LABR 251: “Know Your California Workplace Rights”
(An Introduction to Labor and Employment Law – Online Class)

This class provides students with an overview of labor and employment law in the State of California. These laws will include those applying to minimum wages, overtime wages, vacations, holidays, sick leave, as well as workplace injuries, disabilities, discrimination, sex harassment, and so on. There will also be an overview of important national workplace laws as they impact on the California employee; for example, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This course seeks to demystify the law, and to provide students with an understanding of the most important laws regulating the workplace in California.

The goal of this class is to introduce students to our State’s laws and our legal system– to become familiar with laws and how they are written and enforced – we will start by learning about our legal system, and then we will turn to particular laws and what they say and how they are enforced.

This course may serve as an introduction not only to Labor Studies; it may also prove interesting and useful to anyone considering law, criminal justice, and related fields, as their major field of studies. It is also useful to any student who has a job in the State of California, since it will teach them their legal rights in their workplace.

Required Text: David Rosenfeld, Miles Locker, and Nina Fendel, California Workers’ Rights (University of California Press, 2011), and Supplement. This book (which is orange) and its 2013 Update (which is blue) are both available in the SFSU Bookstore, for $42.50. But it is very strongly recommended that you buy it online, and download the “e-book” version, which is available for $30.00, at www.laborcenter.berkeley.edu. This book can be read on ipads, nooks, sony readers, kobos, and e-reading apps like Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions…but NOT Amazon Kindles, although software like Calibre can be used to make it Kindle-readable. This $30.00 may be the best $30.00 you will spend for a textbook, because it will help you figure out if you are being paid correctly at work, whether you get the breaks, leaves, and rights you are entitled to, and because you can keep it for years after you leave SFSU and use it in future workplaces.

Lectures: The entire course is ONLINE. ONLINE all the time, 24/7 – you can do each week’s assignments at any time during the week – early in the morning, during the day, late at night; whatever works for you. Each week of the course (16 in all, 17 if Break Week is included) is contained in one “block” on the course’s iLearn web page. Each week, there will be a series of lecture videos and quizzes after each video. There will also be some readings and other videos on the iLearn page. There will also be quizzes after each of these. Each “block” should be completed each week. Each “block” will be open one week, and only one week. Once it closes, it does not “re-open” – no exceptions. No matter what “special circumstances” are pled, there will be no “re-opening” of any weekly block, nor any quiz. And there will be no “extra credit.” This is the only way to be fair and non-discriminatory and to treat every student the same way – each will have exactly the same one-week opportunity to complete the week’s class work.

There are no “live in person” classes. You do not need to appear on campus to attend this course. You can do all the coursework – all lectures, all readings, all videos, and all quizzes, without ever appearing on campus. This makes this class particularly of interest to students who do not have ready and easy access to the campus.

Disability Policy Statement: Students with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor. The Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC) is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process. The DPRC is located in the Student Service Building and can be reached by telephone (voice/TTY 415-338-2472) or by email (dprc@sfsu.edu).

Schedule of Class Topics

Class One: Introduction to Our Legal System

Useful Reading: Rosenfeld et al., California Workers’ Rights (hereafter “CWR”), Chapter One

Class Two: Wage & Hour Law ( Part One)

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 4.

Class Three: Wage & Hour Law (Part Two)

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 4.

Class Four: Wage & Hour Law (Conclusion)

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 4.

Class Five: Privacy (Part One)

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 12.

Class Six: Privacy (Part Two).

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 3.

Class Seven: Anti-Discrimination Law (Part One)

Useful Reading, CWR, Chapter 6.

Class Eight: Anti-Discrimination Law (Part Two)

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 6.

Class Nine: One Week Break

Useful Reading: A good novel of your choice.

Class Ten: Sex Harassment

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 6.

Class Eleven: Workers’ Compensation Law/Workplace Injuries.

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 8.

Class Twelve: Workers’ Compensation & FMLA

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 5.

Class Thirteen: Leaves of Absence (Paid & Unpaid)

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 5.

Class Fourteen: Californians With Disabilities Act.

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 6.

Class Fifteen: Pensions.

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 5.

Class Sixteen: Health Care Reform.

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 5.
Class Seventeen: Immigration & the Workplace; Terminations.

Useful Reading: CWR, Chapter 10.

Grades:

There will be several quizzes each week. Different quiz questions are worth different amounts of points. They are worth from one to five points; you can determine what each question is worth by looking to the left of the question where it says “marks.”

You MUST do every single quiz. You MUST do the quizzes during the week they are open. There will be a total of over 1000 points in all. Your grade will be determined in this way: the total number of points is the denominator; the number of points you get correct is the numerator; the fraction this creates is translated into a percentage, and that percentage is your grade – 90 to 100% is some kind of A; 80 to 90% is some kind of B; 70 to 80% is some kind of C; and 60 to 70% is some kind of D. No student who does all the quizzes has yet failed this course; only failing to do the work results in less than 60% correct. (Example: if there were 1000 points, and you got 900 points right, you would have 900/1000 which is 90%.)
QUIZZES ARE NEVER RE-0PENED. THERE IS NO EXTRA CREDIT. THIS IS THE BEST WAY I KNOW TO TREAT ALL STUDENTS EQUALLY – YOU ALL HAVE THE SAME CHANCE TO DO THE WORK; NO SPECIAL FAVORS OF RE-OPENING OR EXTRA CREDIT NO MATTER WHAT – THAT IS NOT FAIR TO ALL OTHER STUDENTS. SO PLEASE DON’T BOTHER TO ASK.

Short writing assignment: You will complete one short paper, maximum 2 single pages in length, describing a case of unlawful discrimination. Once you learn what discrimination is unlawful (and what is lawful), you should talk to friends, relatives, fellow students, strangers -- find someone who has a story from their workplace about discrimination against them, and then you will write that up – you will tell: First, the facts: who/what/where/when/why – just tell the story; Second, set forth the “prima facie” elements of the plaintiff’s case; Third, set forth the employer’s business justification for the alleged wrongful act; Fourth, tell if/why the business justification is just a pretext; Fifth, based on all that, state whether you think the discrimination was lawful or unlawful, and if unlawful, what a good remedy might be.

Two pages – whatever spacing you want, whatever font you want, whatever margins you want – the key is the content, not the format.

This paper will be worth 50 points – turn it in, you get 50 points; do not turn it in, you get 0 points. Period.

And, as will all other assignments, it MUST be on time; once the due date closes, it stays closed. Everyone has exactly the same chance to succeed.