Taking States Out of the Workplace
Yale Law Journal Pocket Part, Vol. 177, 2008
6 Pages Posted: 7 Dec 2008 Last revised: 6 Apr 2009
Date Written: December 6, 2008
Abstract
Current governance of the workplace originates from local, state, and federal governments. In some areas, such as private-sector labor law under the National Labor Relations Act, there is a single source of law supported by a unified enforcement scheme. Yet much of the time a given workplace dispute will fall under the laws of different jurisdictions, each of which gives rise to multiple causes of action. The result is an unjustifiably complex workplace governance system that undermines its own goals. Of more immediate concern is a recent movement to make this problem worse by increasing states' power to regulate the workplace. This argument, which is the latest iteration of a long-running federalism debate, has gained more traction recently because of the justified perception that recent enforcement of federal workplace laws has been inadequate. I agree that enforcement is a serious problem, but draw the opposite inference. If the goal is to increase enforcement of existing workplace protections, we should not only resist giving states more power; we should take away the power that they currently possess.
Keywords: employment, labor, union, federalism
JEL Classification: K31, J58, J71. J78
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation