LEGAL ISSUES IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
CALL FOR PAPERS
PROPOSAL DEADLINE: October 1, 2024
FINAL PAPER DEADLINE: June 1, 2025
Issue in Research in Human Resource Management Peer Reviewed Series
Editors:
In the United States and most industrialized countries, employment laws, regulations,
and/or the risk of litigation have the potential to impact virtually every aspect of human
resource management (HRM). Organizations in the U.S. have been buffeted by recent
court decisions changing how existing laws are interpreted (for example, Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964). Congress and state legislatures have enacted new laws that,
in some respects, limit the manner in which organizations recruit, evaluate, pay, and
discipline their employee. It is difficult to think of any aspect of human resource
management that has not been impacted by new, revised, or abandoned legal
doctrines.
For example, in the United States, the 2023 opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court
regarding affirmative action in college admissions has dramatically altered the ways in
which business and nonprofit organizations approach their efforts to diversify their
workforce. Changes in federal compensation laws have forced a rethinking of how work
is done and by whom. Decisions expanding the definitions of "employee" and
"employer" in the National Labor Relations Act have exposed a wide array of
businesses to union organizing in sectors that historically have not been unionized.
Laws in certain states that restrict the treatment of transgender individuals have
influenced the way that businesses address the concerns of these employees. Privacy
laws and regulations in the European Union and in China have forced changes in HRM
practices as well.
Some sectors have been influenced more heavily than others. The "culture wars"
struggles concerning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and the rights of and
protections for individuals confronting gender identity and sexual orientation concerns
have placed educational organizations at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels in the
spotlight. The rights of teachers and professors to control their classroom
communications, the curriculum they teach, and the books they assign have been under
attack. But the legal changes go well beyond educational organizations. Human
resource professionals across the organizational spectrum understandably may feel
whipsawed between their professional obligations to support and develop talent on the
one hand, and to monitor and respond to what may appear to be escalating demands
for change from both within and outside the organization.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
The challenges of managing employment litigation risk across countries-in
general and for multinational companies
The use of "private law" (e.g. corporate codes of conduct or other forms of
contracting) in establishing transnational legal standards within multinational
enterprises
The impact of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard on corporate DEI
initiatives
The effect of revised wage and hour regulations on classification of employees
Revised EEOC definitions of "sex" following the Supreme Court's Bostock
decision
Effect of laws banning abortion on employee health benefits
Risk management: what's new and how can human resources support its
success?
The impact of pay transparency laws on human resource compensation
programs
Examples of laws requiring equal pay for similar work and their effect on
employee recruitment and reward systems
Privacy laws: what do they mean for HRM and what is HR's role in the
implementation of privacy protections, either in in the U.S. or globally?
May employers restrict employee "free speech" in public organizations? What are
the limitations?
Provide an interdisciplinary critique of HRM "best practice" (examining the
recommended practice from both behavioral science and legal perspectives)
Propose a new construct that you believe plays a significant role in the law's
impact on HRM, or formally explicate a construct that has been only loosely
referenced in the literature to date ("legal culture" or "legal climate" or "litigation
mentality")
Examine the role that legal considerations play in current models of strategic
HRM. What role should legal considerations play in the strategic HRM process,
and to what extent is this reflected in current models?
Critique the legal literature's treatment of HRM practices or the HRM profession.
In what ways does the legal literature misunderstand or mischaracterize the field
of HRM, and what are the potential consequences?
Religion and employee rights-how is HR navigating this challenge?
New challenges in managerial training and development
How can mentoring go wrong and what is HR's role in fixing it?
Submission Instructions
Submissions should be limited to conceptual papers, systematic or integrative literature
reviews with theory, conceptual development, or research implications, critiques of the
literature or the field of HRM with implications, comparative legal analysis of legal
developments and their implications for HR practice, new theoretical models or research
frameworks, or meta-analyses. In a few cases, empirical research will also be accepted
for this special issue (contact Mark Roehling for approval.)
The editors would like to review your potential topic so we ask that you email a short (1
If your proposal is accepted, then you should email your final paper to Mark Roehling
Research in HRM is a peer reviewed research series, so all papers are double blind
reviewed by two subject matter experts and the editors. They will determine if your
paper is accepted for publications. It is indexed in Cabell's, PsyInfo, etc.
Due date June 1, 2025
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Dianna Stone
Universities of New Mexico, Albany, & Virginia Tech
Placitas NM
(505) 867-5370
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