Online MJ in Labor & Employment Law
The modern workplace is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Social media, emerging technologies, generational shifts and a globalized business landscape are fundamentally transforming how organizations operate and how HR law, policies and compliance must adapt to ensure safe, equitable workplaces for all.
Tulane Law’s online Master of Jurisprudence in Labor & Employment Law (MJ-LEL) equips you with the advanced knowledge, specialized skills and rigorous legal training needed to prevent workplace discrimination, master state and federal employment law compliance, mitigate illegal HR practices and implement organization-wide legislative protections. As an HR law executive leader, you will be responsible for safeguarding the workplace environment for thousands of employees. Working in-house, you will develop comprehensive legal frameworks and institute evidence-based practices to reduce HR-related incidents that can lead to costly investigations, government audits, litigation and reputational damage, making you an invaluable strategic asset to any organization.
The online Master of Jurisprudence in Labor & Employment Law from Tulane Law School—ranked among the nation’s top law schools—provides the legal expertise and practical training that today’s HR executives need to lead with confidence and authority. This program pairs exceptionally well with HR certifications (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR), MBAs with HR concentrations and other professional credentials, allowing you to stack qualifications that position you for senior-level roles and executive opportunities.
Program at a Glance
- 12 courses
- 30 credits
- 1 capstone project
- 1 in-person immersive
- 2-year completion time
- 3 starts per year
A Targeted Online Law Degree for Non-Lawyers
Tulane University’s online MJ-LEL is designed for aspiring HR law executives who are non-lawyers, but who will work to navigate, dissect and apply aspects of law, such as policies and legislation, and do not intend to take the bar. This program teaches the fundamental and complex intricacies of employment law like EEOC compliance, contracts and contract law, FMLA and ADA laws and more. Watch the video to hear program leaders and students share their insights.
Video Transcript
The Tulane Master of Jurisprudence program in Labor & Employment Law is a targeted online law degree for non-lawyers who work with lawyers, who work with law but who don’t necessarily need to take the bar or practice.
One of the big things that we teach our students is not only what the law is but what the law will become, because we teach them how to keep up with the law; how to keep current with the law, and how to anticipate in a more visionary manner what the law will be.
Tulane is a “Southern Ivy.” It’s been around for a long time; its name has a national reach.
Jennifer Cooper:
The name alone really implicates a sense of history. Tulane Law School has amazing faculty in the program. Our cohorts really do develop close-knit friendships and professional networks.
They will learn skills in every single class that they take, that they will literally be able to implement the next day at work.
Ron Townsend Gard:
We’re really conscious of individuals in the field and in their professions. The program has really been built to accommodate those who spend their days in their fields doing the work.
Valerie Nance:
I know how to read the dissenting opinions; I know how to read legislation that comes through.
Take the plunge, it’s going to change your life. You are going to meet the most amazing, diverse HR professionals, attorneys, professors.
Sally Richardson:
Our faculty are truly the leaders in the field. We have scholars from the Law School who are teaching courses on employment law, on social media issues in the workplace.
Throughout our online program, you will also have the opportunity to come and spend a weekend here in New Orleans on Tulane’s campus, to truly become part of an immersive experience for our online program.
Jennel Fernandez-Ballestero:
I will say the one thing that I didn't even factor into when I was looking at Tulane was the sense of community that I would get even in a remote setting. Part of that is the professors just promote you, they encourage you, they champion you. It's built the confidence in continuing to learn.
Saru Matambanadzo:
We are here to make you successful. Your academic success is our success, so don’t be afraid. You can do this. You belong here, you belong here with us. Don’t be afraid, this is doable. An elite, accessible legal education for you and I would love for you to join us.
Build the Legal Foundation for a Leading HR Career
Are you ready to level up your career? Earn your master’s degree online with Tulane University. Our online Master of Jurisprudence programs give you the legal foundation to navigate today’s professional challenges.
Complete the form to get a program detail sheet for the online MJ program of your choosing. Get more details about your program, including information on Tulane Law School, the curriculum, application requirements and more.
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An MJ in Labor & Employment Law Pays Off
The job outlook for HR managers is strong, with a 5% growth expected through 2034.1 Earning a master's degree in employment law gives you the opportunity to serve in many HR roles and functions in any company, including education, healthcare, consulting, government, tech, finance and more. Plus, increase your salary as you add to your credentials and experience.
