1、United States labor lawUnited States labor law is the body of law that mediates the rights and duties of workers, employers and labor unions in the United States of America.Federal laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Occu
2、pational Safety and Health Act set the standards that govern workers rights to organize in the private sector, and override most state and local laws. Usually there are more limited rights for employees of the federal government, but not state or local governments, where workers derive their rights
3、from state law. Federal and state laws protect workers from employment discrimination, on grounds of race, gender, religion,national origin and age. Federal law preempts most state statutes that would bar employers from discriminating against employees to prevent them from obtainingpensions or other
4、 benefits or retaliating against them for asserting those rights.Contentshide 1 History 2 Contract and rights at worko 2.1 Contract of employmento 2.2 Scope of protectiono 2.3 Wages regulationo 2.4 Pensionso 2.5 Health and safetyo 2.6 Child care rightso 2.7 Income taxo 2.8 Civil liberties 3 Workplac
5、e participationo 3.1 Trade unionso 3.2 Right to organizeo 3.3 Collective bargainingo 3.4 Collective action 4 Equality and discriminationo 4.1 Civil rightso 4.2 Justificationso 4.3 Affirmative actiono 4.4 Free movement and immigration 5 Job securityo 5.1 Dismissal protectionso 5.2 Redundancieso 5.3 U
6、nemployment 6 Labor law in individual stateso 6.1 Laws restricting unionso 6.2 California 7 Enforcement of rights 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External linksHistoryeditMain articles: History of labor law in the United States and Labor history of the United StatesA man building the frame of th
7、eEmpire State Building at the start of the Great Depression in 1930.2 Indentured servant Commonwealth v. Pullis (1806), establishing that unions were criminal conspiracies in the Philadelphia Mayors court Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842), disapproving Pullis in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, a
8、nd establishing that unions were not necessarily criminal Vegelahn v. Guntner, 167 Mass. 92 (1896) Sherman Antitrust Act Lochner v. New York, 198 US 45 (1905) Loewe v. Lawlor 208 U.S. 274 (1908) or The Danbury Hatters case Adair v. United States, 208 U.S. 161 (1908) upholding yellow dog contracts, b
9、anned by The Erdman Act of 1898 section 10 on the railroads, until reversed by the Norris-LaGuardia Act Commission on Industrial Relations (1915) Adkins v. Childrens Hospital, 261 U.S. 525 (1923) Supreme Court held a minimum wage for women and children in DC was unconstitutionalIn 1941, Executive Or
10、der 8802 (or the Fair Employment Act) became the first law to prohibit racial discrimination, although it only applied to the national defense industry. Later laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and amendments), Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,3 the Family
11、and Medical Leave Act of 1993,4 and numerous state laws with additional protections. The Fair Labor Standards Act5 regulates minimum wages and overtime pay for certain employees who work more than 40 hours in a work week.While working an employee must work a minimum of two hours in a day. Cases of e
12、mployment discrimination in the United States are most often subject to the jurisdiction of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal commission responsible for the enforcement of the anti-discrimination laws. Once a case has been filed with the EEOC or similar state agencies with con
13、current jurisdiction, employees have a right to remove the case to the courts with the permission of the agency, or in some instances, after the expiration of a set time period. Employment law cases are heard in state or federal courts, depending upon the issue, the size of the employer (the Civil R
14、ights Act of 1964,6 for example, applies only to employers with 15 or more employees), and the litigation strategy of the plaintiff.Contract and rights at workeditContract of employmenteditSee also: United States contract lawScope of protectionedit Dunlop Commission on the Future of Worker-Managemen
15、t Relations: Final Report (1994) recommended a unified definition of an employee under all labor laws Inequality of bargaining power United States v. Silk, 331 U.S. 704 (1947) NLRB v. Hearst Pubs, Inc 322 U.S. 111 (1944) an employee under the National Labor Relations Act Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v.
