Catherine Fisk

Now hiring, for a one-day job: the gig economy hits retail

Catherine Fisk quoted by The Washington Post, May 4, 2018

“If a restaurant has dishwashers, cooks, busboys, servers — those people are employees, they have a fair number of protections under employment law, including a minimum wage, overtime pay and family medical leave,” said Catherine Fisk. … “What is at risk for all of these Snag workers is that they are potentially entitled to none of that if they are treated as independent contractors.”

Bracing for a Supreme Court attack, labor unions make plans to survive

Catherine Fisk quoted by ThinkProgress, Jan. 18, 2018

“There are a few examples of unions in different states — in right-to-work states — that I believe have experimented with not handling individual grievances,” Fisk told ThinkProgress. Whether unions could (or should) also negotiate contracts exclusively on behalf of dues-paying members is a “harder question.”

Outgoing labor board chairman leaves with gun blazing

Catherine Fisk quoted by Daily Journal (registration required), Dec. 29, 2017

“We now seem to have settled into a pattern in which Republican-majority boards overrule any decisions on issues that are highly salient to the Chamber of Commerce and business groups,” stated Catherine Fisk. … “And Democratic-majority boards then overrule those decisions on issues salient to labor, and back again.”

Compelled association

Catherine Fisk quoted by Slate, Oct. 9, 2017

As professors Catherine Fisk and Margaux Poueymirou have persuasively argued, though, that if the Supreme Court holds that compulsory fair share fees are unconstitutional because they require non–union members to spend money on political causes with which they disagree, then compelling unions to expend their own scarce resources advocating for the benefit of nonmembers would similarly be unconstitutional “on the court’s own analysis.”

Renowned civil rights lawyer, adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. joins Berkeley Law staff

David Oppenheimer, Catherine Fisk, Savala Trepczynski, Leti Volpp quoted by The Daily Californian, Oct. 5, 2017

“He can teach our students what it means to have a judge’s perspective on litigation and on law as a tool for social change,” said David Oppenheimer. … “He can teach them much about the meaning of constitutional rights in real terms, not as a matter of theory but as a matter of practice.”

“What he brings to campus is … a lifetime of experience as a lawyer and as a judge, using law creatively, carefully … to make the world a better place and to make the law more just,” said campus law professor Catherine Fisk.

“We focus on exploring privilege, power, subordination, and equity and we support our students’ learning outside the classroom,” said Savala Trepczynski. … “As a judge, he’s always been uniquely willing and able to stand up for the least powerful among us.”

“He’s a legal giant and a fantastic juror, and Berkeley is incredibly lucky to have him,” Volpp said. “He was a role model in terms of how to live a life and how to be a good person, as well as how to be a good lawyer.”