Labor and Employment Law Program

The Labor and Employment Law Program (LEL) merges law and social science research to provide attorneys, legislators, social scientists, and policymakers with multifaceted perspectives at forums and conferences. Current and emerging legal issues affecting the workplace are analyzed with the goal of influencing research, legislation, policy, and litigation.

Education and Training

The Labor and Employment Law Program offers multi-perspective forums and conferences that address current legal topics affecting the workplace.

Legal Education

Co-Sponsored with the Center for Applied Research on Work - Worker Protections at Risk: The Supreme Court Abandons Chevron Deference

New York City Enacts Bill Requiring Notice and Posting of "Workers' Bill of Rights"

Feb 26, 2024

Beginning July 1, 2024, NYC employers must distribute and post a Worker Bill of Rights notice, emphasizing labor laws and protections for all workers, including immigrants. Employers must comply by July 1, 2024, or face a penalty. The law allows a 30-day window for corrections, emphasizing support for businesses in adapting to new requirements.

New York City Enacts Bill Requiring Notice and Posting of "Workers' Bill of Rights"

Panelists Discuss Pay Transparency

Nov 1, 2022

Closing pay gaps will require employers, some of whom have little infrastructure or capacity to uphold the law, to think carefully about their compensation spectrum, experts said at an ILR forum.

Jacqueline M. Ebanks, executive director of the New York City Commission on Gender Equity

Panelists Discuss Pay Transparency

Explainer: New NYC Pay Law

Nov 1, 2022

Beginning today, employers with four or more employees or with one or more domestic workers must include a salary range when advertising jobs to be performed in New York City.

Explainer: New NYC Pay Law

Promoting Fair & Equitable Employment

Esta Bigler teaching at Cayuga Correctional Facility

The Labor and Employment Law Program has been working in areas of social science research, social justice, and employment discrimination for over 20 years through its national conferences, seminars, and training programs. Its Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) was founded in 2014 and has grown into separate entity, now part of ILR's Outreach Strategic Initiatives Incubator.

ILR Program Helps People with Criminal Records Return to Workforce

Nov 29, 2018

Cornell Chronicle

Through the Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative, School of Industrial and Labor Relations legal experts are helping people with criminal records get jobs – an effort that not only changes the course of people’s lives, but helps employers find motivated workers at a time of historically low unemployment.

ILR Program Helps People with Criminal Records Return to Workforce

Listen: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance

Mar 16, 2018

Esta Bigler speaks with Rashawn Davis, a policy analyst at The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, about why employment is an important component of reducing recidivism and increasing safety.

Listen: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance

Listen: Cornell Collaboration Delivers Hope

Mar 16, 2018

Listen to Esta Bigler ’70, in a conversation with Cornell colleague Rob Scott, discuss her work with incarcerated men seeking jobs.

Listen: Cornell Collaboration Delivers Hope

About Us

Esta R. Bigler, Esq.

Director, Labor and Employment Law Programs, ILR School

Cecilia Oyediran

Deputy Director, Labor and Employment Law Program

Sara R. Edwards

Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives

Tomisha Hicks

Administrative Manager, Labor and Employment Law

Charles Johnson

Senior Education & Training Associate, Labor and Employment Law Programs

Rhonda McCelland

Program Administrative Assistant

Highlights

Media Stories

The fine line higher-ed must walk when providing cannabis courses

Sep 9, 2022

Esta Bigler discusses how higher education cannabis programs occupy a uniquely fraught space on legal minefield between state and federal laws.

The fine line higher-ed must walk when providing cannabis courses

Labor and Employment Law Program

Education and Training

Promoting Fair & Equitable Employment

About Us

LEL in the News

Education and Training