The Wefel Center demonstrates its commitment to the promotion of academic scholarship as well as to serving the needs of the practicing bar by presenting conferences that explore current significant issues in labor and employment law.
Many of the nationally known speakers at these conferences have also published articles in the Saint Louis University Law Journal.
The conferences are held at the law school, offering students the opportunity to learn about current critical issues in labor and employment law as well as the opportunity to meet and exchange views with prominent academics and leading members of the practicing bar. Programs of this nature also serve as a means of introducing students to prospective employers.
Symposia
Revisiting Religion in the Struggle for Workplace Justice
March 1, 2024
9 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.// John K. Pruellage Courtroom
Keynote Speaker: Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley, St. Louis and Kansas City Champions Organizer, Missouri Jobs with Justice
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.
Speakers Include:
Janine Giordano Drake, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of History, Indiana University
Michael Duff, Professor, William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law, Saint Louis University School of Law
Dallan Flake, Associate Dean of Faculty Scholarship, Associate Professor of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law
Rev. Darryl G. Gray, Senior Pastor, Fairfax Missionary Baptist Church and Director General for Social Justice, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
Brother Ken Homan, S.J., Doctoral Student, Georgetown University
Chaumtoli Huq, Associate Professor, The City University of New York School of Law; Founder & Editor, Law@theMargins
Rhona Lyons, Partner, Schuchat, Cook & Werner
César Rosado Marzàn, Edward L. Carmody Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
Stefan McDaniel, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame Law School
Erin Simmons, MAT, Campus Minister at Rosati-Kain Academy, President, Association of Rosati-Kain Academy.
Alvin Velazquez, Associate General Counsel, Service Employees International Union
Schedule >
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. // Introduction and Welcome
Marcia McCormick, Professor; Director, William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law
9:15 – 10:00 a.m. // Keynote by Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley
The statewide Champions Organizer at Missouri Jobs with Justice and a proud member
of the United Media Guild, TNG-CWA Local 36047, Dr. Danieley has been ordained for
over 20 years. She earned a BA from Yale University, an MPP from the University of
Chicago, an MDiv from the General Theological Seminary and a DMin from Eden Theological
Seminary. Dr. Danieley and her husband, Jonathan, are raising three children in the
City of St. Louis; all three children attend St. Louis Public Schools.
10:00 – 11:45 // Panel 1: History and evolution
Janine Giordano Drake
What Rerum Novarum Did and Did Not Do for the American Labor Movement: American Christianity
and Labor Movements, 1891-1935
Dallan Flake
The Curious Treatment of Religious Accommodations by Courts and Legislatures over
the Life of Title VII
Rhona Lyons
Judaism, Justice, and the Labor Movement
Brother Ken Homan, S.J.
Jesuits, Labor, Law: A Bit of History, A Bit of Theology
11: 45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. // Lunch
1:00 – 2:40 p.m. // Panel 2: Theology, moral questions, and worker justice
Stefan McDaniel
Two Themes in Catholic Moral Theology on Relational Aspects of Work and Workers
Michael Duff
The Statistical Value of a Life: From Skin in the Game to Vision Zero
Alvin Velazquez
Faith as Voice for Moral Content to Unions’ Claims for Workplace Justice and a Source
of Political Morality to the Apolitical Economy
Erin Simmons
Enacting Unionized Labor in Catholic Educational Ministry: What it means for Employees,
for the Church, and for the Next Generation.
2:40 – 2:50 p.m. // Break
2:50 – 4:15 p.m. // Panel 3: Religion as inspiration for worker justice
Chaumtoli Huq
Muslim Workers, Faith, and Organizing
César Rosado Marzàn
Dignity in Alt Labor
Rev. Darryl G. Gray
Advocacy and the Progressive National Baptist Convention
4:15 p.m. // Closing Remarks
Previous Symposia
March 31 & April 1, 2022
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, convened 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 was 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 were published in the Saint Louis
University Law Journal.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Zoom link to view recording
Passcode: %5!J@YSg
Schedule
Introduction and Welcome
- Ruqaiijah Yearby, Executive Director of the Institute for Healing Justice & Equity
and Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
- William Johnson, Dean and Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
Panel 1: Intersectionality: Employment Practices and Health Inequities.
The panel will open the symposium and discuss the myriad of ways that employment practices
prevent marginalized social groups (racial and ethnic minorities, the disabled, LGBTQIA,
women and those with multiple social identities) from equal access to health care
and resources to be healthy.
- Rebecca Cokley, Program Officer of Disability Rights, Center for American Progress
- Yvette Cozier, Associate Dean for Diversity, Boston University School of Public
Health
- Jennifer Cohen, Assistant Professor of Global and Intercultural Studies, Miami University
Ruqaiijah Yearby, Executive Director of the Institute for Healing Justice & Equity
and Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
Panel 2: Work Culture & Autonomy
It will explore the effects of discrimination on women’s health and well-being, both
in terms of conduct that happens in the workplace, but also in terms of how workplace
rules, both formal and informal, have spillover effects on mental and physical health.
