Law Commons^™

From Condition Of Limited Liability To Exceptional Remedy: The History Of Shareholder And Director Liability For Unpaid Workers' Wages In Canada, Eric Tucker

Eric M. Tucker

This article is part of a larger study of the recurrent dilemmas that arise when protective labor law conflicts with the norms of capitalist legality. In this particular case, shareholder liability for unpaid workers' wages was first enacted in mid-nineteenth century New York State as a condition of providing investors with easy access to the corporate form at a time when there was deep unease about its legitimacy. The Canadian debate was more muted, but prominent reform politicians expressed similar concerns about the corporation, leading them to impose first shareholder and then director liability for unpaid workers' wages. In the …