This month we are focussing on finding the best Internet resources for doing labor law research. One of the best web pathfinders can be found at Genie Tyburski's Virtual Chase web site. The web address for the Legal Research Guide on Labor and Employment Law is http://www.virtualchase.com/topics/labor_law.shtml. 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 Law Library has a Legal Research Guide, written by Mary Whisner, posted on its web site at http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/labemp.htm#online. 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 written in 2002 containing many links. The guide is at http://www.llrx.com/features/laborlaw.htm. It includes an evaluation of the links it provides.

Another web site is Findlaw's Labor and Employment Law links found at: http://www.findlaw.com/01topics/27labor/index.html. 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 Documents, Other Discussion Groups, Outlines, and Software. There are two problems with this web site. First, many of the links have not been updated, so when the user chooses a link he or she gets a page not found, or page not available message. Second, 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 links on its free web site, LexisOne. The links are at http://www.lexisone.com/legalresearch/legalguide/practice_areas/labor_employment_law.htm.
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. Labor Law is in the Employment Law subject heading. The web site location is http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/index.html. The Employment Law resources are subdivided under Collective Bargaining, Employment Law, Employment Discrimination, Unemployment Compensation, Labor Law, Pensions, Workplace Safety, and Workers Compensation.

Each of these categories contains Federal Statutes, Federal Regulations and Federal Judicial Decisions, followed by State Statutes, International Materials, Agency links, and other references. As each page is organized in the same way, it is easy to navigate the web links and best of all; most of the links appear to be current.

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