James Willem
@willempa.bsky.social
Employment and labor lawyer posting about the law and Pennsylvania courts. Formerly legal aid. KNVB fan. Allentown, by way of Boston, DC, Gujarat, New Haven, and Chicago, but Berkshires at heart.
In fun related news from @inquirer.com, Ploughman Cider is opening a taproom in Fishtown
October 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM
In fun related news from @inquirer.com, Ploughman Cider is opening a taproom in Fishtown
We visited the small Lattimer memorial a few years ago. NEPA is so full of this history and its a shame that there is little organized education about what shaped this region.
Thank you for the thread
Thank you for the thread
September 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
We visited the small Lattimer memorial a few years ago. NEPA is so full of this history and its a shame that there is little organized education about what shaped this region.
Thank you for the thread
Thank you for the thread
Rough pitching from the @ironpigs.bsky.social tonight but boy, could not ask for better weather and a better atmosphere at Coca-Cola Park
We're very lucky to have this team in the Lehigh Valley
We're very lucky to have this team in the Lehigh Valley
September 7, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Rough pitching from the @ironpigs.bsky.social tonight but boy, could not ask for better weather and a better atmosphere at Coca-Cola Park
We're very lucky to have this team in the Lehigh Valley
We're very lucky to have this team in the Lehigh Valley
Big news in my congressional district (PA-07) from @the-downballot.com
Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association and a longtime firefighter from Bethlehem, is looking likely to run against Ryan Mackenzie
Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association and a longtime firefighter from Bethlehem, is looking likely to run against Ryan Mackenzie
July 24, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Big news in my congressional district (PA-07) from @the-downballot.com
Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association and a longtime firefighter from Bethlehem, is looking likely to run against Ryan Mackenzie
Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association and a longtime firefighter from Bethlehem, is looking likely to run against Ryan Mackenzie
Our copy of @vittles.bsky.social came in the mail, all the way here to Allentown, Pennsylvania. Stunning. Fun. Look forward to more to come
The piece about tandoori momo is delightfully hilarious
The piece about tandoori momo is delightfully hilarious
June 4, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Our copy of @vittles.bsky.social came in the mail, all the way here to Allentown, Pennsylvania. Stunning. Fun. Look forward to more to come
The piece about tandoori momo is delightfully hilarious
The piece about tandoori momo is delightfully hilarious
This week, the Pennsylvania Superior Court clarified state law on the fact finding needed to determine the enforceability of prenuptial agreements. A trial court must set out its own facts if it is going to ignore the divorce hearing officer's credibility determination.
Layton v. Layton ⚖️
Layton v. Layton ⚖️
May 29, 2025 at 1:01 PM
This week, the Pennsylvania Superior Court clarified state law on the fact finding needed to determine the enforceability of prenuptial agreements. A trial court must set out its own facts if it is going to ignore the divorce hearing officer's credibility determination.
Layton v. Layton ⚖️
Layton v. Layton ⚖️
In US v. Outlaw (excellent name for a case), the Third Circuit upheld suppression of evidence where police pulled over a car for excess tinting but had insufficient grounds to arrest (and therefore search the body of) the driver because odor of marijuana could be attributable to passenger. ⚖️
May 28, 2025 at 8:19 PM
In US v. Outlaw (excellent name for a case), the Third Circuit upheld suppression of evidence where police pulled over a car for excess tinting but had insufficient grounds to arrest (and therefore search the body of) the driver because odor of marijuana could be attributable to passenger. ⚖️
The afternoon #handsoff rally in Allentown was the best attended protest I've ever seen here. Lots of passion and anger and community support
April 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The afternoon #handsoff rally in Allentown was the best attended protest I've ever seen here. Lots of passion and anger and community support
Rise Gonna Rise: A Portrait of Southern Textile Workers by Mimi Conway, a stunning book in the tradition of Terkel and others collecting stories from the South Carolina textile mills
www.bolerium.com/pages/books/...
www.bolerium.com/pages/books/...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Rise Gonna Rise: A Portrait of Southern Textile Workers by Mimi Conway, a stunning book in the tradition of Terkel and others collecting stories from the South Carolina textile mills
www.bolerium.com/pages/books/...
www.bolerium.com/pages/books/...
The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners who Seized an Industry, 1925-1942 by Mitch Troutman, an incredibly insightful study of coal mine communities who took control of their own destinies, as best as possible, after the mining companies abandoned them.
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners who Seized an Industry, 1925-1942 by Mitch Troutman, an incredibly insightful study of coal mine communities who took control of their own destinies, as best as possible, after the mining companies abandoned them.
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania by Cody McDevitt, telling the story of the expulsion of African-Americans from Johnstown, PA in 1923.
www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/978...
www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/978...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania by Cody McDevitt, telling the story of the expulsion of African-Americans from Johnstown, PA in 1923.
www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/978...
www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/978...
The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age by Tim Wu, a slender treatise helpful to any lawyer thinking about the intersection of employment law and antitrust
globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-cu...
globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-cu...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age by Tim Wu, a slender treatise helpful to any lawyer thinking about the intersection of employment law and antitrust
globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-cu...
globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-cu...
Feeding both an interest in New Zealand political history and leftist printmaking, Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism by Jared Davidson
www.akpress.org/sewingfreedo...
www.akpress.org/sewingfreedo...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Feeding both an interest in New Zealand political history and leftist printmaking, Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism by Jared Davidson
www.akpress.org/sewingfreedo...
www.akpress.org/sewingfreedo...
