United States labor law

In 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that discrimination solely on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

[44] But despite the Democratic Party's overwhelming electoral victory, the Supreme Court continued to strike down legislation, particularly the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, which regulated enterprise in an attempt to ensure fair wages and prevent unfair competition.

A series of Supreme Court decisions, held the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 not only created minimum standards, but stopped or "preempted" states enabling better union rights, even though there was no such provision in the statute.

The last major labor law statute, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 created rights to well regulated occupational pensions, although only where an employer had already promised to provide one: this usually depended on collective bargaining by unions.

Alongside the purpose of labor legislation to mitigate inequality of bargaining power and redress the economic reality of a worker's position, the multiple factors found in the Restatement of Agency must be considered, though none is necessarily decisive.

627, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO,[80] the Supreme Court found that the DC Circuit had legitimately identified two corporations as a single employer given that they had a "very substantial qualitative degree of centralized control of labor",[81] but that further determination of the relevant bargaining unit should have been remitted to the NLRB.

In West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish Hughes CJ held (over four dissenters still arguing for Freedom of Contract) that a Washington law setting minimum wages for women was constitutional because the state legislatures should be enabled to adopt legislation in the public interest.

In Lockheed Corp. v. Spink a majority of seven judges held that an employer could alter a plan, to deprive a 61-year-old man of full benefits when he was reemployed, unbound by fiduciary duties to preserve what an employee had originally been promised.

[196] For example, in Donovan v. Bierwirth, the Second Circuit held that trustees of a pension which owned shares in the employees' company as a takeover bid was launched, because they faced a potential conflict of interest, had to get independent legal advice on how to vote, or possibly abstain.

[217] The American model developed from the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914,[218] which declared the "labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce" and aimed to take workplace relations out of the reach of courts hostile to collective bargaining.

Using the Sherman Act of 1890, which was intended to break up business cartels, the Supreme Court imposed an injunction on striking workers of the Pullman Company, and imprisoned the leader, and future presidential candidate, Eugene Debs.

In Adair v. United States,[251] and Coppage v. Kansas,[252] the Supreme Court, over powerful dissents,[253] asserted the Constitution empowered employers to require employees to sign contracts promising they would not join a union.

[273] However, in NLRB v. Sands Manufacturing Co. the Supreme Court held an employer did not commit an unfair trade practice by shutting down a water heater plant, while the union was attempting to prevent new employees being paid less.

[279] For example, in United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co a group of employees at a steel transportation works in Chickasaw, Alabama, requested the corporation go to arbitration over layoffs and outsourcing of 19 staff on lower pay to do the same jobs.

[283] But then, in 2009 in 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett Thomas J announced with four other judges that apparently "[n]othing in the law suggests a distinction between the status of arbitration agreements signed by an individual employee and those agreed to by a union representative.

[290] For example, in one of the first cases, NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp, the US Supreme Court held that the National Labor Relations Board was entitled to order workers be rehired after they had been dismissed for organizing a union at their plant in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

[299] Also, in Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board the Supreme Court held 6 to 3 that an employer was entitled to prevent union members, who were not employees, from entering the company parking lot to hand out leaflets.

For example, in Pattern Makers League of North America v. NLRB an employer claimed a union had committed an unfair practice by attempting to enforce fines against employees who had been members, but quit during a strike when their membership agreement promised they would not.

[117] The first major case, Garner v. Teamsters Local 776, decided a Pennsylvania statute was preempted from providing superior remedies or processing claims quicker than the NLRB because "the Board was vested with power to entertain petitioners' grievance, to issue its own complaint" and apparent "Congress evidently considered that centralized administration of specially designed procedures was necessary to obtain uniform application of its substantive rules".

[309] Most recently in Chamber of Commerce v. Brown seven judges on the Supreme Court held that California was preempted from passing a law prohibiting any recipient of state funds either from using money to promote or deter union organizing efforts.

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 only covers "employees" in the private sector, and a variety of state laws attempt to suppress government workers' right to strike, including for teachers,[325] police and firefighters, without adequate alternatives to set fair wages.

[381] After state laws experimented, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 8802 in 1941 set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee to ban discrimination by "race, creed, color or national origin" in the defense industry.

[412] Disparate treatment can be justified under CRA 1964 §2000e-2(e) if an employer shows selecting someone reflects by "religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.