Average Salaries for HR Positions
How Earning an Online MJ in Employment Law Benefits You
Powerful experiences and insights
Improve your understanding of the laws that govern the practice of human resources, your ability to communicate and collaborate with lawyers and other legal professionals, and your own workplace results and job satisfaction.
Career impact that counts
With the expertise you’ll gain through the MJ-LEL program, your job effectiveness will increase, and you’ll quickly become a highly valued contributor on the job. You’ll become more adequately self-sufficient and will prove to be a huge asset to your organization as you save money, reduce risks and improve workplace culture.
A rigorous education with the flexibility of online learning
Enjoy the flexibility of online learning so you can participate from anywhere. The only on-campus requirement for the degree is one multi-day Immersion Weekend on Tulane’s campus in New Orleans, where you’ll gain face-to-face connection and intellectual synthesis.
Practical lessons that enhance your life and career
Through your daily conversations with classmates and faculty, and through your master’s capstone experience, you’ll learn practical lessons and hone new skills that you can put to immediate use. You’ll walk away with the ability to train employees about sexual harassment, to deal effectively with unions, to engage in collective bargaining, to mediate disputes or participate in the arbitrations of labor disputes, to create personnel manuals, to lead executive searches that are EEOC-compliant, and much more.
Expert faculty who inspire
You’ll be taught by faculty members who are national and international authorities on labor and employment issues, including program director Saru Matambanadzo, a nationally known authority on gender equality and workplace equity.
Unrivaled value
Tulane is reputable, rigorous, accessible and affordable. The investment in your graduate education can reap returns that far exceed your expectations.
Connections for life
Study alongside other human resource professionals, business owners, executives and office managers with personnel responsibilities. The dynamic nature of the program will ensure that you form professional and personal connections that create a life-long network of classmates and faculty who can help support and accelerate your career.
Distinct pride
Accomplish something that very few people do—earning a graduate degree from a prestigious, nationally ranked university and a top law school.
Reap the Benefits of a One-of-A-Kind Curriculum
Our alumni and graduates report that the Tulane Master of Jurisprudence program is a unique, life-changing experience. Not only do we offer a world-class legal education, our unique curriculum also offers courses that you will not get in any other program.
We are leading the field with novel offerings like an advanced discrimination class in sex and gender, advanced employment law classes focused on intellectual property and social media and our one-of-a-kind capstone seminar experience as a culmination of the expertise developed over the course of the program.
We also provide an unparalleled community of alumni in leading firms, organizations and unions.
Semester 1
Students must take both of these required courses:
Legal Analysis I (2 credits)
Introduction to Employment Discrimination Law Principles and Strategies (3 credits)
Semester 2
Students must take both of these required courses:
Legal Analysis II (2 credits)
Introduction to Labor Law Principles and Strategies (3 credits)
This course concentrates on analyzing the issues surrounding the rights of workers to engage in collective activity and the relationship between employers and unions in such matters as collective bargaining, contract enforcement and contract implementation.
Semester 3
Students must take both of these required courses:
Employment Law (2 credits)
IP Issues in the Employment Context (3 credits)
Semester 4
Students must take this required course, plus one 2-credit elective:
Contemporary Sex and Gender Issues in the Workplace (3 credits)
Semester 5
Students must take this required course, plus one 2-credit elective:
Social Media Issues in the Workplace (3 credits)
Semester 6
Students must take this required course, plus one 2-credit elective:
Capstone (3 credits)
The philosophy behind the course is that to be an expert in the field you need three components: expertise (the paper) + demonstrating generalist knowledge in areas within the field (smaller papers and assignments) + networking/branding as an expert. We will be taking your expert paper and finding ways to apply generalist knowledge and networking/branding opportunities.
Elective Courses
Administrative Law (2 credits)
Contract Law Reading and Drafting (2 credits)
Introduction to Employee Benefits and Pensions (2 credits)
In this course we will examine the legal regulation of employee benefits with a focus on health care benefits, retirement benefits, employee stock options, and other employee welfare benefits. In addition to providing information about the legal operation of various types of employee benefits, we will also examine what such plans require in terms of fiduciaries and how these plans are to be regulated in the event of bankruptcy. The bulk of our engagement will be with the federal law. Throughout the course we will engage with the current legal and political frameworks, as well as legislative developments in this field and discuss where things are headed.
