Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp announced the publication on March 14th of the Second Edition of The Global Workplace – International and Comparative Employment Law: Cases and Materials. The authorial team is the same as for the path-breaking casebook’s first edition: Roger Blanpain (University of Leuven, Belgium), Susan Bisom-Rapp (Thomas Jefferson School of Law), Bill Corbett (Louisiana State University), Hilary Josephs (Syracuse University), and Mike Zimmer (Loyola University Chicago). But the team has switched publishers. The second edition will appear in the U.S. as an Aspen publication. In Europe, it will appear under the Kluwer Law International imprint.
“One big challenge of producing the Second Edition,” noted Professor Bisom-Rapp, “was grappling with the global economic crisis, which is featured prominently. Of course, there have been many legal changes since the first edition was published in 2007,” she said. Professor Bisom-Rapp notes that the team has also completed the Teacher’s Manual, which runs about 250 pages.
Here is how Aspen is marketing the book:
The first casebook covering both international and comparative labor and employment law is characterized by its authorship by prolific, respected scholars, all of whom have taught law outside the United States. A solid conceptual framework compares national laws dealing with individual collective employment rights, including antidiscrimination law and privacy law, and considers the systems used to resolve labor and employment disputes in the context of international labor law. A sweeping coverage of international labor law considers the International Labour Organization, NAFTA and other bilateral trade agreements that include labor standards, and the European Union. In addition, The Global Workplace explores transnational corporations’ self-regulatory efforts (or codes of conduct,) and the mechanisms for pursuing international labor standards in United States courts. Comparisons are drawn among the laws of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Japan and India. Exploring the similarities and the differences among various approaches to the employment relationship allows students to better understand and evaluate the approach each country takes, and helps them develop a normative approach to labor and employment law. National legal materials are presented within historical and cultural context. A Teachers Manual and Website provides background information for the material in the casebook, answers to questions and problems in the text, additional problems, sample syllabi, exams, and PowerPoint slides.
Thomas Jefferson students have had a sneak preview of the book this term. Professor Bisom-Rapp is teaching Global Workplace Law from the manuscript this semester. “The new materials are working very well,” she said. “It is such a joy to introduce students to international labor law concepts, and to juxtapose U.S. workplace law with that of other countries, including China.”
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