[423] Furthermore, in Robinson v. Shell Oil Co. the Supreme Court held that writing a negative job reference, after a plaintiff brought a race discrimination claim, was unlawful retaliation: employees were protected even if they had been fired.

[430] In a further concurrence, Scalia J said "resolution of this dispute merely postpones the evil day" when a disparate impact might be found unconstitutional, against the [[Equal Protection Clause]] because, in his view, the lack of a good faith defense meant employers were compelled to do "racial decision making" that "is ...

[439] Nevertheless, the majority held that the gender pay provisions could be worse because, for example, an employer could apply ""a bona fide job rating system," so long as it does not discriminate on the basis of sex", whereas the same would not be possible for other claims under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

[461] In the late 19th century, employment at will was popularized by academic writers as an inflexible legal presumption,[462] and state courts began to adopt it, even though many had presumed that contract termination usually required notice and justifications.

This was not made out in the leading case, Howard Johnson Co. v. Detroit Local Joint Executive Board, where the new owner of a restaurant and motor lodge business retained 9 out of 53 former employees, but hired 45 new staff of its own.

It was long acknowledged that the law should ensure nobody is denied a job by unreasonable restrictions by the state or private parties, and the Supreme Court said in Truax v. Raich that "the right to work for a living in the common occupations of the community is of the very essence of the personal freedom and opportunity".

[504] During the New Deal with unemployment having reached 20% after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 empowered the President to create the Works Progress Administration, which aimed to directly employ people on fair wages.

