Employment & Labor Law Research Guide

Locating Secondary Sources

Location information is provided for each secondary source listed below. You may also wish to consult the Guide to Online Secondary Sources: Employment/Labor Law for additional secondary sources.

Treatises & Texts

Treatises and texts include discussions of the law and corresponding citations to important or seminal cases and relevant regulations. To search for books held by thousands of libraries from across the country, search WorldCat Items that you locate on WorldCat can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

• CCH Labor Relations: Compilation of the laws and regulations, as well as explanation and analysis in the fields of labor relations, employment regulations, wages, hours, and more.
• Employment Law by Elizabeth Aylott: a practical guide for practitioners with information on key areas such as: immigration, employing temporary staff, changing contracts, discrimination, equal pay, and family rights.
• Employment Law by Jennifer Ross: a study aid for students studying for exams that includes useful summary sections and information on key cases.
• Employment Law in a Nutshell by Robert N. Covington: provides an overview of a number of areas, including: establishing and ending the employment relationship, protection of employee privacy and reputation, discrimination, regulation of wages and hours, employee physical safety, fringe benefits, and employee duties of loyalty. 
• Labor & Employment Arbitration: Guide that covers major substantive and procedural aspects of labor and employment arbitration and provides detailed discussion on sexual harassment, workplace violence, drugs and alcohol, leaves of absence, disabilities, subcontracting, bargaining unit disputes, and special arbitration issues in selected industries.
• LGBTQ Employment Law Practice Guide: Guide on the legal and practical issues that arise in employment law as relating to LGBTQ individuals and provides federal and state-specific litigation guidance on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity and tips on drafting culturally competent workplace policies. 
• Occupational Safety & Health Law: Compliance & Practice: Overview of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) topics, including inspections, violations, and enforcement.
• Wage & Hour Law: Compliance & Practice: Complete guide on wage and hour law and family and medical leave law.

Journal Articles

Law journals and articles may be located on ProQuest, HeinOnline, Lexis, and Westlaw. See below for major journals on Labor & Employment Law:

• Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law: Located on HeinOnline (full coverage from vol. 1 starting in 1976) and Westlaw (select coverage from vol. 6 starting in 1984 and full coverage from vol. 15 starting in 1994).
• Employee Relations Law Journal: Located on ProQuest (full coverage from 1987).
• Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal: Located on Westlaw (full coverage from vol. 1 starting in 1997).
• Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal: Located on Westlaw (select coverage from vol. 2 starting in 1984 and full coverage from vol. 10 starting in 1993).
• Industrial and Labor Relations Review: Located on HeinOnline (full coverage from vol. 1 starting in 1983) and Westlaw (select coverage from vol. 44 starting in 1991 and full coverage from vol. 47 starting in 1994).
• CCH Labor Law Journal: Located on Westlaw.

U.S. Code

Labor & Employment statutes are included under titles 5, 8, 26, 29, 30, 38, 39 and 42. The U.S. Code can be accessed on Lexis (U.S. Code Service or "U.S.C.S.") or Westlaw (U.S. Code Annotated "U.S.C.A"). Titles may be accessed via the Table of Contents.

You may also wish to consult our research guide on Finding Federal Primary Law

Proposed Federal Legislation

The following websites and databases have information on pending and recently enacted legislation.

Federal Legislative History

Federal legislative history may include bills, Congressional Record debates, reports, and hearings. The following websites and databases have compilations of legislative history. You may also wish to consult our LibGuide on Federal Legislative History Research.

Federal Regulations

You may wish to start your research by reading our research guide on Finding Federal Primary Law Federal agency regulations appear on the following websites and databases:

Case Law

Both Lexis and Westlaw include federal court decisions pertaining to Labor & Employment Law. To access relevant cases, browse and select "Practice Area" > "Labor and Employment" (Lexis) or "Employment" (Westlaw).

You may also wish to consult our research guide on Finding Federal Primary Law

Administrative Decisions

Lexis and Westlaw contain administrative materials and agency decisions on Employment & Labor Law. Bloomberg also contains National Labor Relationships Board ("NLRB") decisions and orders.

Government Websites

• Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Employee Benefits Security Organization (EBSO)

• Employment & Training Administration (ETA)

• Federal Labor Relations Authority

• Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)  

• Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA)

• National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)  

• National Mediation Board  

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)  

• Social Security Administration

• U.S. Department of Labor  

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)  

• U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)  

• U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board 

Organizations

• ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law  

• AFL-CIO Labor Union  

• American Arbitration Association  

• Association of Corporate Counsel Employment & Labor Law Network  

• Employee Benefit Research Institute  

• Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA)  

• National Academy of Arbitrators  

• National Employment Lawyers Association  

• National Workrights Institute 

Trends and Analyses

• Employment Law Tracker: Wolters Kluwer tracker of Department of Labor decisions and important case law.
• Employment Analysis by Westlaw: Legal updates from Westlaw on employment law.
• Law360 on Employment: Daily updates from Law360 on employment law.

Statistics

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Official site of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the United States Department of Labor. Includes information by subject and various data tools, including statistical resources.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration Statistics: Official site of OSHA, a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor. Includes data sets on topics such as: inspection, COVID-19, and hygiene.
• Mine Safety and Health Administration Statistics: Official site of MSHA, an agency of the United States Department of Labor. Includes current and historical data for individual mines, including reports about accidents, injuries, employment and coal production totals.
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Statistics: Official site of EEOC, a federal agency charged to enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. Includes statistics on enforcement and litigation and employment.
• National Compensation Survey - Wages: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides wage data for occupations in all localities nationwide.
• National Labor Relations Board Annual Reports: NLRB published reports from 1936 through 2009.  
• Occupational Employment Statistics: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides annual employment and wage estimates for nearly 800 jobs and occupations.   
• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis provides reports on employment and personal income by state and other regional localities.