The Crisis in the US Litigation Model of Labour Rights Enforcement

The US is the only advanced country that expects victims of wage theft or discrimination to sue in courts of general jurisdiction, as it lacks labor courts or administrative agencies with power to compel remedies. This omission is intentional. Both the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were weakened in the drafting process to weaken administrative power. This choice for litigation is poorly-defended, rapidly approaching crisis, and makes resolution more difficult of such much-commented problems in labor rights enforcement as affixing responsibility in complex organization and classification of workers. As employment law increasingly becomes state law, states will experiment with administrative agencies with powers to grant remedies