- Tristin Green, Professor and Dean’s Circle Scholar at University of San Francisco
School of Law
- Michelle Ceynar, Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Psychology and Chair of
Faculty, Pacific Lutheran University
- Veena Dubal, Professor of Law, UC Hastings Law
Panel 3: Discrimination, Economics, and Health Outcomes
It will examine the ways that discrimination and stress impact health outcomes.
- David H. Chae, Human Sciences Associate Professor & Director of the Society, Health
and Racial Equity Lab, Auburn University
- Catherine Harnois, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest workplace mistreatment and
health inequalities
- Jessica Owens-Young, Assistant Professor of Health Studies, American University
- Caryn Bell, Assistant Professor, Tulane University School of Public Health
Panel 4: Community Advocacy: Beginning to Address Health and Employment Inequities
It will allow you to discuss your community advocacy and how it has addressed employment
practices and discrimination that is associated with health inequities.
- Sari Bilick, Organizing Project Director at Human Impact Partners (HIP)
- Ciearra Walker, Project Coordinator at STL Community Health Worker Coalition
- Faybra Hemphill, Forward Through Ferguson
- Maya Hazarika Watts, ChangeLab Solutions
Friday, April 1, 2022
Zoom link to view recording
Passcode: =*bZ&8qH
Introduction and Welcome
- Ruqaiijah Yearby, Executive Director of the Institute for Healing Justice & Equity
and Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
- William Johnson, Dean and Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
Panel 1: Connecting Employment Practices and Health Inequities
It will open the second day of the symposium and explore employment inequities and
health inequities.
- William M. Rodgers, III Federal Reserve Bank, St. Louis
- Andrea G. Baran, Regional Attorney, EEOC, St. Louis
- Jamillah Williams, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
- Heather Walter-McCabe, Assistant Professor of Law and Social Work, Wayne State University,
Law School
Panel 2: Workers, Employment Practices, and Health Inequities
It will allow workers and organizations to discuss the employment practices that harm
them as well as the negative health outcomes.
- Laura Barett, Campaign Coordinator IL/MO/KS SEIU
- SEIU health care worker
- Kenzia Scales, Director of Policy Research at PHI
- PHI Home health care worker
Panel 3: Workers, Power, and Health
It explores the employment practices that harm workers, workers lack of power to address
the problems, and worker health inequities
- Athena Ramos, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska
- Tyra Robinson, Attorney, Public Justice Center
- Peggie Smith, Professor, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
- Cesar Rosado Marzan, Professor at University of Iowa
Panel 4: Theories & Practices: Beginning to Address Employment and Health Inequities
It explores how the health justice framework and the theory of bounded justice can
be used to address employment and health inequities. The panel will also discuss the
work advocates are doing and how it has addressed employment practices and discrimination
that is associated with health inequities
Theory & Practice:
- Ruqaiijah Yearby, Executive Director of the Institute for Healing Justice & Equity
and Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
- Melissa Creary, Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy, University
of Michigan School of Public Health
- Cassandra Gomez, Attorney, A Better Balance
- Pilar Whitaker, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Friday, Sept. 18, 2020
Zoom link to view recording
Passcode: We@K5#0+
Saint Louis University School of Law William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and
Saint Louis University Law Journal virtually hosted 'New Waves of Worker Empowerment: Labor and Technology in the 21st
Century.'
Traditional labor power is still an important force within our economy, as the strikes by public school teachers’ unions and GM workers demonstrate. Within an increasingly fractured workplace, however, workers are taking new approaches to collective action. Such efforts include sectoral coordination to improve wages and benefits, such as the Fight for $15, or spontaneous worker movements within companies like the Google Walkout that promote antidiscrimination protections and fairer dispute resolution.
With new challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, workers are expressing their joint interests and pushing for protections for their lives and livelihoods. Changing technologies provide new opportunities for connection between workers and outreach to the public, but also give employers new tools for surveillance, scheduling, and organizational fissuring. This Symposium will discuss these new examples of engagement and examine the role of the law in facilitating, dampening, or restricting the new expressions of worker engagement.
