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On January 1, 2004 California became the first state to mandate Paid Family Leave for workers who take time off to care for a sick family member. This change is a sub set to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). This act is based on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which is a federal law. As a foundation to understanding the pending changes in California it is necessary to obtain an overview of the FMLA. Despite their best intentions, employers and human resource professionals find themselves unintentionally violating some portion of the FMLA due to complicated definitions and technical requirements. This article is written from the perspective of an employer in order to highlight dominant features of the FMLA and California’s Paid Family Leave. It is increasingly important for companies to adopt policies and procedures that will ensure compliance with all requirements going forward. Otherwise, the consequences could be costly.

This chapter uncovers the destabilizing and transformative dimensions of a legal process commonly described as assimilation. Lawyers working on behalf of a marginalized group often argue that the group merits inclusion in dominant institutions, and they do so by casting the group as like the majority. Scholars have criticized claims of this kind for affirming the status quo and muting significant differences of the excluded group. Yet, this chapter shows how these claims may also disrupt the status quo, transform dominant institutions, and convert distinctive features of the excluded group into more widely shared legal norms. This dynamic is observed in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, and specifically through attention to three phases of LGBT advocacy: (1) claims to parental recognition of unmarried same-sex parents, (2) claims to marriage, and (3) claims regarding the consequences of marriage for same-sex parents. The analysis shows how claims that appeared assimilationist – demanding inclusion in marriage and parenthood by arguing that same-sex couples are similarly situated to their different-sex counterparts – subtly challenged and reshaped legal norms governing parenthood, including marital parenthood. While this chapter focuses on LGBT claims, it uncovers a dynamic that may exist in other settings.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

It has been noted for some time now that the field of technology as an area of work, has been, and continues to be gender imbalanced and gender stratified This persistent trend has led to a growing body of theorisation and to the (re‐) evaluations of the inter relationship between gender and technology. It is beyond the scope of this article to review the rich theoretical work on gender and technol ogy, and instead the “essentialist” and “constructivist” approaches are briefly discussed here, since they offer a useful frame work within which to look at the case study policy of this article. This policy, as will be shown in the following sections, adopts an “essentialist” stance by seeing women’s under‐representation as resulting from gendered technologies and the obduracy of masculine values associated with technology, and by focusing on girls’ interests as distinct from those of boys. It adopts at the same time a “constructivist” approach through the strategy’s ability to reshape technology through girls’/women’s wider appropriation and use of technology, whereby technology is seen as socially constructed . Before exploring this dualism in more detail, it is helpful to develop a little the theoretical foundations of essentialism and constructivism.

This article’s indented contribution is to provide novel theoretical insights and empirical observations on “who gets what” in the way of incomes, including wages. The article challenges the conventional wisdom about stratification, especially power and status, as an outcome or function of economic distribution. It posits that income distribution is conditional on pre‐existing social stratification expressed in antecedent differences in class, power, status and related factors.

This paper aims to examine how US architectural programs are addressing environmental imperatives through curricular‐based initiatives. It offers a brief overview of how environmentally conscious design education has evolved and compares curricular approaches to social, aesthetic, and technical sustainability education from six architecture programs considered to be national leaders in sustainability education.

Views from leading architectural programs on sustainable education were compiled and assessed leading to a curricular study of course and degree offerings.

It was found that four consistent approaches to undergraduate sustainable design education are being promoted: core value: all course content addresses sustainable design; systems‐focused: support courses fulfill needs for sustainable education; choice: sustainable education is through student selection of courses offerings; and specialization: sustainable education is a specialty endeavor mainly at the graduate level and in concert with centers or institutes. A new “composite” approach to sustainable design education is outlined.

Conclusions about architectural curricula were drawn from the assessment of a limited number of representative programs. The findings demonstrate that a technical‐course based approach from the specialist perspective still dominates most architecture programs.

The paper contributes to discourse on sustainability by examining how leading US architectural programs are currently addressing environmental imperatives through curricular‐based initiatives.

This paper concludes that a culturally based approach from a generalist perspective which encompasses systems knowledge and interactions among many disciplines is needed in design education.

Beyond architecture, the findings will be useful to many disciplinary domains considering the transition to a stronger, more fully integrated, environmentally focused curriculum.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Artists operating under a studio model, such as Andy Warhol, have frequently been described as reducing their work to statements of authorship, indicated by the signature finally affixed to the work. By contrast, luxury goods manufacturers decry as inauthentic and counterfeit the handbags produced during off-shift hours using the same materials and craftsmanship as the authorized goods produced hours earlier. The distinction between authentic and inauthentic often turns on nothing more than a statement of authorship. Intellectual property law purports to value such statements of authenticity, but no statement has value unless it is accepted as valid by its audience, a determination that depends on shared notions of what authenticity means as well as a common understanding of what authenticity designates.

Explores the extent of employee surveillance in the western world and queries why the USA uses surveillance measures to a greater extent than other developed nations. Suggests that American managers choose surveillance methods which include the control of workers’ bodies in the production process. Lists the batteries of tests and monitoring to which US employees can now be subjected – including searching employee computer files, voice/e‐mail, monitoring telephone calls, drug tests, alcohol tests, criminal record checks, lie detector and handwriting tests. Notes also the companies which are opposed to worker and consumer privacy rights. Pinpoints the use of surveillance as a means to ensure that employees do not withold production. Reports that employees dislike monitoring and that it may adversely affect their performance and productivity. Argues that Americans like to address complex social problems with technological means, there are no data protection laws in the USA, and that these two factors, combined with the “employment‐at‐will” doctrine, have all contributed to make it possible (and easy) for employers to use technological surveillance of their workforce. Outlines some of the ways employers insist on the purification of workers’ bodies.

Narrates the discussion between Juan (a corporate executive of a multinational company) and Audrey (an independent environmental consultant) when they sit next to each other on a flight. Explains, through the dialogue, some of the environmental pitfalls companies can encounter when basing operations in the USA, such as regulations relating to clean air, clean water, emissions, toxic pollutants, land use restrictions, species protection plans etc.). Makes the point that it is individuals who face civil and criminal penalties for breaking these regulations, not the company. Provides an overview of US environmental regulations and recommends that companies can avoid falling foul of the law through education, training and taking legal advice. Mentions ISO 14000 and 14001 environmental standards as a potential way forward, although they do not yet carry any weight under US law.