Digital Commons Network^™

Critical Race Theory And The Low-Wage Workplace: The Story Of Janitorial Services In California, Leticia M. Saucedo

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Critical race and racial capitalism theories posit that systems and structures in the workplace reinforce each other to create oppressive conditions for groups of workers based on race, national origin, and/or sex. Some of these structures are reproduced from other areas of work and have roots in exploitative labor conditions. Civil rights lawyers attempting to use existing laws or develop new laws to root out these structures face obstacles within and outside the judicial system. This Essay focuses on two laws recently passed in California to protect vulnerable workers: the California Property Service Workers Protection Act, which seeks to protect …