Schedule
Introduction
William P. Johnson, dean, Saint Louis University School of Law
Session 1
Moderated by Matt Bodie
- "Coming Storms of Disruptive Change: Trade, Labor, Technology, and Collective Worker
Representation"
Marley Weiss, professor of law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law - "Co-Worker Evidence in Court"
Sandra Sperino, Judge Joseph P. Kinneary Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law - "Data Labor on the Margins: Prisons as the New Frontier of Outsourcing in India"
Winifred Poster, professor of international affairs, Washington University in St. Louis
Session 2
Moderated by Matt Bodie
- "Exploring Sectoral Solutions for Digital Workers: the Status of the Artist Act Approach"
Sara Slinn, associate professor and associate dean (Research & Institutional Relations), Osgoode Hall Law School, York University - "Emerging Issues in the Law of Work Stoppages"
Michael Duff, professor of law, University of Wyoming College of Law - "Short Strikes"
Michael Oswalt, associate professor of law, Northern Illinois University College of Law - "State and Local Government Protection of Workers' Rights: New Players, New Laws,
New Methods of Enforcement"
Terri Gerstein, director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program
Session 3
Moderated by Kerry Ryan
- "Collective Action Among Platform Workers during the Time of the Coronavirus Pandemic"
Miriam A. Cherry, professor and co-director, William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law; associate dean for research and engagement, Saint Louis University School of Law - "Collective Action in the Digital Reality: The Case of Platform-Based Workers in the
U.K."
Tammy Katsabian, postdoctoral fellow, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School - "Dream Jobs or Nightmares: Organizing Workers in the Digital Game Industry"
Courtlyn Roser-Jones, assistant professor of law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Session 4
Moderated by Miriam Cherry
- "Trends in Tech Activism: Organizing Around Moral Injury at Work"
Marion Crain, Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law, interim provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs for Washington University in St. Louis - "Building Worker Collective Action Through Technology"
Ruben J. Garcia, professor of law; co-director, UNLV Workplace Law Program, Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas - "Compensating and Retraining Workers Displaced by Automation"
Jonathan F. Harris, acting assistant professor of lawyering, NYU School of Law
Friday, April 6, 2018, John K. Pruellage Courtroom
Saint Louis University School of Law William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and
Saint Louis University Journal hosted 'Law, Technology, and the Organization of Work.'
As technology creates change in our lives, it is now ever-more important to think about the ways in which we work, how we think about work, and how work will be regulated. Including crowdwork, on-demand platforms, people analytics, big data, 3-D printing, and other technologies, these new modalities of digitalization challenge both our ethics and our currently existing regulatory structures for labor. These issues are increasingly global, as many of these technologies are not restricted by national boundaries. This symposium endeavored to think forward on the changes these technologies will engender and the ways in which firms and workers are structuring their new working relationships.
Schedule
Introduction
Marcia McCormick, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law, Saint
Louis University School of Law
Session 1
- "How Technology Will Advance or Inhibit Labor Organizing"
Charlotte Garden, co-associate dean for research and faculty development and associate professor, Seattle University School of Law - "Data Deficits in Municipal Rideshare Programs"
Deepa Das Acevedo, Sharswood Fellow, University of Pennsylvania Law School - "The Law and Political Economy of Workplace Information"
Brishen Rogers, associate professor of law, Temple University Beasley School of Law - "A New Research Agenda for Employment Law Scholarship - Technology in the Workplace"
Ifeoma Ajunwa, assistant professor, Industrial and Labor Relations School of Cornell University; faculty associate member, Cornell Law School
Session 2
- "Platform and Digitalised Work: Debunking Myths and Protecting Workers"
Valerio De Stefano, BOF-ZAP Research Professor of Labour Law, KU Leuven, Belgium - "What Should We Do After Work? Automation, Job Loss, and the Law of Work"
Cynthia Estlund, Catherine A. Rein Professor, New York University School of Law - "Who's Tracking Whom? Multi-Surveillance of Labor in the Online Sex Trafficking Industry"
Winifred Poster, International Affairs, Washington University in St. Louis
Session 3
- "Crowdwashing: Corporate Social Responsibility, Technology, and Labor Practices"
Miriam Cherry, co-director of the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law - "Discrimination in Online Recruiting Strategies"
Pauline Kim, Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law - "The Independent Contract and Autonomy in the Gig Economy"
Leticia Saucedo, professor of law, University of California, Davis School of Law
Closing Remarks
Miriam Cherry, co-director of the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and professor
of law, Saint Louis University School of Law
Friday, February 19, 2016, John K. Pruellage Courtroom
The Wefel Center for Employment Law, the Saint Louis University Law Journal and the John Cook School of Business co-sponsored this symposium, 'The Law and Business of People Analytics.'
Participants explored the kinds of work being done in the field of People Analytics, the use of data analytics in human resources. Focus was on the employment law and business ethics implications of these new technologies and practices, with an eye toward developing guidelines for good practices in the workplace.
Schedule
Introduction: What is People Analytics?
