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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 safety and health.

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 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 labor and employment law treatises:

  • Employment Law, Mark A. Rothstein

    KF3455 .E4681 2005 

  • Employment Law in a Nutshell, Robert Covington & Kurt Decker
    KF3455.Z9 C68
  • 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 2000
  • Labor Law: Cases and Materials, Archibald Cox et al.
    KF3318 .C6 2006
  • Labor Law Reporter (CCH)
    KF3365 .C5 L2
    Compilation of the laws and regulations of the states in the fields of labor relations, employment regulations, wages, hours, etc.
  • Labor Relations Reporter (BNA)
    KF3315 .B95, also online

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 a complete guide on how to find journal articles, consult Using Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research on the Law Library web site.

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 ( from vol. 14, 1993)
    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
    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)
  • Labor Law Journal
    K12 .A2 (from vol. 1, 1949-50)
  • University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law
    K25 .N683 (from vol. 1, 1998)
    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)
  • Lexis (Legal > Legislation & Politics-U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Full Text Bills - Current Congress)
  • Westlaw (US-BILLTRK)
  • CongressDaily from the Law Library site
  • CQ.com from the Law Library site

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". For complete legislative history information, read our Legislative History Research Guide. Good starting places for legislative history research include:

  • USCCAN (KF48 .U54) (also available on Westlaw, LH database)
  • CIS Legislative History Indexes (located in Reading Room & Media Services, also available to the GULC community on Lexis/Nexis Congressional.)
  • Thomas (recent legislation only)

Agencies

Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations

Federal Register

  • Current issues - On Reserve at the Circulation Desk (note: older issues are on microfiche/microfilm in Media Services)
  • 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
  • Federal Register on GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

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)
  • Labor and Employment Law Library (BNA) on the Law Library site http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/browse_alpha.cfm#L
  • For links to all federal court home pages, go to http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/.
  • F.Supp, F.Supp.2d, F., F.2d, F.3d, S.Ct, US, L.Ed, L.Ed.2d (Reading Room and 5th Floor)

Forms and Guidelines

Facts

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
    http://www.nlrb.gov/
    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
    Looseleaf treatise containing forms; annual supplements
  • Labor Law Reporter: Labor Relations vols. 1-4 (CCH)
    KF3365 .C5 L2
    Detailed current commentary on the topic generally

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Labor Relations - Public Sector

Major Legislation

Agencies

Treatises

  • Public Sector Employment: Cases and Materials, Joseph R. Grodin, et.al. (KF3409.P77 G76)



Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Labor Arbitration

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Awareness, etc.

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Discrimination (ADA)

Major Legislation

Agencies

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Awareness, etc.

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

  • Americans with Disabilities Cases (BNA), 1993 - (KF3469 .A512)
  • Employment Practices Decisions (CCH), 1971- (KF3464 .A6 E46) - Federal and state court decisions cumulated from Labor Law Reports: Employment Practice "Court Decisions" (KF3464 .A6 C6)
  • Fair Employment Practice Cases (BNA), 1969- (KF3464 .A514); recent cases can be found in Labor Relations Reporter, vol 7 "Fair Employment Practice Cases" and vol. 9 "Individual Employment Rights Cases" (KF3315 .B95)
  • The Digest of Equal Employment Opportunity Law http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/digest.html (from 1998 vol.IX, no.3)
  • Federal Sector Appellate Decisions http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/decisions.html (from July 2000 to January 31, 2003)
  • Labor and Employment Law Library (BNA) from the Law Library site http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/browse_alpha.cfm#L
  • Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Labor & Employment > Administrative Materials & Regulations > Federal > Agency Decisions > Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Private and Public Sector Decisions) , 1935-
  • Westalw (FLB-EEOC), 1989-


Wage and Hour

Major Legislation

Treatises, Looseleafs, Current Wareness, etc.

  • Labor Law Reporter: Wages and Hours vol.1 and 2 (CCH) (KF3365 .C5 L2)
  • Labor Relations Reporter: Wage and Hour Manual vol. 6, 6A (BNA) (KF3315 .B95), also online

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

OSHA

Major Legislation

Judicial and Administrative Decisions

Other Useful Web Sites

Revised 12/2007 (MK)

 

Page last saved 26-Aug-2008