Free Speech at Work: A Panel Discussion

Please join us for this VLERA webinar.
This webinar is co-sponsored by the LERA Dispute Resolution, Labor and Employment Law Community Council.

Free Speech at Work: A Panel Discussion

April 10, 7pm Eastern Time

Link to join the Webinar: https://psu.zoom.us/j/95558818020

Program Description

The purpose of this webinar is to explore the law and actual practices related to free speech at work. These issues could not be more timely.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads in part: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech…”. Of course, over the years there have been laws – and conduct – found valid by the Supreme Court that do limit free speech. The classic example of speech which may be prohibited is that one cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater, unless, of course, there is a fire. The Fourteenth Amendment extends the provision of the First Amendment with its exceptions to state and local governments.

There is no doubt that the first amendment’s limits on government do not extend to non-governmental organizations. This fact has major implications in the workplace. If not a governmental entity, employers are routinely able to limit what employees can or cannot utter at work. In addition, employers in many cases are free to refuse to hire, or if hired, fire employees who utter words even outside of work. This webinar will provide insights into the complex issue of free speech at work by three leading labor law experts.

Wilma Liebman
Moderator
Wilma Liebman, former Chair of the NLRB, former Deputy Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), and former President of LERA

President Obama named Wilma Liebman to be Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board in January 2009.  She served as Chairman until August 27, 2011, when her third term expired.  Since then, she has been engaged in various advisory roles and consulting projects and has taught at several universities, most recently New York University Law School.  She has served as a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) and has taught at Cornell University’s Law School and Industrial and Labor Relations School, the University of Illinois’ College of Law and its School of Labor and Employment Relations, and George Washington University Law School. Appointed in March 2020, she serves as chief external ethics officer for the United Automobile Workers Union.

Ms. Liebman was first appointed to be a Member of the NLRB by President Clinton and was twice reappointed by President Bush. She was the third longest-serving Member of the NLRB in its 85-year history.  Earlier, she served as Deputy Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).  Prior to joining FMCS in January 1994, she held positions as Labor Counsel for the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, and Legal Counsel to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

As of June 2020, Ms. Liebman serves as President-Elect of the Labor and Employment Relations Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Economic Policy Institute and a senior fellow of the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers’ School of Management and Labor Relations.  She is the Co-Chair of the Council of Advisors at the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy at the New School.  For the last seven years, she has served as Chair of the Dunlop Commission on Agricultural Labor, a private dispute resolution body.

She is the author of several publications on a variety of labor law and policy issues.  She holds an A.B. degree from Barnard College and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School.

Panelists
Craig Becker, Senior Counsel, AFL-CIO and former Board Member, NLRB

Craig Becker is Senior Counsel to the AFL-CIO.  He served as General Counsel from 2012 to 2022. Before assuming that position, Craig was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board having been appointed by President Obama in March 2010 and serving until January 2012.  Before joining the Board, Craig served as Associate General Counsel to both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO.  Craig also was a Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law between 1989 and 1994 and has also taught at Yale, the University of Chicago and Georgetown Law Schools. Craig has published numerous articles on labor and employment law in scholarly journals as well as in the popular press and has argued labor and employment cases in virtually every federal court of appeals and before the United States Supreme Court.

Cynthia Estlund, Crystal Eastman Professor, New York University School of Law

Cynthia Estlund is the Crystal Eastman Professor at the New York University School of Law, and a leading scholar of labor and employment law. In addition to her two co-edited volumes and over 80 articles, book chapters, reviews, and essays, she has written four books including  Regoverning the Workplace: From Self-Regulation to Co-Regulation and Working Together: How Workplace Bonds Strengthen a Diverse Democracy.  After clerking for Judge Patricia M. Wald on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and practicing law for several years, Estlund entered law teaching. Before moving to NYU in 2006, she taught at the University of Texas School of Law and Columbia Law School.

Location
Zoom.com Link will be provided the day of the presentation.

Cost
No cost