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Labor & Employment Law Research Guide

Introduction

This guide is intended as a starting point for research in U.S. federal labor and employment law at Georgetown Law Library. It includes both primary and secondary materials, in both print and electronic formats. Labor and employment law covers employment discrimination, disability law, employee benefits, labor arbitration, labor relations, workplace health and safety.

Treatises, Looseleafs, Casebooks, etc.

Books can be useful places to start your research. You can find a discussion of the law and citations to leading cases and relevant regulations. To locate books (both in print and electronic) on your topic, search Gulliver, the library catalog. For tips on effective search strategies, read our GULLiver guide. A keyword search is usually the best way to start your search for legal treatises. If you want to search by subject heading, try the following subject headings:

  • Labor Laws and Legislation - United States
  • United States National Labor Relations Board
  • Arbitration, Industrial - United States
  • Wages - United States
  • Hours of Labor - United States
  • Discrimination in Employment - Law and Legislation - United States
  • Age and Employment - United States
  • Affirmative Action Programs - Law and Legislation - United States
  • Industrial Safety - Law and Legislation - United States
  • Industrial Hygiene - Law and Legislation - United States

Here are some general works on labor and employment law:

  • Employment Law, Mark A. Rothstein (Hornbook Series)

    KF3455 .E4681 2005 

  • Employment Law, Mark A. Rothstein (Practitioner Treatise Series)
    KF3455 .E468 2009
  • Employment Law in a Nutshell, Robert N. Covington
    KF3455.Z9 C68 2009
  • Labor and Employment Law, N. Peter Lareau

    KF3319 .L37 2003   

    Available on Lexis  

    This is the most detailed treatise on labor law.

  • Labor Law in a Nutshell, Douglas L. Leslie
    KF3369.3 L39 2008
  • Labor Law: Cases and Materials, Archibald Cox et al.
    KF3318 .C6 2006
  • CCH Labor Relations
    Available on Westlaw (CCH-LRR) and CCH IntelliConnect
    Compilation of the laws and regulations as well as explanation and analysis in the fields of labor relations, employment regulations, wages, hours, and more.

For books on specific topics within Labor and Employment Law, check relevant sections of this guide.

While Georgetown Law Library has an excellent collection of treatises and journals on labor and employment law, there are some specialized materials that may not be available at Georgetown or books that you need may be checked out. To search for books held by thousands of libraries from across the country, search WorldCat. Items that you locate on WorldCat can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

Journal Articles

For recent articles, online sources are the most effective. You can use Lexis or Westlaw, for the full text of many (but NOT all) law journals, or you can use online indexes from the Library's homepage to get citations for articles in just about all legal journals. For more information on how to find journal articles, consult our research guide Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research or our Law Reviews Tutorial"".

If you need an article from a journal that the Library does not have, contact the Reference Desk. We can help you find a library that does have it. You can also request the article on Interlibrary Loan.

Major Labor and Employment Law Journals

  • Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law
    K2 .E74 (Vol. 14-31:1 (1993-2010))
    Hein Online - full coverage from vol. 1, 1976
    Lexis - BJELL - coverage from vol. 14, 1993
    Westlaw - BERKJELL - selective coverage from vol. 6 (1984) and full coverage from vol. 15 (1994)
  • Employee Relations Law Journal
    K5 .M64 (from vol. 1, 1975-76)
  • Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal
    F5 .M653 (from vol. 1, 1997)
    Lexis - EREPJ - coverage from Fall 1997
    Westlaw - EREPJ - full coverage from vol. 1 (1997)
  • Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal (continues Hofstra Labor Law Journal)
    K8 .O443 (Vol. 15-27 (1997-2010))
    Hein Online - full coverage from vol. 15 (Hofstra Labor Law Journal coverage from vol. 2-14)
    Lexis - HLABLJ - coverage from vol. 11 (Fall 1993)
    Westlaw - HOFLELJ - selective coverage from vol. 2 (1984) and full coverage from vol. 10 (1993)
  • Industrial and Labor Relations Review
    K9 .N35 (from vol. 1, 1947-48)
    Hein Online - full coverage from vol. 1, 1947
    Lexis - INDLRR - coverage from January 1997
    Westlaw - INDLRR - selective coverage from vol. 44 (1991) and full coverage from vol. 47 (1994)
  • CCH Labor Law Journal
    K12 .A2 (from 1949-2008 (Vol. 1-59:3))
    Westlaw - CCH-LLJRNL
    CCH IntelliConnect (Vol. 49:7, 1998 - )
  • University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law
    K25 .N683 (Vol. 1-9 (1998-2007))
    Hein Online -full coverage from vol. 1, Fall 1998
    Lexis - UPAJLE - coverage from vol. 1, Fall 1998
    Westlaw - UPAJLEL - full coverage from vol. 1, 1998

Federal Legislation

US Code

Proposed Federal Legislation

  • Thomas (for the full text and status of pending and recently enacted legislation, try a word search in the current Congress) Thomas Tutorial ""
  • Lexis (Legal > Legislation & Politics-U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Full Text Bills - Current Congress)
  • Westlaw (US-BILLTRK)
  • CongressDaily
  • CQ Weekly

For more information on statutory research, see our Statutes Research Guide or Statutory Research Tutorial"".

