Nicole Buonocore Porter

Professor of Law, Director of the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law & the Workplace

Nicole Buonocore Porter is a Professor of Law and Director of the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace. Before joining Chicago-Kent in 2022, she was a Distinguished University Professor; Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development; and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Toledo College of Law. She has also taught at Saint Louis University School of Law, the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and the University of Iowa College of Law.

Professor Porter earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Editor-in-Chief of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. After law school, Professor Porter was in-house counsel for a manufacturing company and practiced employment law in a large law firm in Detroit. She also clerked for the Honorable James L. Ryan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Professor Porter is on the executive committee of the Labor Law Group, an invitation-only organization of law professors dedicated to producing quality scholarship and teaching materials on labor and employment law. A nationally-known expert in employment discrimination and disability law, she is the author or co-author of four books and over 40 law review articles and essays. Her book, THE WORKPLACE REIMAGINED: ACCOMMODATING OUR BODIES AND OUR LIVES, was published by Cambridge University Press. Recent prominent articles include Disclaiming Disability, 55 UC Davis L. Rev. 1859 (2022) and #MeToo and the Process That’s Due: Sexual Misconduct Where We Live, Work, and Learn, 2022 U. ILL. L. REV. 663.

In 2022, Porter was elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; in 2021, she was elected as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers; and in 2020, she was the recipient of the Paul Steven Miller Memorial Award for “outstanding academic and public contributions to the field of labor and employment law scholarship.”

Education

J.D., University of Michigan Law School

B.A., Michigan State University

 

Publications

#MeToo and the Process That’s Due: Sexual Misconduct Where We Live, Work, and Learn, 2022 U. ILL. L. REV. 663.

Disclaiming Disability, 55 UC DAVIS L. REV. 1859 (2022).

Relationships and Retaliation in the #MeToo Era, 72 FLA. L. REV. 797 (2020).

Accommodating Everyone, 47 SETON HALL L. REV. 85 (2016).

Mutual Marginalization: Individuals with Disabilities and Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, 66 FLA. L. REV. 1099 (2014).

Martinizing Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 47 GA. L. REV. 527 (2013).

Books

 

THE WORKPLACE REIMAGINED: ACCOMMODATING OUR BODIES AND OUR LIVES (Cambridge Univ. Press), 2022.

FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: REWRITTEN EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION OPINIONS (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020), with Ann McGinley (UNLV).

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS ON EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE (West Academic, 10th Edition), with Maria L. Ontiveros, Roberto L. Corrada, Michael Selmi,and Marcia McCormick.

Executive Editor, ABA- BNA EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION TREATISE, 6th Ed. (2020) (and 7th edition forthcoming 2022).

DISABILITY LAW, CASES AND MATERIALS (West Academic, 2017), with Stephen Befort (Minnesota), 2nd edition, 2021.

 

Selected Media Appearances

·       Quoted in Rob Wile, Employment Among People with Disabilities Hits New Post-Pandemic High, NBCNews.com (July 7, 2023).

·       Quoted in Robert Iafolla, Covid’s Remote Work Experience Is Slowly Changing Disability Law, Bloomberg Law (July 6, 2023).

·       Quoted in Laura Casey, Long Covid Is a Disability. Here’s How to Ask for Workplace Accommodations, Wash. Post(Feb. 20, 2023).

·       Interviewed and quoted, Nick Blumberg, Amazon Employees Say Company Retaliated After Charges of Racially Hostile Work Environment, WWTW News, Aug. 15, 2022.

Quoted in Edward Segal, Walmart is Sued for Gender and Race Discrimination by EEOC, FORBES, Feb. 11, 2022.

Quoted in Jennifer Kay, Last Equal-Pay Holdout Debates Treating Men and Women the Same, BLOOMBERG LAW, Feb. 11, 2022.

Op-Ed, What Does Andrew Cuomo’s Resignation Mean for #MeToo?, The Hill, Aug. 24, 2021.

Quoted in Robert Iafolla & Louis C. LaBrecque, Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates at Work Promise Employer Headaches, Bloomberg Law News, Nov. 2, 2020.

Quoted and cited in Patrick Dorrian & Robert Iafolla, Separate Adverse Action Not Needed for ADA Accommodation Claim, Bloomberg Daily Labor Report, Oct. 29, 2020.

Quoted in Patrick Dorrian & Robert Iafolla, Asthmatic Worker Gets Covid-Related Telework Order, For Now, Bloomberg Law Daily Labor Report, Sept. 17, 2020

Quoted and cited in Robert Iafolla, 6th Circuit Weighs Broader Disability Definition of ADA Amendments, Bloomberg Law Daily Labor Report, Jan. 28, 2020

Quoted in several news outlets, Many Say #MeToo is Bigger than Harvey Weinstein, Trial Outcome Doesn’t Matter, Jan. 13, 2020.

Quoted in Jon Steingart, Schools’ Use of Salary History in Setting Pay to Get Second Look, BLOOMBERG LAW, August 30, 2017.

Nicole Buonocore Porter, Room for Debate, Salary Negotiations Often Preclude Women from Equal Pay, N.Y. TIMES, August 15, 2016.

Porter’s article, Women, Unions, and Negotiation quoted in Jonathan Timm, A Labor Movement That’s More About Women, THE ATLANTIC, August 25, 2016.

Quoted in Rebekah Mintzer, States Look to Give Teeth to National Pay Equity Legislation, THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, October 24, 2016.

 

Media Appearances

Commute Accommodations for Disabilities Spur Federal Court Rift, Says Nicole Buonocore Porter

How courts define commute-related accommodation requests often dictates the results, said Nicole Buonocore Porter, a disability law scholar who directs the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law & the Workplace at Chicago-Kent College of Law. When courts view the commute as outside the workplace, they tend to hold that employers don’t have a duty to grant commute-related accommodations, Porter said. Courts tend to have that “knee-jerk reaction” in part because federal wage and hour law doesn’t require pay for the time getting to and from the job, she said.

Bloomberg Law

Employment Law Professor Nicole Porter Helps Explain the Allegations Against Lizzo

“I think all of the causes of action have some merit and some chance of succeeding. In my opinion, the strongest cause of action is the sexual harassment charge. I think it’s likely that a reasonable person would think that behavior created a hostile work environment,” Chicago-Kent employment law professor Nicole Porter told Vox. Porter noted that one possible defense could center on how much disclosure the plaintiffs had about the experiences they should expect to encounter in this role.

Vox