Negotiating Skills (2 credits)
Employee Medical Leaves of Absence (2 credits)
Developing and Managing the Workforce: Recruitment, Retention, Termination, Retirement and Turnover (2 credits)
To thrive in a competitive business environment, organizations need more than just strategic plans in place. They need the right talent to implement those plans. Those who manage human resources—not just HR departments, but all managers—have a critical task in front of them. They have to identify, recruit and retain employees who have both the skill sets and determination to effectively implement strategic objectives in their individual departments, so the business plan succeeds as a whole.
In this course, you’ll learn to align workforce management with the overall strategic goals of the business and how to navigate the opportunities and pitfalls that can arise from that challenge. You’ll also learn results-based strategies for finding, motivating and rewarding individual employees as well as successful work teams. With the skills developed through this course and through this master’s program at Tulane, you can better position yourself to manage human resources responsibilities and find employees who will positively impact your company.
Privacy in the Workplace (2 credits)
This course will cover both the general framework of privacy law and the most notable statutes addressing workplace privacy. The course begins with an overview of the origins and legal sources of privacy law. The course then covers specific areas of workplace privacy, including medical inquiries; background and misconduct investigations; monitoring and surveillance; honesty, psychological, drug and alcohol testing; medical and personnel records; off-duty conduct; employer information; and privacy tort claims. As to each topic, you will gain an understanding of governing legal standards and best practices through reading materials, examples, and when appropriate, checklists and sample policies.
Investigating, Mediating and Arbitrating Employee Complaints (2 credits)
Students will apply knowledge gained from the lecture presentations and readings to analyz hypothetical situations involving employee complaints. These hypothetical scenarios will be built upon each week, giving students the opportunity to guide fictional companies all the way through the investigative process, including EEOC investigations, mediation and arbitration. Heavy emphasis will be placed on studying and understanding the arbitration process in particular.
“Students want to come to Tulane because we help them become experts, visionary professionals, legal translators, and frontline policymakers. We are the place to be and we have the people that matter.”
Introduction to Employment Discrimination Law Principles and Strategies
This course is designed to provide the students with a thorough understanding of all of the legal rules and concepts created by federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the bases of race, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and national origin in a very practical way. The materials will be presented in a manner dedicated to enhancing the ability of present or future human resources professionals to deal with specific problems that continually arise in the workplace.
Instruction will be directed toward providing advice on how to deal with and avoid problems in areas, including racial and sexual harassment, religious accommodation, pregnancy and family leave, LGBT concerns, handling EEOC investigations, drafting personnel manuals, avoiding retaliation claims, mandatory and voluntary retirement, disability-based accommodation and drug testing.
Who Chooses the Online MJ in Labor & Employment Law From Tulane?
This program is for you if you are:
- An HR professional in any industry, in a company of any size, and at any point in your career
- A people manager at any level, from the director or VP of human resources at a global Fortune 500 company to a business or office manager at a small to mid-sized company
- Union and labor organizers or intermediaries, such as a faculty coordinator at a public K-12 school with unionized teachers or the owner of a company who relies heavily on the subcontracted work of unions
- Mediators, investigators and arbitrators who are not lawyers
- Those looking to transition into a worklaw career and want to differentiate themselves from the competition by being a clear expert on the labor and employment laws that govern the way businesses interact with their people
- Nonlawyers who work with the law, such as court professionals
Employment Law and Labor Unions
Whether you work as an HR professional at an organization or you lead a labor union, understanding the laws around labor union rights and the role employers play is essential. Gain a thorough understanding of the federal and state laws and regulations governing the relationship between the employer, employee and labor union. Through your coursework, you will focus on specific problems and issues that human resources professionals experience in dealing with organized and unorganized workforces and learn the proper way to manage these relationships.
Hear From a Tulane Law Faculty Member
Deputy Faculty Director Elizabeth Townsend-Gard explains the unique opportunities the program offers. She addresses the importance of those working with the law every day to have a strong grasp of its ins and outs, rhetoric and applications.
Admissions Deadlines
- Retrieved October 23, 2025, from www.bls.gov/ooh/management/human-resources-managers.htm
- Retrieved October 23, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Chief_People_Officer/Salary
- Retrieved October 23, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Compliance_Director/Salary
- Retrieved October 23, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Human_Resources_(HR)_Director/Salary
- Retrieved October 23, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Human_Resources_(HR)_Business_Partner/Salary