The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of people who migrated to America for work , saying " Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free... " In 2013, in a 155.5 million working population , union membership was 35.9% in the public sector, 6.6% in the private sector. [ 1 ] In 2017, unemployment was 4.3%, excluding people in prison. The US ranks 28th in the world inequality-adjusted human development index . [ 2 ]
After the Declaration of Independence , slavery in the US was progressively abolished in the north, but only finished by the 13th Amendment in 1865 near the end of the American Civil War .
In his State of the Union address of 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged that America develop Second Bill of Rights through legislation, including the right to fair employment, an end to unfair competition, to education, health, and social security.
President Lyndon B. Johnson explains the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as it was signed, to end discrimination and segregation in voting, education, public services, and employment.
Bernie Sanders became the most successful Democratic Socialist presidential candidate since Eugene Debs , winning 22 states and 43.1% of votes in the 2016 Democratic primary . He co-authored the 2016 Democratic platform, [ 51 ] before Hillary Clinton lost the electoral college to Donald Trump .
Eleanor Roosevelt believed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 "may well become the international Magna Carta of all". Based on the President's call for a Second Bill of Rights in 1944, articles 22–24 elevated rights to "social security", "just and favourable conditions of work", and the "right to rest and leisure" to be as important as the "right to own property". [ 60 ]
" Newsboys " in L.A. were held in the leading case, NLRB v. Hearst Publications, Inc. , to be employees with labor rights, not independent contractors, on account of their unequal bargaining power . [ 66 ]
In September 2015, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency held that Uber drivers are controlled and sanctioned by the company and are therefore not self-employed. [ 75 ]
Employment contracts are subject to minimum rights in state and federal statute, and those created by collective agreements . [ 91 ]
The real federal minimum wage has declined by 46% since February 1968. Lower line is nominal dollars . Top line is inflation-adjusted . [ 111 ] [ 112 ]
People have campaigned for a $15 an hour minimum wage, because the real minimum wage has fallen by 43% compared to 1968. [ 112 ] In " tipped " jobs, some states still enable employers to take their workers' tips for between $2.13 and the $7.25 minimum wage per hour.
Top marginal income tax rates
Lowest marginal income tax rates
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 article 23 requires "reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay", but there is no federal or state right to paid annual leave : Americans have the least in the developed world. [ 141 ]
Because there is no right to education and child care for children under five , the costs of child care fall on parents. But in 2016, four states had legislated for paid family leave . [ 153 ]
Investment managers, like Morgan Stanley and all pension trustees, are fiduciaries . This means they must avoid conflicts of interest . During a takeover bid, Donovan v. Bierwirth held trustees must take advice or not vote on corporate stocks if in doubt about conflicts . [ 176 ]
The Workplace Democracy Act of 1999 , [ 206 ] proposed by Bernie Sanders but not yet passed, would give every employee the representatives on boards of their pension plans, to control how vote are cast on corporate stocks . Currently investment managers control most voting rights in the economy using "other people's money". [ 207 ]
The US Supreme Court 's policy of preemption since 1953 means federal collective bargaining rules cancel state rules, even if state law is more beneficial to employees. [ 49 ] Despite preemption, many unions, corporations , and states have experimented with direct participation rights, to get a " fair day's wage for a fair day's work ". [ 216 ]
Richard Trumka was the late president of the AFL–CIO , a federation of unions, with 12.5m members. The Change to Win Federation has 5.5m members in affiliated unions. The two have negotiated merging to create a united American labor movement.
Sharan Burrow leads the International Trade Union Confederation , which represents labor union members worldwide, via each national group including the AFL–CIO . [ 239 ]
After 1981 air traffic control strike , when Ronald Reagan fired every air traffic controller, [ 265 ] the National Labor Relations Board was staffed by people opposed to collective bargaining. Between 2007 and 2013 the NLRB was shut down as the president and then Senate refused to make appointments.
The proposed Employee Free Choice Act , sponsored repeatedly by Hillary Clinton , Bernie Sanders and Democrat representatives, would require employers to bargain in 90 days or go to arbitration, if a simple majority of employees sign cards supporting the union. [ 276 ] It has been blocked by Republicans in Congress .
Unfair labor practices , made unlawful by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 §153, prohibit employers discriminating against people who organize a union and vote to get a voice at work .
As union membership declined income inequality rose, because labor unions have been the main way to participate at work. [ 302 ] The US does not yet require employee representatives on boards of directors , or elected work councils . [ 303 ]
All workers, like the Arizona teachers in 2019 , are guaranteed the right to take collective action, including strikes, by international law , federal law and most state laws. [ 312 ]
Cesar Chavez organized the United Farm Workers and campaigned for social justice under the slogan " Yes we can " and " Sí, se puede ". [ 324 ]
2016 Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined the Communication Workers Union strike against Verizon . American workers face serious obstacles to strike action, falling below international labor law standards.
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders co-sponsored the Reward Work Act , introduced by Tammy Baldwin , for at least one third of listed company boards to be elected by employees, [ 346 ] and more for large corporations. [ 347 ] In 1980 the United Auto Workers collectively agreed Chrysler Corp employees would be on the board of directors, but despite experiments, today asset managers monopolize voting rights in corporations with " other people's money ". [ 348 ]
Powered by a solar farm , [ 369 ] the Volkswagen plant at Chattanooga, Tennessee , has debated introducing work councils to give employees and its labor union more of a voice at work.
The world's first general equality law, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , followed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The head of the movement, Martin Luther King Jr. told America, " I have a dream that one day ... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."
A constitutional right to equality, based on the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments has been disputed. 125 years after Harlan J wrote his famous dissent that all social institutions should be bound to equal rights, [ 390 ] Barack Obama won election for President.
Rosie the Riveter symbolized women factory workers in World War II. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 banned pay discrimination within workplaces. [ 404 ]
The Paycheck Fairness Act , repeatedly proposed by Democrats such as Hillary Clinton , would prevent employer defenses to sex discrimination that are related to gender. It has been rejected by Republicans in the United States Congress .
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , suffering from polio , required a wheelchair through his Presidency .
President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought unemployment down from over 20% to under 2%, with the New Deal 's investment in jobs during the Great Depression .
The slogan "you're fired!" was popularized by Donald Trump 's TV show, The Apprentice before he became president. This reflects the " at-will employment " doctrine that deprives employees of job security, and lets people become unemployed for arbitrary reasons.
American workers do not yet have a right to vote on employer layoff decisions, even though the US government helped draft laws for other countries to have elected work councils. [ 490 ]
Unemployment since World War I has been lower under Democratic presidents and higher under Republican presidents. The high rate of incarceration raised real unemployment by around 1.5% since 1980. [ 506 ]
The Works Progress Administration from 1935 to 1943 [ 513 ] created 8.5m jobs spending $1.3bn a year to get out of the Great Depression .
Eugene V. Debs , founder of the American Railway Union and five-time presidential candidate, was jailed twice for organizing the Pullman Strike and denouncing World War I . His life story is told in a documentary by Bernie Sanders. [ 525 ]
Right-to-work states
Statewide Right-to-work law
Local Right-to-work laws
No Right-to-work law