Anne M. Lofaso

Anne Marie Lofaso
Born October 23, 1965
Nationality American
Fields Labor law, Employment Law
Institutions West Virginia University
Alma mater University of Oxford
University of Pennsylvania
Harvard Law School
Spouse Jim Heiko

Anne Marie Lofaso (born October 23, 1965) is Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development and a professor at the West Virginia University College of Law. In 2010, she was named WVU College of Law Professor of the Year. She is also a four-time recipient of the WVU College of Law faculty-scholarship award.[1]

Academic career

In 1996, Lofaso served as a lecturer for St. Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, where she gave tutorials to law students in British labour law and employment discrimination law. In August 2001, Lofaso began teaching comparative and international work law and appellate advocacy as an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law. Later, she moved into full-time academia as an associate professor and was promoted to professor in 2011. Dean Joyce McConnell appointed Lofaso to the position of Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, effective July 1, 2011.[1] In early 2011, Lofaso became a researcher for the Employment Policy Research Network.

Lofaso’s Theory of Work Law: The Autonomous Dignified Worker

Lofaso has spent the past fifteen years developing a jurisprudential basis for workers’ rights. In her view, workers’ rights must be grounded in two values: autonomy and dignity. In her first tenure piece, Toward a Foundational Theory of Workers’ Rights: The Autonomous Dignified Worker, published in the University of Missouri Law Review, Lofaso began to build that foundational theory.[2] Lofaso draws on Raz’s theory of autonomy—to become part author of one’s life—and on Dworkin’s theory of dignity to argue that workplace laws should reflect those values. In Lofaso’s view, although government is typically the most coercive force in most people’s lives, the accumulation of private power is a close second. Accordingly, the law should play a role in protecting workers from those coercive forces (thereby promoting the autonomy and dignity of working-class people) by encouraging concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid. The practice of collective bargaining is, for example, one way of liberating the working and middle classes. Lofaso continues that theme in a recent article, In Defense of Public Sector Unions, published in the Hofstra Law Review.[3] There she defends the role that public and private-sector unions play not only in liberating the working classes, but also in educating working-class people in how to be model citizens who can participate in a democracy. By contrast, Lofaso views the accumulation of economic power in the private sector as threatening a well-functioning democracy.

In September Massacre, a white paper published by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy,[4] and a recent article, The Persistence of Union Repression in an Era of Recognition, published in the Maine Law Review,[5] Lofaso continues the theme of government and private sources of coercing working-class people. Lofaso exposes the coercive force of government, which she contends has narrowed the rights of working people in the post-New-Deal era in partial response to the pressure exerted by the private sector. Lofaso continues that theme in her article, The Vanishing Employee, published by the Florida International Law Review, by showing how each branch of government has contributed to eroding workers’ rights primarily by narrowing the statutory definition of protected employees.[6]

Family

Lofaso is married to Jim Heiko, a statistician.[7] She is also the great-granddaughter of the American playwright and composer, George M. Cohan.[8]

Publications

Books

Selected Scholarly Articles

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Anne Lofaso's Faculty Page
  2. ↑ Toward a Foundational Theory of Workers’ Rights: The Autonomous Dignified Worker, 76 U.M.K.C. L. REV. 1 (2007), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=975040
  3. ↑ In Defense of Public Sector Unions, 28 HOFSTRA LAB. L. J. 303 (2011)
  4. ↑ September Massacre: The Latest Battle in the War on Workers’ Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (2008), http://www.acslaw.org/files/ACS%20September%20Massacre.pdf, available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1133607; reprinted in A Fresh Start for a New Administration: Reforming Law and Justice Policies (American Constitution Society for Law and Policy 2008)
  5. ↑ The Persistence of Union Repression in an Era of Recognition, 62 ME. L. REV. 199 (2010), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1449552
  6. ↑ The Vanishing Employee: Putting the Autonomous Dignified Union Worker Back To Work, 5 FIU L. REV. 497 (2010) (solicited article for law review symposium: Whither the Board? The National Labor Relations Act at 75), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1797984
  7. ↑ Wedding Announcement, The New York Times, Style Section, available at http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/08/style/anne-lofaso-james-heiko.html
  8. ↑ The 2012 Irish-American Heritage Hall of Fame Invitation, available at http://www.dailybag.com/biz/irish-american-heritage-center-chicago
  9. ↑ Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in 21st Century Sports Law'
  10. ↑ A Practitioner’s Guide to Appellate Advocacy
  11. ↑ Religion in the Public Schools: A Road Map for Avoiding Lawsuits and Respecting Parents' Legal Rights

External links