Employer fetal protection policies at work: Balancing reproductive hazards with Title VII rights
Perhaps one of the most compelling divisive workplace issues of the decade surrounds the use of increasingly complex chemicals in work environments which raises legal, economic, medical and moral concerns, especially as employers adopt employment policies meant to avoid the specter of massive tort liability for workplace exposure injuries to workers or third parties. In the case, /International Union v. Johnson Controls, the Supreme Court struck down an employer's policy prohibiting fertile women from work involving exposure to the well-known teratogen, lead, where the employer could not produce a defense to this facially discriminatory policy. The authors analyze the Court's opinion and concurrences, and note the important tensions still needed resolution after the case: namely the public policy mandate to protect all populations from workplace toxins; to eradicate toxins from the workplace; and to promote worker and safety health of both men and women.
Pregnancy Discrimination and Maternity Leave Laws
This article examines the current status of federal and state law regarding job preservation for the period of pregnancy-related disability. It also examines the issues of partial wage replacement and parental leave for child-rearing purposes. The thesis is that despite the federal laws prohibiting pregnancy discrimination, the rights of pregnant workers remain far from uniform or extensive. After analyzing state maternity and parental leave laws, recent United States Supreme Court pronouncements concerning such legislation, and state unemployment compensation provisions, the authors recommend a new national priority for parental leave with some wage replacement.
Anomalous Annealing Behavior of Arsenic Implanted Silicon as a Function of Dose and Energy
Anomalous annealing behavior of damage in As implanted Si has been investigated by channeling effect measurements. Room temperature As implants with doses from 1014 to 2 × 1016cm-2 at energies ranging from 50 to 250 keV into Si were annealed over the range of 600°C to 1100°C. Anneal temperatures ≥ 950°C reduce the disorder for ion doses of 0.5 to 1 × 1016 cm-2 at energies between 50 and 250 keV. Anomalously high residual disorder was found for the intermediate doses of 2 × 1014 to 2 × 10/cm2 implanted above 100 keV. For this intermediate dose, annealing of implants performed at liquid nitrogen temperatures did not show significant reduction in this damage. However implants at 200° to 300°C indicate a lower amount of damage compared to the room temperature implants.