argu- ment as well as the decision, Rabin found no hint of a rift between the textcial and contextual approaches to statutory interpretation. Rather, you find nine highly skilled techni- cians trying to figure out the mean- ing of a complex statute, taking into account whatever tools seem helpful. None of the justices sug- gested that the text should be given controlling weight or that the justices should pay no attention to policy considerations. Burlintn Northern & Santa Fe y v. White. Rabin suggested that the Court used a similar ap- proach in this case. The Court con- sidered Title ViI's anti-retaliation provision, Section 704(a), which generally forbids discrimination against an employee because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by Section 703(a) of the act, which prohibits discrimination against an employee with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The plaintiff employee was sus- pended for more than a month and reassigned after filing an Equal Em- ployment Opportunity Commis- sion charge. Her employer, which later rescinded the suspension and afforded her backpay, argued that retaliation claims should be limit- ed to the specific forms of discrimi- nation prohibited by Section 703(a) It maintained that the em- ployee could not bring a retaliation claim because she did not suffer a change in her compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. In an 8-i decision written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the Court held that the limiting language in Section 703(a) does not apply to continued on page 10 LIEII FALL 2006 VOLUME 35, NUMBER 1 Section of Labor and Employment Law American 8at Association mp__ Rabin Finds Pragmatism in Court's Approach

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most