This month, we are focussing on finding the best Internet resources for doing labor law research. One of the best web resources can be found at Genie Tyburski's Virtual Chase web site under the subject heading of Labor Law. This site includes links to federal agencies, federal laws and regulations, national labor and employment organizations, and some major government publications. If your labor law question is federal, you might want to start here.

The University of Washington Gallagher Law Library also has a site on Research in Labor and Employment Law, written by Mary Whisner. Most of the resources listed are written materials, but it does include some web site links, including Washington State links to agency decisions. It also contains a good list of the printed resources available for researching Labor and Employment Law in Washington State.

LLRX, Law Library Resource Xchange, contains a guide called Labor and Employment Law Resources on the Internet 2002. It contains many links and includes an evaluation of the links it provides.

Another web site is Findlaw's Labor Law links. This collection of links includes the major federal links, and some unique resources. They are organized by categories such as databases, government agencies, journals, newsletters and articles, laws and government gocuments, discussion groups, outlines, and software. Unfortunately, many of the links have not been updated and display "page not found" messages. Also, the site includes advertising, so if you have an aversion to pop-up ads, you may want to avoid this web site. Findlaw is owned by Thomson Publishing and directs the user to Westlaw if needed.

Thomson's competitor, Lexis Publishing, includes a list of Labor and Employment Law links on its free web site, LexisOne. The LexisOne labor links are organized slightly differently. The categories listed are Practice Resources, Codes and Statutes, Federal Agencies, Legal Publications, Legal Community, Legal Subject Outlines, Legal Technology and Legal Research. These links have the same problem as Findlaw’s. Many of the web sites have changed their address, but the links have not been changed. The Legal Research category directs you to LexisOne’s free case law search engine. If you wish to search further, you will be directed to the paid Lexis site.

The best overall web site for labor law research is the Cornell Legal Information Institute's site about Employment Law. The employment law resources are subdivided under collective bargaining, employment, employment discrimination, unemployment compensation, labor law, pensions, workplace safety, and worker's compensation, among others. Each of these categories contains federal statutes and regulations, judicial decisions, state statutes, international materials, agency links, and other references. Each page is organized in the same way, so it is easy to navigate the web links.

Start your labor law research at the web sites above. These are the web sites with the most comprehensive collection of Labor Law links.

(Revised 10/19/2009)