In Sickness and in Health: Recent Judicial Developments in Americans with Disabilities Act Association Discrimination Cases

A little-known provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits covered employers from taking an adverse employment action against a qualified employee if a determinative factor in the adverse employment action is the disability of an associate or relative of the employee. A review of the reported court opinions indicates that plaintiff employees often encounter difficulty in these cases. Some plaintiffs are unable to prove that they are “qualified” employees at the time of the adverse employment action, and other plaintiffs find it difficult to prove that a determinative factor in the adverse employment action was the disability of the associate or relative. However, plaintiffs have achieved some success as evidenced in the 2008 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals holdings in Dewitt v. Proctor Hospital and Trujillo v. PacifiCorp. This paper describes reported U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinions about ADA association discrimination, its relationship to the Family and Medical Leave Act and Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and the implications for employers, employees, and lawmakers. It also offers practical guidance to both employees and employers for asserting and managing rights and potential liability in this area.     

Management, technology and work in commercial broadcasting, c. 1979–98

This article explores the relationship between management strategy, technological change and collective bargaining in the British commercial television industry. The demanning and deskilling potential of digital production technologies remained largely untapped until the second half of the 1980s. The termination of national collective bargaining that had regulated minimum crewing levels was the watershed in terms of work organisation.     

The economic fertility of industrial projects

The economic impact of two industrial projects was forecast using economic fertility analysis. The results of the analysis suggest that the implementation of projects such as those described here add to the resources of government, enabling them to move closer to realization of social objectives, whereas concurrent decreased government revenues and increased transfer payments based on short term political considerations are directly inflationary and represent a threat to longer term social stability. The two projects were a crude oil petrochemical plant, with an investment of $200 million, and a controlled environment agricultural plant, costing $20 million. Direct, indirect, and induced economic activity for each project were calculated, from which income and employment multipliers, and forward and backward linkages were derived. New government revenues, balance of trade effects, and new capital formation were also forecast. Employment in terms of man-years on construction and in jobs created by the operations, as well as consumer expenditures and personal savings, were other outputs of the analysis. Construction and operation phases of the two projects were more beneficial than an equivalent increase in transfer payments in the generation of longer term effects such as new capital formation, new government revenues, and import-export balance, but were less efficient than increased welfare payments in generating short term effects such as consumer expenditures and short term employment.     

An analysis of the efficient production frontier in the fishery: implications for enhanced fisheries management

The transformation relationship between factor inputs and outputs - the efficient production frontier (EPF)- contains important information for fisheries managers. A directional technology distance function model of the harvesting technology is used to measure changes in the EPF over time. Frontier shifts are summarized with input- and output-based frontier indicators that are interpreted as measures of bioeconomic productivity change. The model is applied to the Mid-Atlantic surf clam and ocean quahog fishery.     

Information Sharing and Cooperative Search in Fisheries

We present a dynamic game of search and learning about the productivity of competing fishing locations. Perfect Bayesian Nash equilibrium search patterns for non-cooperating fishermen and members of an information sharing cooperative are compared with first-best outcomes. Independent fishermen do not internalize the full value of information, and do not replicate first-best search. A fishing cooperative faces a free-riding problem, as each coop member prefers that other members undertake costly search for information. Pooling contracts among coop members may mitigate, but are not likely to eliminate free-riding. Our results explain the paucity of information sharing in fisheries and suggest regulators use caution in advocating cooperatives as a solution to common pool inefficiencies in fisheries.     

Limited attention in residential energy markets: a regression discontinuity approach

It is well known that limited attention affects consumption decisions, in particular, when the decision environment is complex. The objective of this study is to determine whether or not, and to what extent, limited attention is prevalent in residential energy markets. We use data on more than 10,000 randomly selected customers of a California-based utility company and examine consumption responses as measured by changes in kilowatt-hours after a bill has crossed a salient threshold. The results of a sharp regression discontinuity design indicate that consumers use significantly less electricity in a month following the receipt of a bill that crossed a given threshold, such as $50 for lower-income households, who then show a 2–4% reduction in the consumption. We find that even at the threshold, the degree of inattention is roughly 0.75, consumers still tend to ignore the actual (i.e., full) cost of energy use. As previous studies have found inattention to be related to income, we focus primarily on lower-income households. However, there is some evidence that higher-income households have a similar response at higher thresholds. Considering the urgent need to reduce greenhouse emissions and increase energy savings, our results may contribute to the design of more effective billing and feedback mechanisms for energy-end-users.     

A qualitative study of high-reputation plant managers: Political skill and successful outcomes

There has been little systematic study of what plant managers actually do on a day-to-day basis that accounts for their success in achieving organizational outcomes. In our field interviews and observations of high-reputation plant managers from 11 manufacturing plants, we found that effective political skill enabled them to influence subordinates in ways that contributed positively to organizational outcomes. Political skill is an interpersonal style that combines social astuteness with the ability to relate well, and otherwise demonstrate situationally appropriate behavior in an engaging way that inspires confidence, trust, and genuiness [Ferris, G.R., Perrewé, P.L., Anthony, W.P., Gilmore, D.C., 2000. Political skill at work. Organizational Dynamics 28 (4), 25–37]. We observed that effective plant managers possessed a configuration of dispositional traits (self-motivation, sense of humility, and affability), systematically employed interpersonal behaviors (creating accountability, leading by example, and developing trust), and focused on managerial processes (stretch goals, influencing and learning from below, and empowering direct reports). By juxtaposing the political skill and power literatures, we propose a theory of plant manager effectiveness as a combination of political skill and the use of unobtrusive and systemic power to achieve both affective and substantive outcomes.     

Buyback programs in commercial fisheries: effciency versus transfers

A Cournot model of investment is used to characterize the pre- and post-buyback investment equilibrium for vessels operating in a total-allowable-catch-regulated fishery. Welfare effects – the net welfare gains or losses and the distributional effects – that may be expected from vessel buyback programs are identifed. Net welfare effects depend on the ability of remaining vessels to replace buyback capital, the speed of capital replacement, and capital investment irreversibility. Net welfare effects are likely to be positive only under exceptional technological and capital-market conditions. A brief review of the British Columbia Pacific Salmon Revitalization Plan is presented to anchor the theoretical model. JEL Classification: Q28, D24
Les auteurs utilisent un modèle d;qgainvestissement à la Cournot pour analyser la situation d;qga´equilibre d'investissement avant et après le rachat de vaisseaux opérant dans des pêches où le total des prises permises est réglementé. Les effets de bien-être – les effets nets de gains ou de pertes et les effets de redistribution – qu;qgaon peut anticiper de programmes de rachats de vaisseaux sont identifiés Les effets nets de bien-être dépendent de la capacité des vaisseaux qui restent en service à remplacer le capital racheté, de la vitesse avec laquelle le capital est remplacé, et de l'irréversibilité de la capitalisation. Les effets nets de bien-être sont susceptibles d'être positifs seulement dans des conditions exceptionnelles sur le plan technologique et pour ce qui est du marché du capital. Les auteurs examinent le plan de revitalisation du saumon du Pacifique de la Colombie Britannique pour donner un point d;qgaancrage au modèle théorique.     

Returning to work after disability

After a workplace injury or disability, there is a period of hardship and adjustment for the injured party as well as all stakeholders in the workers' compensation process. Ultimately, however, return to work is considered. The author reviews this often challenging exercise from the Canadian perspective and stresses the need for timely intervention, honest communication, the coordination of information and resources--and the need for flexibility. A case study on low back pain is included.