16 December 2008
Protecting Workers
This article is excerpted from the IIP publication Sketchbook USA, a richly illustrated volume that depicts Americans at work, at play, in their communities, and engaging in civic life. View and download the fully formatted Sketchbook.
The laws that govern the U.S. workplace spring from the nation’s founding principles as a capitalist democracy — a place where government serves the people yet does not infringe upon enterprise or dampen the entrepreneurial spirit that has produced so much innovation and prosperity.
The U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress to regulate commerce between the states and international commerce but leaves regulation of in-state commerce to each state. Since at least the late 19th century, federal and state governments have adopted a doctrine called the Doctrine of Employment at Will. It exists nowhere in written law but emerged from common law — that is, it developed from a series of court case precedents. This doctrine asserts that, in the absence of a contract, an employer can fire an employee or an employee can quit a job for any reason or no reason. That doctrine remains in force with a few exceptions related to unfair discrimination defined by law.
Formal U.S. labor laws were scarce before the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the Great Depression, when U.S. unemployment peaked at about 25 percent of the workforce, the U.S. Congress passed landmark labor laws, including the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The act prohibits unfair practices by employers against most private-sector employees (workers in agriculture and transportation are among those covered by different laws). The NLRA protects the rights of workers to organize labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, and go on strike. The National Labor Relations Board is the federal agency authorized to enforce the act.
Also during the Great Depression, Congress passed the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 and the Walsh-Healey Act of 1936 to set wage standards for workers on federal construction projects and in jobs supplying materials and supplies to the federal government.
The Social Security Act of 1935 not only established the U.S. public retirement pension system, but also essentially required the state governments to operate unemployment insurance programs. Under broad federal guidelines, each state determines its own level of benefits and eligibility criteria.
Then, in 1938, Congress passed the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), covering most private-sector employees working for companies engaged in interstate commerce. The FLSA set minimum wages, maximum hours, and standards for overtime hours and pay. It regulated child labor; a 1949 amendment prohibited child labor. The U.S. Department of Labor has offices scattered around the United States to enforce the law.
In 1947, Congress, overriding President Harry Truman’s veto, passed an amendment to the National Labor Relations Act called the Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act), which prohibits unfair practices by labor unions. For example, it prohibits what are called closed-shop agreements, which require employers to hire only union members.
The amendment does allow what are called union shops, where employees must join a union soon after getting a job and must be fired for not paying union dues. But Taft-Hartley also allows states to pass what are called right-to-work laws prohibiting union shops; about half the states have passed such laws. Taft-Hartley also prohibits what is called featherbedding, union practices requiring an employer to pay for unnecessary work or unnecessary workers.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to, in part, address discrimination in employment. As amended, the act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, natural origin, age, or disability. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces the act. An amendment to the act allows a victim of intentional discrimination to have a jury trial to sue for compensatory and punitive damages from an employer.
In 1970 Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to protect workers in private-sector industries that participate in interstate commerce. Under OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission can set health and safety standards for an industry, conduct inspections of workplaces, and fine employers for violations.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires covered employers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year to eligible employees to care for a newborn child or a seriously ill immediate family member.
