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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Wage Recovery Funds, Elizabeth Ford
Wage Recovery Funds, Elizabeth Ford
Faculty Articles
Wage theft is rampant in the US. It occurs so frequently because employers have much more power than workers. Worse, our main tool for preventing and remedying wage theft – charging government agencies with enforcing the law -- has largely failed to mitigate this power differential. Enforcement agencies, overburdened by the magnitude of the wage theft crisis, often settle cases for nothing more than wages owed. The agency, acting as broker for the payment of the wages owed, voluntarily foregoes both interest and statutory penalties. This is a bad deal for workers, but not just because they do not get …
The Thirteenth Amendment, Prison Labor Wages, And Interrupting The Intergenerational Cycle Of Subjugation, Josh Halladay
The Thirteenth Amendment, Prison Labor Wages, And Interrupting The Intergenerational Cycle Of Subjugation, Josh Halladay
Seattle University Law Review
This Comment argues that meager or no compensation for prisoners, who are disproportionately black and other persons of color, entraps them and their children in a cycle of subjugation that dates back to the days of slavery, and this Comment proposes to interrupt this cycle by setting a minimum wage for prisoners and creating college savings accounts for their children. As part of the cycle, when people enter prisons and the doors behind them close, so do their families’ bank accounts and the doors to their children’s schools. At the same time, the cells next to them open, ready to …
Democracy In America At Work: The History Of Labor’S Vote In Corporate Governance, Ewan Mcgaughey
Democracy In America At Work: The History Of Labor’S Vote In Corporate Governance, Ewan Mcgaughey
Seattle University Law Review
Can there be democracy in America at work? The historical division between democracy in politics and hierarchy in the economy is under strain. Hierarchical interests in the economy are shifting their model of power into politics, and yet a commitment to revive the law is resurgent. Central examples are the proposed Accountable Capitalism Act, Reward Work Act, Workplace Democracy Acts, and Employees’ Pension Security Acts. They would create a right for employees to elect 40% of directors on $1 billion company boards, a right for employees to elect one-third of directors on other listed company boards and require one-half employee …
Employed By An Algorithm: Labor Rights In The On-Demand Economy, Elizabeth J. Kennedy
Employed By An Algorithm: Labor Rights In The On-Demand Economy, Elizabeth J. Kennedy
Seattle University Law Review
This Article analyzes the viability of legislation extending labor rights to workers currently excluded from protection in the on-demand economy. Uber, perhaps the most well-known business operating in the on-demand economy, classifies its drivers as independent contractors, which strips them of federal rights to organize a union. Uber argues that its algorithm-based business model has essentially transformed the employment relationship, suggesting traditional labor laws are no longer necessary. This argument is belied by the economic realities of the workers who make those algorithms possible and profitable. While some prefer working multiple “gigs,” many on-demand workers struggle to piece together full-time …
The Last Legally Beaten Servant In America: From Compulsion To Coercion In The American Workplace, Lea Vandervelde
The Last Legally Beaten Servant In America: From Compulsion To Coercion In The American Workplace, Lea Vandervelde
Seattle University Law Review
Historically, the law of master-servant allowed corporal punishment. Today it seems strange to contemplate that intentionally inflicted violence was ever an acceptable method of compelling workers to labor in America. Strange as it seems, the practice of striking servants to discipline them was considered a legitimate, implicit part of the relationship between masters and servants. Servants, as well as slaves, could be subjected to cuffings and even severe beatings as means of “correction” and compulsion to labor. Menial servants, apprentices, and domestic servants could be beaten with hands, fists, straps, sticks, and sometimes whips, all in the name of correction …
A Positive Right To Free Labor, Rebecca E. Zietlow
A Positive Right To Free Labor, Rebecca E. Zietlow
Seattle University Law Review
This Article seeks to resurrect a lost thread in our civil rights tradition: the idea that workers have a positive right to free labor. A positive right to free labor includes the right to work for a living wage free of undue coercion and free from discrimination based on immutable characteristics. Not merely the negative guarantee against the state’s infringement on individual equality and liberty, a positive right to free labor is immediately enforceable against state and private parties. A positive right to free labor is rooted in the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude …
“They Outlawed Solidarity!”, Richard Blum
“They Outlawed Solidarity!”, Richard Blum
Seattle University Law Review
In attacking § 8(b)(4)(ii)(B)’s ban on secondary labor picketing in support of a consumer boycott as a violation of the First Amendment, critics have repeatedly condemned the Supreme Court’s reliance on a supposed distinction between “pure speech” and “speech plus conduct,” such as a picket. The Court’s invocation of an “unlawful objectives” doctrine to defend banning speech contrary to public policy has also been repeatedly criticized. After all, picketing has been recognized as protected expressive activity and it is entirely lawful for consumers to choose to boycott the target of a picket. However, commentators have not sought to argue that …
Slavery Revisited In Penal Plantation Labor, Andrea C. Armstrong
Slavery Revisited In Penal Plantation Labor, Andrea C. Armstrong
Seattle University Law Review
This Article argues that society must critically examine the types of labor we require our inmates to perform and prohibit the imposition of slavery, even when the enslaved is an inmate. Part II focuses on the text and history of Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment11 and argues that the Amendment’s exception allowing forced inmate labor is not as broad as it first appears. Part III examines the Eighth Amendment and how the imposition of slave status on inmates should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Lastly, Part IV applies these concepts to the history and operation of one such …
The Railway Labor Act Of 1926 And Modern-Day Airline Labor Strife: Progress Toward Labor Peace Begins With Overruling Williams V. Jacksonville Terminal Co., Mark A. Schuler
Seattle University Law Review
This Comment argues that Williams v. Jacksonville Terminal Co. either should be overruled, or should be appropriately limited to the fact-specific setting under which it was decided. To develop this thesis, Part II of this Comment will discuss both the history of labor unrest which drove Congress to pass the RLA and the design features of the RLA legislation which facilitate an atmosphere of cooperative bargaining through which the RLA dispute resolution system operates. Part III will discuss the first impression Williams case, wherein the Supreme Court gave an overly restrictive interpretation to the RLA, and will also discuss the …