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AMERICAN LABOR LAW This rese

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF AMERICAN LABOR LAW

This research paper discusses in the form of answers to six questions various aspects of American labor law based on the assigned text and materials referenced therein.

At common law, the compensation to be paid to a worker was decided by the competitive marketplace. In the absence of fraud, duress, coercion or incapacity to contract, Epstein says that "so long as it is accepted that the employer is the full owner of his capital and the employee is the full owner of his labor, the two are free to exchange on whatever terms they see fit . . ." In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Supreme Court held that liberty of contract was a property right guaranteed against denial of due process through state action under the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights which was applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment. The Court upheld some but invalidated many other state laws regulating aspects of worker compensation, such as maximum hours of work and minimum wages. Courts regularly enjoined strikes and union organizing efforts, sending leading labor leaders such as Eugene Debs to prison for contempt of court and ruled in the 1890s that the Sherman Anti-trust law could be used to enjoin labor activities in restraint of trade. Labor was exempted under the 1914 Clayton Act.

Various abuses committed by unbridled capitalism and changing social mores led eventually to Supreme Court decisions in the late 1930s upholding the right of the federal government to regulate economic activities in interstate commerce and of the state governments to set minimum wages, maximum hours, overtime pay, and other terms and condition of employment for activities within their borders.

Today, compensation is regulated by a variety of federal and state laws, such as minimum wage laws and the Employment Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA) which governs pension benefits, federal and state labor laws gra...

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AMERICAN LABOR LAW This rese. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:29, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1704982.html