Federal Legislative History

For many federal labor & employment laws, there are compiled legislative histories available in the Library. These compilations usually include bills, Congressional Record debates, reports and hearings. To find a compiled legislative history, try a keyword search in the Gulliver. You could search for "labor and legislative history". To learn more about legislative history, read our Legislative History Research Guide or watch our Legislative History Tutorial"". In addition to our research guide and tutorial, good starting places for legislative history research include:

Agencies

Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations

  • Print CFR - KF70 .A3
  • Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Labor & Employment > Find Stautes & Regulations > CFR and Federal Register - Labor Titles)
  • Westlaw (FLB-CFR) - Federal Labor & Employment - Code of Federal Regulations
  • FDsys
  • e-CFR

Federal Register

  • Print Federal Register - KF70 .A2
  • Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Labor & Employment > Find Statutes & Regulations > CFR and Federal Register - Labor Titles)
  • Westlaw (FLB-FR) - Federal Labor & Employment - Federal Register
  • FDsys

For more information on researching federal regulations, see our Administrative Law Research Guide or Administrative Law Tutorial"".

Court Decisions

  • Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Labor & Employment > Find Cases > Labor & Employment Cases, Federal & State (can choose just federal or state as well)
  • Westlaw (FLB-CS) including Supreme Court cases (FLB-SCT), Courts of Appeals Cases (FLB-CTA), and District Court cases (FLB-DCT)
  • BNA Labor and Employment Law Library

For more information on finding court decisions, see our Case Law Research Guide and Case Law Tutorial"".

Forms and Guidelines

For more information on locating forms, including forms related to labor and employment law, see our Legal Forms Research Guide.

Facts

For more information on finding facts and statistics, including labor and employment statistics, see our Statistics and Empirical Legal Studies Research Guide.

Labor Relations - Private Sector

Major Legislation

  • National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
  • Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)
  • Labor Management Cooperation Act
  • Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (Landrum-Griffin Act)

Agencies

  • National Labor Relations Board
    The Web site provides access to NLRB rules and regulations, decisions, press releases, forms, manuals and other publications.

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Awareness, etc.

  • Federal Labor Law: NLRB Practice (KF3372 .M65) (print cancelled in 2009)
    Also available on Westlaw (FEDNLRB)
    Looseleaf treatise containing forms; annual supplements

  • CCH Labor Relations
    Available on Westlaw (CCH-LRR) and CCH IntelliConnect

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

  • Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board ( KF3372 .A55) (1936 - )

  • National Labor Relations Board
    Search or browse decisions on the NLRB website.

  • Court Decisions Relating to the National Labor Relations Act (KF3360 .A2) (1939-1986)
    Also available on HeinOnline

  • CCH IntelliConnect (1960 -)
    Also available in print in CCH NLRB Decisions (KF3362 .A2 C6) (1960-2007)

  • Labor Cases (KF3310 .A2) (1937-2007, title ceased)
    A selective reporter of decisions rendered by federal and state courts.

  • BNA Labor and Employment Law Library
    NLRB decisions from September 1984 - .

  • LexisNexis: Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Labor & Employment > Find Administrative Materials > Federal > National Labor Relations Board Decisions (1971 - )

  • Westlaw (FLB-NLRB) (1935 -)
    NLRB decisions from 1935 - and ALJ decisions from 1990 - .

Labor Relations - Public Sector

Major Legislation

Agencies

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Awareness, etc.

  • Public Sector Employment: Cases and Materials (2d ed. 2011) (KF3409.P77 G76)

  • BNA's Government Employee Relations Report
    Available electronically via BNA (1996 - ) and in print (KF3365 .B95) (1964-2006)

  • CCH Labor Relations
    Available on Westlaw (CCH-LRR) and CCH IntelliConnect



Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Labor Arbitration

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Awareness, etc.

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Discrimination

Major Legislation

Agencies

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Awareness, etc.

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Wage and Hour

Major Legislation

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Wareness, etc.

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

OSHA

Major Legislation

Treatises

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Other Useful Web Sites

Revised 12/2007 (MK)
Updated 3/2011 (MS)

Page last saved 23-Sep-2011