Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Workplaces are highly regulated spaces. As Edelman and Suchman (1997) state, they “are immersed in a sea of law.” In regulating the workplace, the state attempts to control the behaviors of employers, managers, and workers using a system of incentives and penalties and a variety of policy tools. In the US, the government has at least some say – and often much say – over discrimination in the workplace, union activities, workplace safety, wage levels, hiring practices, work hours, employee leaves, plant closings, and compensation for injuries at work. The two main areas of workplace regulation in the US are employment law and labor law. Employment law encompasses anti-discrimination law, affirmative action policy, and equal pay law. Labor law, on the other hand, regulates trade union organizing, collective bargaining between workers and employers, and strike action by workers. Both areas have received substantial attention by researchers in sociology as they try to make sense of the law's development over time and its impact on employment relations. The 1960s were a watershed in US employment law. In 1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed, requiring employers to pay men and women equally for equal work. And in 1964, in response to the Civil Rights Movement, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act, which greatly broadened the state's ability to restrict race and sex discrimination, including ... log in or subscribe to read full text