Rusted Dreams: Hard Times in a Steel Community by David Bensman and Roberta Lynch, considering the closing of the Wisconsin Steel and South Works in Chicago in the 1970s and 80s.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Rusted Dreams: Hard Times in a Steel Community by David Bensman and Roberta Lynch, considering the closing of the Wisconsin Steel and South Works in Chicago in the 1970s and 80s.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
The Homestead Strike of 1892 by Arthur Burgoyne - the original recounting of one of the most brutal attacks on organized labor in American history, originally published in 1893
upittpress.org/books/978082...
upittpress.org/books/978082...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
The Homestead Strike of 1892 by Arthur Burgoyne - the original recounting of one of the most brutal attacks on organized labor in American history, originally published in 1893
upittpress.org/books/978082...
upittpress.org/books/978082...
Since my work so frequently involves combating the exploitation of healthcare workers,
Cleaning Up: How Hospital Outsourcing is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients by Dan Zuberi
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801...
Cleaning Up: How Hospital Outsourcing is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients by Dan Zuberi
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Since my work so frequently involves combating the exploitation of healthcare workers,
Cleaning Up: How Hospital Outsourcing is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients by Dan Zuberi
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801...
Cleaning Up: How Hospital Outsourcing is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients by Dan Zuberi
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801...
Revisiting Walden to think about work and solitude, Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making by John Kang and Jonathan van Belle
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Revisiting Walden to think about work and solitude, Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making by John Kang and Jonathan van Belle
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The Death and Life of American Labor by Stanley Aronowitz - a work worth revisiting as we face another Trump administration and think through how to revive workplace activism in our new Gilded Age
www.versobooks.com/products/238...
www.versobooks.com/products/238...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
The Death and Life of American Labor by Stanley Aronowitz - a work worth revisiting as we face another Trump administration and think through how to revive workplace activism in our new Gilded Age
www.versobooks.com/products/238...
www.versobooks.com/products/238...
Its been a year of reading about work (and Pennsylvania history). Here is my #yearofbooks
The Day the Earth Caved In by Joan Quigley - a striking history of the people affected by the Centralia fire that has been burning underground in NEPA for 62 years
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/136791...
The Day the Earth Caved In by Joan Quigley - a striking history of the people affected by the Centralia fire that has been burning underground in NEPA for 62 years
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/136791...
December 31, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Its been a year of reading about work (and Pennsylvania history). Here is my #yearofbooks
The Day the Earth Caved In by Joan Quigley - a striking history of the people affected by the Centralia fire that has been burning underground in NEPA for 62 years
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/136791...
The Day the Earth Caved In by Joan Quigley - a striking history of the people affected by the Centralia fire that has been burning underground in NEPA for 62 years
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/136791...
There is a hint of a circuit split here, but hard to see SCOTUS taking the issue up (though they do love a good donning/doffing case)
10th Circuit has used a "reasonable time" standard when calculating retroactive damages.
Third Circuit joins 6th with this decision
10th Circuit has used a "reasonable time" standard when calculating retroactive damages.
Third Circuit joins 6th with this decision
December 20, 2024 at 1:36 AM
There is a hint of a circuit split here, but hard to see SCOTUS taking the issue up (though they do love a good donning/doffing case)
10th Circuit has used a "reasonable time" standard when calculating retroactive damages.
Third Circuit joins 6th with this decision
10th Circuit has used a "reasonable time" standard when calculating retroactive damages.
Third Circuit joins 6th with this decision
The Court was particularly peeved that the company tried to rely on Mt. Clemens Pottery, the 1946 "walking" FLSA case.
Walking was not clearly work. Changing and showering at a battery plant is.
Walking was not clearly work. Changing and showering at a battery plant is.
December 20, 2024 at 1:36 AM
The Court was particularly peeved that the company tried to rely on Mt. Clemens Pottery, the 1946 "walking" FLSA case.
Walking was not clearly work. Changing and showering at a battery plant is.
Walking was not clearly work. Changing and showering at a battery plant is.
December 19, 2024 at 11:59 AM
Critically, Third Circuit finds that JUA's funds, while "not public in the traditional sense," are public because of Pennsylvania's "acquisition of policyholders' premium payments for a public purpose"
The slick alliteration doesnt hide that this feels like a stretch...
The slick alliteration doesnt hide that this feels like a stretch...
December 17, 2024 at 2:24 AM
Critically, Third Circuit finds that JUA's funds, while "not public in the traditional sense," are public because of Pennsylvania's "acquisition of policyholders' premium payments for a public purpose"
The slick alliteration doesnt hide that this feels like a stretch...
The slick alliteration doesnt hide that this feels like a stretch...
The lower court held, in three rulings, that JUA was a private entity and so the Assembly's grab for its excess funds was, in part, a violation of the Takings Clause
3rd Cir disagrees, distilling four questions from John Marshall's famed Dartmouth College decision in 1819 to find JUA is public
3rd Cir disagrees, distilling four questions from John Marshall's famed Dartmouth College decision in 1819 to find JUA is public
December 17, 2024 at 2:24 AM
The lower court held, in three rulings, that JUA was a private entity and so the Assembly's grab for its excess funds was, in part, a violation of the Takings Clause
3rd Cir disagrees, distilling four questions from John Marshall's famed Dartmouth College decision in 1819 to find JUA is public
3rd Cir disagrees, distilling four questions from John Marshall's famed Dartmouth College decision in 1819 to find JUA is public