LAW 6079 - [Low Wage Workers and the Law]

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Next offered 2014-2015. Co-meets with ILRLR 6079.

K. Griffith.

This course will build your critical reading, writing, oral presentation and analytical skills through the study of legal issues that affect low-wage workers in the United States. You will learn to evaluate and apply legal theories and ideas to workplace issues that affect this population of the U.S. workforce. Low-wage workers often face unique legal challenges in the workplace. Many of them have jobs that straddle a legal gray area, making it difficult to determine whether they are exempt from labor and employment law protections. Unauthorized, or undocumented, low-wage workers also raise challenging legal questions about the intersection between immigration law and labor and employment law. What rights do unauthorized low-wage workers have in the workplace? What are the consequences of treating them the same as authorized workers? What are the consequences of treating them differently? This course will address these legal ambiguities and will give students the ability to engage with a wide range of legal and policy questions related to low-wage workers. It will cover traditional labor and employment law statutes as well as new legal developments that affect low-wage workers. Much of the course will be dedicated to federal legislation and case law related to the above. At the conclusion of the course, students will assess theories about the relationship between law and organizing in the context of new forms of organizing among low-wage and immigrant workers.