Sem: Public Employment Law (LAW-700-001)
Vaughn
Meets: 03:00 PM - 04:50 PM (W) - Room 627
Enrolled: 10 / Limit: 14
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
Learn how public health and safety disasters are linked to public employment laws. Examine how public employment law influences the development and implementation of public policy. Ethics, whistleblower protection, the right to disobey illegal orders, the protections of public employees from improper disciplinary or personnel actions and the history of civil service law in the United States are among the topics discussed in the seminar. The seminar addresses several questions including: Are changes in federal employment law necessary to make the government more accountable and to assure the rule of law? How should concerns with national security influence protections for federal employees? Are protections for federal employees impediments to effective management? What protections are available to federal employee whistleblowers at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and at national security agencies? Should special protection be given to federal scientists? How does public employment law justify the exercise of public power by unelected government officials? Should a public employee be permitted to refuse to obey an order the employee believes is illegal or unconstitutional? How does public employment law address fraud and corruption in the public service? We begin this discussion by looking at a chicken processing plant in North Carolina that sells its products to local grocery stores in the Washington, D.C. area and to restaurants like Chicken Out. The seminar rests on the preparation and defense of a research paper. Students may use it to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement. Students who have satisfied the upper-level writing requirement may produce a shorter paper. Members of the seminar will work together by reading and commenting on all of the research papers. The content of approximately forty percent of the seminar will be determined by the topics chosen for these papers by students. Each student will be the editor of another student paper. The goal of the seminar is for each student to produce the best possible research paper. If you have any questions, please contact Professor Vaughn at 202 274 4242 or at vaughn@wcl.american.edu
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
No textbooks are required for this course.
First Class Readings
The first class readings will be available on the MyWCL site for this course.
Syllabus
Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)