This law school casebook includes materials dealing with the labor and employment law rights of public employees. It covers constitutional rights, civil service, tenure, overtime, pension, and bankruptcy laws specific to public employees, and also public employee collective bargaining statutes and activities of public-sector unions and employers. It emphasizes how the law governing the public sector workplace differs from the private sector. It also focuses on how public-sector labor rules vary significantly among states (and the federal sector) in important areas including employee coverage, union organizing, the duty to bargain, scope of bargaining, impasse resolution (strikes and alternatives to strikes), bargaining units, and grievance arbitration. The book facilitates classroom examination of different policies, issues, and concerns that arise when the employer is a government entity.


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: American Casebook Series
Publication Date: 05/23/2022

Martin H. Malin, Chicago Kent College of Law

Ann C. Hodges, University of Virginia School of Law

Joseph Slater, University of Toledo College of Law

Jeffrey M. Hirsch, University of North Carolina School of Law

Michael M. Oswalt, Wayne State University Law School

Anne Marie Lofaso, West Virginia University College of Law

CasebookPlus™

This title is available in our CasebookPlus format. CasebookPlus provides support beyond your classroom lectures and materials by offering additional digital resources to you and your students. Anchored by faculty-authored formative self-assessments keyed to our most popular casebooks, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class – on their own, outside of the classroom, with no extra work on your part. CasebookPlus combines three important elements:

  • A new print or digital casebook
  • Access to a downloadable eBook with the ability to highlight and add notes
  • 12-month access to a digital Learning Library complete with:
Multiple-choice self-assessment questions, including:
  • Chapter questions keyed to the casebook
  • Black Letter Law questions (available in select subjects)
  • Subject area review questions for end of semester use
Essay and short answer questions with sample answers and expert commentary, in 1L and select upper-level subjects

Leading digital study aids, an outline starter, and audio lectures in select subjects

Students can still utilize CasebookPlus digital resources if they’ve purchased a used book or are renting their text by purchasing the Learning Library at westacademic.com.

With CasebookPlus, you can customize your students’ learning experience and monitor their performance. The quiz editor allows you to create your own custom quiz set, suppress specific quiz questions or quiz sets, and time-release quiz questions. Additionally, the flexible, customized reporting capability helps you evaluate your students’ understanding of the material and can also help your school demonstrate compliance with the new ABA Assessment and Learning Outcomes standards.

The book has been both updated and expanded. It has been updated to include the many significant changes to public-sector labor laws enacted since 2016 and the policy debates associated with these changes. Other sections (e.g., materials on constitutional and statutory protections for public employees and various labor law issues) have also been updated with new cases and new rules. Sections on tenure, civil service, and scope of bargaining laws have been updated to reflect recent attacks on these rights. The book has been expanded to include significant material on public sector law and policy issues related to the Supreme Court’s decision striking down fair share fees, the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccines and virtual work, the #RedforEd teacher walkouts, and the increasing public scrutiny of police unions.

Learn more about this series.