Session 1: The Business and Business Ethics of People Analytics
Presenters:
- Palash Bera, assistant professor, Saint Louis University John Cook School of Business
- Jintong Tang, associate professor, Saint Louis University John Cook School of Business
Session 2: Legal Issues: Discrimination
Presenters:
- Pauline Kim, professor, Washington University School of Law; Charles Nagel Chair of Constitutional Law and Political Science
- Roger Reinsch, professor, University of Minnesota Duluth, Labovitz School of Business and Economics
- Andrew Selbst, senior associate, Hogan Lovells
Session 3: New Directions in Data
Presenters:
- Eric Armbrecht, associate professor, Saint Louis University Center for Health Outcomes Research, Department of Internal Medicine (School of Medicine), Department of Health Management and Policy (College for Public Health & Social Justice); Senior Analytics Advisor, Midwest Health Initiative
- Miriam Cherry, professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
- Jake Temme, architect of football information technology, Los Angeles Rams
Session 4: Legal Issues: Privacy
Presenters:
- Neil Richards, professor of law, Washington University School of Law
- Matt Bodie, Callis Family Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law
Closing Thoughts
Videos
Introduction and Session 1: What is People Analytics?; The Business and Business Ethics of People Analytics
Session 2: Legal Issues: Discrimination
Session 3: New Directions in Data
Session 4: Legal Issues: Privacy
Friday, March 27, 2015, John K. Pruellage Courtroom
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990, and prohibits discrimination based on disabilities. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the ADA, the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and the Center for Health Law Studies at SLU LAW co-hosted this symposium featuring the ADA at the intersection of health law and employment law.
Schedule
Session One
- Kimberly Lackey, public policy team manager, Paraquad
- Kelly Moffatt, psychosocial counselor at The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis
Session Two: The Difference of Disability for Healthcare Workers
Moderated by Marcia L. McCormick, director, William C. Wefel Center for Employment
Law and professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law
- Wellness Programs, the ADA, and GINA
Pierce Blue, special assistant and attorney advisor, Office of Commissioner Chai Feldblum, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) - ADA Issues in the Healthcare Workforce
Nicole Porter, professor of law, University of Toledo College of Law - Numerical Goals and Disability Employment Policy
Mark Weber, Vincent DePaul Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law
Session Three: Creating a Healthcare Workforce Ready to Provide Services to People
with Disabilities
Moderated by Elizabeth Pendo, vice dean and professor of law, Saint Louis University
School of Law
Commentator: Aimee Wehmeier, executive director and CEO, Paraquad
- Disability Cultural Competence and the Health Professions
Mary Crossley, professor of law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law - Accommodations and Modifications: What’s Reasonable in the Healthcare Setting?
Leslie Francis, distinguished professor of philosophy and law and director, Center for Law & Biomedical Sciences, College of Law, University of Utah - Fitting Together Disability, Personal Assistance, and Workplace Personal Assistance
Silvia Yee, senior staff attorney, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
Closing Session: Incorporating Good Practices in the Workplace
All speakers participating.
Past Seminars and CLE Events
Thursday, March 1, 2018
The William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law honored Gary L. Rutledge ('83) with the John E. Dunsford Achievement Award, recognizing his exceptional achievement and service in the field of employment and labor law.
Gary Rutledge is a professor of practice at SLU LAW and former vice president and general counsel for Anheuser-Busch InBev, North American Zone. He was selected by the past two graduating classes as Adjunct Professor of the Year.
Following the presentation of the award was a panel discussion on the globalization of labor relations. Panelists were Valerio De Stefano, professor at KU Leuven, and Johnny Wang, partner at Stinson Leonard Street.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Co‐sponsored by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
and SLU LAW.
Welcome
United States District Judge Ronnie L. White, Eastern District of Missouri
Overview of ADR in the Eastern District
Gregory J. Linhares, Clerk of Court
Friendly Persuasion in Mediation
Prof. James A. Wall, Jr., University of Missouri-Columbia
Ethics Priorities and Conundrums for Mediators
Judge Karen Klein, former U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of North Dakota
Ethical Issues in Mediation
Panel of Mediators
Ask the Judges
Panel of U.S. District and Magistrate Judges
Videos
Keynote
Panel Discussions and Q&A
January 24, 2014
Co‐sponsored by The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
and SLU LAW.
"Behind the Curtain of the Wizard: Hidden Issues in Settling Insurance Cases"
John C. Trimble, Lewis Wagner LLP, Indianapolis, Indiana
"Revisions to the Court's ADR Rules"
James G. Woodward, Clerk of Court
"Ethical Issues in Mediation"
Karen Tokarz, professor, Washington University School of Law
Michael Geigerman, managing director, USA&M Midwest
"The Bench and Bar Colloquium - A Q&A Session"
U.S. District Judges Audrey G. Fleissig, Catherine D. Perry and E. Richard Webber
U.S. Magistrate Judges David D. Noce and Thomas C. Mummert