16、Darden, 503 U.S. 318 (1992) employee under ERISA Clackamas Gastroenterology Assocs. v. Wells, 538 U.S. 440 (2003) employee definition under the Americans with Disabilities Act Lemmerman v. A.T. Williams Oil Co., 350 S.E.2d 83 (1986) under the North Carolina Workers Compensation Act an eight year old
17、 boy was considered an employee, although employing children under the age of 8 was unlawful. Castillo v. Case Farms of Ohio, 96 F Supp. 2d 578 (1999) that an employer who used an employment agency called “American Temp Corps“, was responsible for the way that hired migrant farm workers in Texas to
18、work in an Ohio chicken factory, being packed into sub-human transport and living conditions in violation of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act 1983 Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 567 U.S. _ (2012) 5 to 4, a travelling salesman of four years for GSK was classified
19、 as an outside salesman, and so could notWages regulationeditMain articles: Fair Labor Standards Act and Minimum wage in the United StatesA graph of the changes in the federal minimum wage rate. Light blue is the real wage and dark blue the nominal wageThe Fair Labor Standards Act7 of 1938 (FLSA) es
20、tablishes minimum wage and overtime rights for most private sector workers, with a number of exemptions and exceptions. Congress amended the Act in 1974 to cover governmental employees, leading to a series of United States Supreme Court decisions in which the Court first held that the law was uncons
21、titutional, then reversed itself to permit the FLSA to cover governmental employees.The FLSA does not preempt state and local governments from providing greater protections under their own laws. A number of states have enacted higher minimum wages and extended their laws to cover workers who are exc
22、luded under the FLSA or to provide rights that federal law ignores.Local governments have also adopted a number of “living wage“ laws that require those employers that contract with them to pay higher minimum wages and benefits to their employees. The federal government, along with many state govern
23、ments, likewise require employers to pay the prevailing wage, which typically reflects the standards established by unions collective bargaining agreements in the area, to workers on public works projects. Tennessee Coal, Iron some states have offered greater protections.Child care rightsedit Child
24、labor laws in the United States Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 Maternity leave in the United States Work-family balance in the United States Worklife balance (United States) Parental leave Government Day Care in the United StatesIncome taxeditMain article: Income tax in the United States Incom
25、e tax in the United StatesCivil libertiesedit Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968) 8 to 1, a public school teacher was dismissed for writing a letter to a newspaper that criticised the way the school board was raising money. This violated the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendm
26、ent Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138 (1983) 5 to 4, a public attorney employee was not unlawfully dismissed after distributing a questionnaire to other staff on a supervisors management practices after she was transferred under protest. In dissent, Brennan J held that all the matters were of public co
27、ncern and should therefore be protected by the First Amendment Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378 (1987) 5 to 4, a Texas deputy constable had a First Amendment right to say, after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan “Shoot, if they go for him again, I hope they get him.“ Dismissal was unlawful
28、 and she had to be reinstated because even extreme comments (except potentially advocating actual murder) against a political figure should be protected. She could not be fired for merely exercising a right in the Constitution. Waters v. Churchill, 511 U.S. 661 (1994) 7 to 2, a public hospital nurse
29、 stating, outside work at dinner, that the cross-checking policies of the hospital were flawed, could be dismissed without any violation of the First Amendment because it could be seen as interfering with the employers operations Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006) 5 to 4, no right against dis
30、missal or protected speech when the speech relates to a matter in ones profession Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 Huffman v. Office of Personnel Management, 263 F.3d 1341 (Fed. Cir. 2001) OConnor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709 (1987) searches in the workplace Ontario v. Quon, 130 S.Ct. 2619, (2010) th
31、e right of privacy did not extend to employer owned electronic devices so an employee could be dismissed for sending sexually explicit messages from an employer owned pager.Workplace participationeditPresident Franklin D. RooseveltContrary to popular intent, the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) led to p
32、rosecution of unions as illegal combinations, but Section 6 of the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) ended this practice by stipulating that unions shall not be “construed to be illegal combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade, under the antitrust laws.“ The National Labor Relations Act gave a
