Law Case Review of Spangler vs. Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines

The majority opinion of the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines can be reasoned

The first amendment, which is considered the right to freedom of speech, is a misconception to many. Not all citizens, but some, think that because of the first amendment; they can say whatever they want. Although citizens of the United States have the right to freedom of speech, this freedom of speech is viewed differently by others. Which leads to confusion as to what can be said and what cannot be said. Both court cases: Tinker v. Des Moines, and Bethel v. Fraser involved the confusion and misunderstanding of this first amendment.

United States is one of the few nations that guarantees and protects freedom of expression of its citizens. Freedom of expression is defined as a right to voice ones beliefs and ideas without any harm. Under the Bill of Rights, the government has no power to restrict these unalienable rights. The First Amendment is exceedingly important to the liberty and freedom of individuals. It guarantees citizens the ability to express themselves, worship, voice their opinions, and rally to situations they disapprove of and want to be heard. A great amount of laws and cases pertain to adults and their freedom. It is often unrealized that adolescents and teenagers endure the same issues in their lives.

The Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines originated in Iowa in December 1965 when seven Des Moines high school students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. Ultimately they were suspended in which the student’s fathers sued the school district. The court case battled through the District Court, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. The ultimate ruling was that Des Moines School District violated the students First Amendment rights. Years later, in Oregon in 1990, teachers a McMinnville High School started a lawful strike and in response, the school district hired replacement teachers. Following, two students wore and distributed buttons and stickers with slogans supporting the strike. The students were suspended which led to the student’s parents suing the school district where the District Court provides a ruling. Similar to Tinker v. Des Moines, Chandler v. McMinnville was ruled that the school violated the students First Amendment rights of the students.

Benefits and Protections. (Revised 2013). United States Department of Labor online. Retrieved May 27, 2014 from http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmlaen.pdf

| An employer must provide an employee with his rights under the FMLA and is required to reinstate an eligible employee to the same or similarly equal job with the same benefits and salary upon return.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted to offer relief and protection to those workers

The case of Tinker vs. Des Moines demonstrated the need to find a balance for students and staff in schools to have protection under not just the first amendment, but all of them, while still giving schools authority. John Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt wore armbands to school to protest their hostilities for the Vietnam War. They were suspended from the school for wearing them. The school board decided it was too much of a disruption for the school. Eventually the case was then taken to court by the fathers of the protestors. The case Tinker vs. Des Moines is significant even today, for it shows that not always will constitutional rights win in the court of law.

The FMLA or The Family and Medical Leave Act allows eligible employees who work for companies that the Act applies to take unpaid, job-protected leave for family and or medical reasons. As stated on US Department of Labor’s website (2015), a covered employer must have 50 or more employees in 20 or more work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, including a joint employer or successor in interest to a covered employer. It may also be a public agency which includes local, state or Federal agencies, regardless of the number of employees that it employs. Eligible employees work for a covered

A group of students gathered for a meeting in December of 1965. They planned to show their support for peace in the Vietnam War. John Tinker and a group of his friends met at Christopher Eckhardt’s home in Des Moines. They all agreed to wear black armbands during the entirety of the holiday seasons and to not eat on the 16th of December and New Years Eve. Their school discovered the student's plan and decided to produce a policy that stated that any student wearing an armband who would not remove it if asked would be suspended. The school would only allow the students to return if they agreed to follow the new policy and remove the armbands. John Tinker’s sister, Christopher Eckhardt, and the other students who attended their meeting all wore the armbands to school. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended since they did not cooperate with the policy. Tinker’s parents sued the school for repressing their children's self-expression and opinions. They demanded that a law would be made to forbid the school from disciplining their children for their expressive actions.

Employers or employees skeptical of the FMLA focused on current Department of Labor regulations for needless burdens upon employers. The Society for Human Resource Management had arguments regarding the truth and legitimacy of requested leave. With those arguments, there were changes in the policy and procedures of being an employee in a company revisiting regulations. There was also a concern that employment law had failed to account for changes through employers and did not provide enough protection to family life. There were prominent congressional debates over the bill due to the potential loss of an employee/ parent who may be forced to quit their job in order to care for one of the four situations that FMLA covers. Investigators who took a survey of leave not only

For this article, we were asked to research a subject related to our academic studies. Since I am attending in hopes of getting a degree in Human Relations, I chose Family Medical Leave Act, FMLA, as my subject. I currently work in Human Resources and handle FMLA cases as part of my responsibilities; however, there is so much involved I struggle with always knowing the proper steps to take with each case. Therefore, for this assignment, I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity and choose a subject that would not only complete the assignment, but also help me in my work life.

Court cases like Martha Bull’s who reads “Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center had been negligent in treatment of Martha Bull, 76, who died at the nursing home April 7, 2008 after staff failed to act on a doctor 's orders to get her transferred to a hospital emergency room for treatment of severe abdominal pain,” are one of the many that support this disturbing stigma. Something as simple as a competent health provider, that was willing to see a task out into its completion could have been the saving grace for this women. For almost an entire twenty-four hours’ staff heard her cries of agony yet never made sure the proper paperwork was completed once it was filed. (Brantley, 1) In the case of Holder Vs. Beverly Enterprises Texas, Inc. an 83-year-old, bedridden woman by the name of Ruth Waites was hospitalized for dehydration as a result of an understaffed nursing home. Once admitted back to the nursing home she had developed pressures sores from being left unattended. The pressure sores soon became so severe that they caused a serious infection and led to Ms. Waites’ death. This entire case is a story of neglect, what the nursing home states as understaffing, and fraud. The fact that the nursing home was understaffed should have never been hidden from the families of the patients. These are facts that should have been announced to the community so that the appropriate qualified personnel could have attempted to solve the issue. (Nursing, 1) Another case follows with

The second practice I have taken away is the Family Medical Leave Act. I chose the Family Medical Leave Act because It is important to consider your employee’s health and consider that your employees have family. This practice can be taught by showing management how to let someone have this leave and show them in the benefits packet. You can also have the law posted in the Human resources department. This practice can be used for employees who are sick or for the employees that have family that are sick or if you have an employee who just adopted or had a baby.

Likewise, the organization of this examination comprises of four main sections correlating with the horizontal segments (levels) of the Analytical Framework. To begin, the first section interprets the foundation of the FMLA by providing the historical background, the economic and social environment of the American workforce prior to the FMLA, along with previous legislation attempts and information on various legislative acts which are in similar alignment with the FMLA: