Chapter 7 examines the belief by some that affirmative action amounts to reverse racism and reverse sexism. The distinction between affirmative action and equal opportunity is described, as is the common belief that affirmative action involves quotas (quotas are illegal). Practices that undermine meritocracy in both college admissions and in employment are explored. These practices include legacy admissions, donors, and, in the context of employment, biases in job selection. Chapter 7 makes the case for the need of affirmative action because subtle forms of bias infiltrate all aspects of employment. The chapter critically examines the argument that diversity benefits organizations. The chapter ends with a discussion of goal-oriented versus process-oriented affirmative action plans, and other strategies to reduce bias in admissions and employment.

This chapter provides additional justifications for the human right to free internet access. It shows that today internet access is practically indispensable for having adequate opportunities for the exercise and enjoyment of socio-economic and cultural human rights. Examples from around the globe provide evidence for the internet’s practical systemic indispensability for human rights to, for example, education, health care, housing (adequate standard of living), finding work, and participation in cultural life. Specific attention is paid to the differing ways in which internet access matters in developed countries (where internet access is already widespread and public services generally available) versus developing societies (in which internet access is often lacking and universal public service provision is precarious. In developed countries, internet access greatly increases opportunities to use socio-economic human rights, thereby putting those who involuntarily remain offline at risk of social, economic, or cultural exclusion. By contrast, in developing countries internet access is sometimes the only way for at least some realisation of people’s socio-economic human rights.

, During the 1980s and early 1990s, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic swept the country, thousands of gay men and lesbians perished from AIDS-related infections. Their same-sex partners quickly discovered that they had no rights because the law did not recognize their relationships. Advocates consequently pressed municipalities to adopt domestic partnership programs, a concept that originated in union efforts to secure benefits for unmarried partners. In the 1980s, cities, towns, and counties around the country began offering both health benefits to their employees as well as registries where all couples could record their commitment. The total number of these programs were small, and the rights they offered were limited. However, they helped produce new debates over the nature and meaning of family. They also inspired queer workers in the private sector to demand domestic partnership benefits from their employers. By the mid-1990s, domestic partnership benefits had become a mainstay of corporate America.

This chapter discusses the rationale or “why” of public sector innovation. Understanding the “why” question is vital because, without a purpose, innovations may not be successful or not worth trying. Innovations benefit nations, organizations, and employees differently, so understanding rationales for innovation is vital. This chapter provides information about rationales for innovation while summarizing the historical background and different levels of analysis. For example, innovations at the national level can increase national competitiveness, job creation, social wellbeing, economic development, and growth. Innovations in public organizations can increase the quality of public services and citizen satisfaction with these services. Innovations at the organizational level can increase employee creativity and performance. This chapter provides compelling stories about how and why public organizations must innovate.

This chapter aims to provide recommendations for how colleges can best support working college students of immigrant origin. It examines which challenges these students encounter when juggling full-time studies with working 20 or more hours a week during the academic year. Drawing on findings from qualitative, semi-structured interviews with twenty-four undergraduate students of immigrant origin in the northeastern United States, we show that these students face a confluence of challenges. The participants experienced academic, emotional, and social difficulties resulting from a time deficit and found the unpredictability of work hours and schedules challenging. They reported stress, anxiety, emotional depletion, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and a lack of faculty support. We offer program and policy suggestions for higher education administrations and faculty to stem this confluence of challenges. These include gathering institutional data about the labor force engagement of their student population, vetting jobs on and near campus for their “student friendliness” (set time schedules and predictable, limited hours), and educating students about which jobs are student-friendly.

This chapter examines employment social enterprises (ESEs), organizations that provide employment opportunities to individuals marginalized and excluded in the labor market. Employment social enterprises employ chronically unemployed and underemployed individuals, including formerly incarcerated individuals, immigrants, and opportunity youth. This chapter begins by exploring the history, evolution, and prevalence of ESEs. We then highlight two exemplar ESEs to illustrate the design and demonstrate the impact of these organizations. After examining community power and psychological empowerment within ESEs, we explore different models of ESEs and identify topics for future research.

This chapter deals with Occupational Health and how to protect healthcare workers from acquiring infections (e.g. HAV, HBV, HIV, HCV, VZV, influenza, Covid-19, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, TB, diphtheria, meningococcal infection and tetanus) while at work. It describes how healthcare workers can be protected by providing pre-exposure vaccinations and post-exposure treatments, as well as discussing responses to outbreaks and routes of infection.

Evidence-based interventions include psychological and social treatments and modes of service delivery such as early intervention for psychosis teams. Family work and individual cognitive behaviour therapy are the psychological approaches that have been best researched but remain limited in availability: assessment, engagement, case conceptualisation and specific work with hallucinations, delusions and negative symptoms have been adapted for clinical practice. The goal is self-determined recovery that will take into account key physical and mental health and social concerns (e.g. accommodation, employment and relationships).

The second part of Volume Two starts with passages relating to the Black Death which ravaged the population in 1349. Knighton’s Chronicle records a series of facts about the impact of the plague. The Ordinance of Labourers, recorded in a Close Roll of 1349, states the new regulations governing the employment of rural and urban workers. These were aimed at curbing the increased power of workers now that many had died in the plague. The situation is seen from the perspective of the upper classes who needed servants but who did not wish to pay the higher wages demanded.

Access to Austrian employment law is dependent on whether an individual can be regarded as an ‘employee’. Essentially, the idiosyncratic protection provided by employment law is awarded based on a binary option: the subordinate ‘employee’ in contrast to the self-employed person. Intermediary categories – such as the ‘quasi-subordinate’ status – are mere exceptions, although with increasing importance.

Austrian law does not provide a given notion of the ‘employee’. The Austrian Civil Code came into force in 1812, when special protection for employees was not considered necessary.

Denmark is a Scandinavian country of 5.8 million inhabitants. It is a constitutional monarchy, and state powers are divided between the parliament (legislative), the government (executive), and the courts (judiciary). The rule of law is a fundamental principle in the Danish legal system. Denmark is one of the richest countries in the world, and presumably also among the happiest. In the area of digitalisation, Denmark is among the most digitalised countries in the EU as well as globally.