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Alumni Spotlight

Michael Dalrymple JD'02

Michael Dalrymple JD’02

Attorney, Ice Miller LLP

“My Indiana Law classes provided a foundation of language and familiarity I have built upon as a practicing attorney. The professors’ real-world experience gives the law more meaning. I left Bloomington with a working knowledge of the various statutes and continue to learn how each applies to clients’ issues.”

Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD)

Areas of Focus

Labor and Employment Law

The employment relationship is probably one of the most important legal relationships in most people’s lives. Employment relationships serve not only as the primary source of support for most people and their families, but also as an important source of social relationships, personal identity, and personal fulfillment. The law has a lot to say about the employment relationship, including:

  • When an employment relationship exists and when it doesn’t
  • What conditions always apply to it and what can never apply
  • The responsibilities of employer to employer
  • The duties of employee to employer
  • The ways in which an employment relationship can be ended, both voluntarily and involuntarily

The study of labor and employment law is generally divided into three general subject areas: employment law, labor law, and employment discrimination law.

  • Employment law generally refers to the law governing individual employment contracts and individual statutory rights and responsibilities. Common employment law topics include:

    • Establishing the employment relationship
    • The employment “at-will” doctrine and exceptions to this doctrine
    • Covenants not to compete
    • Protection of intellectual property, minimum wage and maximum hour legislation
    • Unemployment compensation
    • Workers’ compensation
    • Occupational safety and health
    • Employee retirement income security

  • Labor law generally refers to the law governing union organizing, collective bargaining agreements, and the rights and responsibilities of unions and employers in a collective bargaining relationship. Common labor law topics include:

    • The right to organize and union organizing campaigns
    • Appropriate bargaining units, collective bargaining, and bargaining in “good faith”
    • Recognition elections
    • Strikes and lockouts
    • Enforcing the collective agreement
    • Union’s duty to fairly represent the employees

  • Employment discrimination law generally refers to the law prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of such characteristics as race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age or disability. Because it deals largely with individual rights and responsibilities, employment discrimination law is a subset of employment law, but it is generally deemed important enough and different enough in its issues and analysis that it is treated as its own subject area.

Students who plan to practice in the area of labor and employment law should probably take at least one course in each of these three subject areas. In addition, if you plan to specialize in one of the three areas listed above, you should try to take all of the courses in that subject area. Even if you’re not planning to practice specifically in the area of labor and employment law, a good introduction to the basics of labor and employment law is useful for any practitioner engaged in general practice or the practice of corporate law or immigration law.

Courses

After the required first-year courses, students may select from a broad range of offerings in the field of labor and employment law, including several externship and clinical opportunities.

Core Courses
Related Courses
Student Activities and Opportunities
  • Each year, one or two students have their way paid to the National Law Students Workers’ Rights Conference hosted by the Peggy Browning fund and the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C.
  • Students also regularly participate in the Peggy Browning Fellowship (working in the summer for organizations such as the AFL-CIO, the Chicago Newspaper Guild, AFSCME, and Friends of Farm Workers, Inc.); summer clerkships with the UAW Legal Department in Detroit, Michigan; the AFL-CIO’s Law Student Union Summer; and clerkships with the International Labor Organization (ILO).
  • The Business and Law Society sponsors lectures and informal discussions and provides members with a forum to discuss their ideas, as well as opportunities to meet practicing business lawyers.
  • The Elmore Entrepreneurship Law Clinic provides a capstone experience for students enrolled in joint degree programs in law and business.
Related Programs at Indiana University—Bloomington
  • Labor Studies Program, School of Social Work: Labor Studies is an interdisciplinary field that deals with work, the workplace, and workers and their organizations. It draws from the fields of history, economics, industrial relations, political science, law, sociology, communication, and philosophy, as well as other disciplines. As an academic discipline, Labor Studies educates workers and future workers to strengthen the labor movement and provide a richer understanding of its functions in society. Labor Studies offers a number of courses interesting to those considering a career in labor or employment law.
  • School of Public and Environmental Affairs: The School of Public and Environmental Affairs offers a number of courses of interest to students interested in public-sector employment concerns, including Human Resource Management in the Public Sector and Labor Relations in the Public Sector.
  • Kelley School of Business: The highly ranked Kelley School of Business offers courses in human resources and management relevant to labor and employment lawyers.
Faculty

Professor Terry Bethel is highly regarded for both his scholarship and practical expertise in the area of labor arbitration. He is author of numerous articles on labor law and co-author of The Common Law of the Workplace (with Theodore St. Antoine). Washington DC: BNA, 1998. Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, Willard and Margaret Carr Professor of Labor and Employment Law, is the co-author of two widely used texts in labor and employment law: Labor and Employment Law: Cases and Materials, 3rd ed. (with Robert J. Rabin, et al.), St. Paul, MN: West Group, 2002, and Legal Protection for the Individual Employee, 3rd ed. (with Matthew W. Finkin, et al.), St. Paul, MN: West Group, 2002. Professor Dau-Schmidt is currently the chair of the Labor Law Group, a national association of labor and employment law professors who meet tri-annually to plan course books on labor and employment law. Julia Lamber teaches courses in civil rights and employment discrimination in addition to supervising the Law School’s judicial externship program.