Employer Rights Against Worker Involuntary Servitude

This paper argues that employers can sometimes validly challenge laws as violating the Thirteenth Amendment’s Involuntary Servitude Clause. Judges currently read that clause to bar some kinds of physical or legal coercion against workers who would otherwise quit their current employer. This paper identifies how existing Involuntary Servitude Clause doctrine can be extended to bar legal coercion against prospective employers who would otherwise hire those workers after they quit. If so extended, the Involuntary Servitude Clause sets a minimum level of labor mobility in the United States. To illustrate, the paper discusses how employers can use the Involuntary Servitude Clause to challenge (1) labor mobility restrictions on H-2 foreign guest workers, and (2) non-competition clauses in labor contracts.

Firms, Ex-offenders, and Communities: A Stakeholder Capability Enhancement Perspective

ABSTRACT:This article contributes to the business ethics literature by applying and extending an emerging theoretical perspective—stakeholder capability enhancement (Westermann-Behaylo, Van Buren, & Berman, 2016)—to previously unexplored areas of business ethics inquiry related to work, dignity, and relationships between firms, ex-offenders, and other stakeholders. In particular, I direct attention to ex-offenders as critical community-based stakeholders pursuing employment opportunities with employers in these communities. I discuss how prevailing hiring practices in firms restrict opportunities for ex-offenders to obtain meaningful work and undermine stakeholder capabilities and dignity. I consider three primary pathways for expanding employment opportunities for ex-offenders, enhancing the capabilities and dignity of ex-offenders and other community-based stakeholders, and maintaining critical employer rights. The article concludes with a discussion of potential directions for future research.