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2026--Opening Remarks and Keynote
Alex Miller, Twinette Johnson, Michael C. Duff, and Michael Z. Green
The scaling back of federal administrative agencies currently being undertaken by the Trump administration carries broad implications for the practice, administration and enforcement of labor and employment law.
At the most fundamental level, the reality of 200,000 fewer federal employees creates a strong likelihood of much less frequent enforcement of federal labor and employment laws. And this drop-off in federal personnel comes amid judicial reconsideration of the constitutionality of the federal statutes and administrative agencies that animate the federal structure.
It is hard not to imagine that all of this rollback will produce federal vacuums. And because nature abhors vacuums these spaces are likely to be filled. Perhaps with state law. Perhaps with new amalgams of federal and state law that will replace the surprising and often underappreciated amalgams that have existed up to now.
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2026 Panel 1 -- Federal & National Obstacles to Labor & Employment Enforcement
Gali Racabi, Jeffrey M. Hirsch, Janine .Martin, and Michael Duff
The panel will discuss issues surrounding federal enforcement of federal law and the extent to which federal law, state law, or national developments could impact that enforcement.
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2026--Panel 2 and Panel 3
Richard Von Glahn, Chris Grant, Jennifer Lee, Robert Bruno, Justin R. Long, Jim Anderson, Samra Cordic, Julie O'Keefe, and Dave Kleim
Panel 2 will discuss local governmental efforts to create employment law and the extent to which state level actors and governments might encourage or frustrate efforts to fill federal enforcement gaps.
Panel 3 will discuss workplace injury remedies and safety and the often misunderstood and hidden ways that federal and state enforcement and administration in these areas interact.
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2024--Revisiting Religion in the Struggle for Workplace Justice
Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley, Janine Giordano Drake, Michael Duff, Dallan Flake, Rev. Darryl G. Gray, Brother Ken Homan S.J., Chaumtoli Huq, Rhona Lyons, César F. Rosado Marzán, Stefan McDaniel, Erin Simmons, and Alvin Velazquez
Dominating the news about the intersection of religion and Worklaw are stories focused on conservative Christian claims of exemptions from a variety of laws designed, mostly, to provide minimum standards to protect vulnerable workers. Often lost in these narratives are perspectives from other religious traditions, even other Christian traditions, on economic and workplace justice, focused on protecting the vulnerable. Over 130 years ago, at the height of the Gilded Age, Pope Leo XIII delivered the first papal encyclical devoted to economic issues and vulnerable workers, Rerum Novarum. In the midst of what has been called a Second Gilded Age, a deeper examination of religious perspectives on workplace justice is needed to support contemporary movements for workplace and broader economic justice.
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2022 (Virtual) Day 1--Health Inequities and Employment: The Continued Struggle for Justice
Ruqaiijah Yearby, Rebecca Cokley, Jennifer Cohen, Yvette Cozier, Tristin Green, Michelle Ceynar, Wendy Greene, Veena Dubal, Catherine Harnois, David H. Chae, Jessica Owens-Young, Caryn Bell, Sari Bilick, Ciearra Walker, Faybra Hemphill, and Maya Hazarika Watts
Employment and health inequities are inextricably linked, which has been illustrated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Essential workers, who are predominately racial and ethnic minorities, have disproportionately been infected, hospitalized, and died from Covid-19. Low-wage women workers have lost jobs and health insurance coverage at higher rates than men during the pandemic, while elderly, disabled, and pregnant workers have often been denied accommodations that would protect them from the workplace exposure of Covid-19. Although federal, state, and local government and public health officials have acknowledged that social conditions, such as housing and education, limit an individual’s ability to be healthy, they have failed to make the connection between employment and health inequities. This two day symposium entitled, Health Inequities and Employment: The Continued Struggle for Justice, will convene workers, scholars, lawyers, and community advocates to not only highlight the connection between employment and health inequities, but also to create a plan for utilizing public health, civil rights, and employment laws to address health inequities. This event is co-sponsored by the Saint Louis University Law Journal, the Wefel Center for Employment Law, and the Institute for Healing Justice and Equity. The proceedings will be published in the Saint Louis University Law Journal.
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2022 (Virtual) Day 2--Health Inequities and Employment: The Continued Struggle for Justice
Jamillah Williams, Andrea G. Baran, Heather Walter-McCabe, William M. Rodgers III, Kenzia Scales, Zulma Torres, Ashley Mosely, Laura Barett, Athena Ramos, Tyra Robinson, César Rosado Marzán, Peggie Smith, Melissa Creary, Ruqaiijah Yearby, Pilar Whitaker, Brenda Lea-Morrison, and Cassandra Gomez
Employment and health inequities are inextricably linked, which has been illustrated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Essential workers, who are predominately racial and ethnic minorities, have disproportionately been infected, hospitalized, and died from Covid-19. Low-wage women workers have lost jobs and health insurance coverage at higher rates than men during the pandemic, while elderly, disabled, and pregnant workers have often been denied accommodations that would protect them from the workplace exposure of Covid-19. Although federal, state, and local government and public health officials have acknowledged that social conditions, such as housing and education, limit an individual’s ability to be healthy, they have failed to make the connection between employment and health inequities. This two day symposium entitled, Health Inequities and Employment: The Continued Struggle for Justice, will convene workers, scholars, lawyers, and community advocates to not only highlight the connection between employment and health inequities, but also to create a plan for utilizing public health, civil rights, and employment laws to address health inequities. This event is co-sponsored by the Saint Louis University Law Journal, the Wefel Center for Employment Law, and the Institute for Healing Justice and Equity. The proceedings will be published in the Saint Louis University Law Journal.
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