Restatement of the Law, Employment Law: As Adopted and Promulgated by the American Law Institute at Washington D.C., May 21, 2014
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Description
It is always exciting and somewhat unsettling to witness the emergence of a new field. Traditional legal doctrines that had long guided particular transactions begin to be discarded. Are these rules just evolving or is a new field emerging? It is often hard to tell. Employment Law, of course, has been recognized as a separate field for quite a long time now, but it reaches its maturity with the publication of this Restatement. In March 2000, when Professor Samuel Estreicher of new York University wrote his initial proposal for a Restatement of Employment Law, he noted that the treatment of employment issues in other Restatements, including Agency, Torts, Contracts, and Unfair Competition, was no longer adequate, principally as a result of the decline of private-sector collective bargaining, the growing body of exceptions to at-will employments, the changing nature of the employment relationship, and the more sustained focus on employee privacy rights and post-employment restraints. These topics have become even more salient since then. Now, there is an authoritative document to provide much-needed guidance to practitioners and the courts. Of course, it takes a village to produce a Restatement. The ALI is enormously grateful to a very large number of individuals who made the success of this project possible. Our most heartfelt gratitude goes to Chief Reporter Estreicher, who directed this project with enormous dedication, encyclopedic knowledge, great savvy, and a real commitment to getting things rights. The Reporters Matthew Bodie of Saint Louis University, Michael Harper of Boston University, and Stewart Schwab of Cornell University performed yeoman service, taking the lead on particular Chapters and contributing great energy and expertise. As is the ALI’s norm, we had vigorous debates over many years in the Council and at Annual Meetings. The final product is far stronger because of the close reading and reflection of thousands of participants throughout a decade. And, as Reporters graciously not in their Preface, even after its final approval, this Restatement continued to benefit from the careful editing of a number of particularly devoted Council members and of the ALI’s terrific editorial staff. It is fitting that the final approval of this Restatement took place at the 2014 Annual Meeting, when my predecessor, Professor Lance Liebman, completed an enormously successful 15-year tenure as ALI Director. Employment Law is one of Professor Liebman’s academic fields, and he took great interest and great pride in this project. This Restatement is another very well-deserved feather in his cap.
Publication Date
2015
Recommended Citation
Estreicher, Samuel; Bodie, Matthew T.; Harper, Michael C.; and Schwab, Stewart J., "Restatement of the Law, Employment Law: As Adopted and Promulgated by the American Law Institute at Washington D.C., May 21, 2014" (2015). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 202.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/202