33、general right to organize in a trade union and collectively bargain.The Taft-Hartley Act (also the “Labor-Management Relations Act“), passed in 1947, loosened some of the restrictions on employers, changed NLRB election procedures, and added a number of new limitations on unions. The Act, among othe
34、r things, prohibits jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts by unions, and authorizes individual states to pass “right-to-work laws“, regulates pension and other benefit plans established by unions and provides that federal courts have jurisdiction to enforce collective bargaining agreements.T
35、he United States Congress has not yet ratified the International Labour Organization Convention on theFreedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 or the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949. Commission on Industrial Relations (1912-1915) Wo
36、rkplace democracy, Industrial democracy, Economic democracyTrade unionseditMain articles: Labor unions in the United States, Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and Union democracyshow V T ESources on trade unionsThe United States Congress subsequently tightened those restrictions on union
37、s in theLabor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, which also regulates the internal affairs of all private sector unions, providing for minimum standards for unions internal disciplinary proceedings, federal oversight for unions elections of their own officers, and fiduciary standards f
38、or union officers use of union funds.Union members participation rights American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy in Trade Unions (1943) United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management (1957-1960) Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act 1959 Trbovich v. Uni
39、ted Mine Workers, 404 U.S. 528 (1972) upheld the right of union members to intervene in enforcement proceedings brought by the United States Department of Labor Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1 (1973), in which the Supreme Court interpreted the Landrum-Griffin Act to permit the awarding of attorneys fees to
40、 successful plaintiffs. Dunlop v. Bachowski, 421 U.S. 560 (1975) upheld the authority of federal courts to review the Department of Labors decision to proceed or not proceed with prosecutions under Landrum-GriffinRestrictions on membership De Veau v. Braisted, 363 U.S. 144 (1960) 5 to 3, that it was
41、 consistent with the NLRA 1935 that state law could bar union officials from holding office if they had been convicted of a felony. The dissenting judges argued that state law could introduce no additional requirement to those in the statute. Brown v. Hotel and Restaurant Employees, 468 US 491 (1984
42、) 4 to 3, New Jersey could impose a requirement that all union officials in a casino had no association with organized crime, consistently with NLRA 1935 7. The dissenting judgment argued that the requirement was disproportionate because it applied penalties to the whole union rather than the offici
43、alsUnion fees Taft-Hartley Act 1947 14(b) confirmed states rights to pass “right to work laws“, so that a union cannot sign a collective agreement to register all workers as union members, or collect fees for the service of collective bargaining. Lincoln Fed Labor Union 19129 v. Northwestern Iron a
44、few permit public employees to strike in support of their demands in some circumstances. Some states, however, particularly in the South, make it illegal for a governmental entity to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a union.The NLRA does not cover agricultural or domestic employees.
45、 A few states have enacted labor laws similar to the NLRA covering farm workers. Finally, the NLRA does not cover employees in the railroad and airline industries. Those workers are covered by the Railway Labor Act, first passed in 1926, then amended in 1936 to cover airline employees. The RLA creat
46、es a wholly different structure for resolving labor disputes, requiring bargaining under indirect governmental supervision and permitting strikes only in limited circumstances.Freedom of association Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496 (1939) held to be a violation of the Fir
47、st Amendment for the NJ mayor to shut down trade union CIO meetings because he thought they were “communist“ National Labor Relations Act 1935 7, “Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of the
48、ir own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.“Right to communicate to colleagues National Labor Relations Act 1935 7-8 Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 502 U.S. 527 (1992) 6 to 3, held that an
49、 employer did not commit an unfair labor practice under NLRA 1935 7 by preventing union members, who were not employees of Lechmere Inc, from entering the company parking lot to hand out leaflets. They could not order union members to leave the public grassy area outside the employers property.Right to suffer no detriment for being in a union Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 535 U.S. 137 (2002) 5 to 4, the right to not suffer d
