Worker Protection in the United States

Introduction

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are among the groups responsible for protecting employees at the federal level. Companies also must comply with minimum wage standards and other laws and regulations established by state and federal governments, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act. There are also laws to protect employees who report illegal practices by their employers. These laws protecting whistle-blowers are covered in this legal Encyclopedia.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for the fair and equitable treatment of employees with regard to hiring, tiring, and promotions. Some of the laws it enforces are Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Businesses must adhere to the policies established by the United States Department of Labor. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides guidelines for workplace safety and enforces those regulations. For example, construction workers must wear hard hats for protection.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 requires employers that qualify to grant eligible employees up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons: the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee; placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care; to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families

Introduction

Migrant workers and members of their families frequently find themselves in a situation of vulnerability, owing, among other things, to their absence from their country of origin and to the difficulties they may encounter arising from their presence in the country of employment,

Often, the rights of migrant workers and members of their families have not been sufficiently recognized everywhere and, therefore, require appropriate international protection,

The human problems involved in migration are even more serious in the case of irregular migration and convinced therefore that appropriate action should be encouraged in order to prevent and eliminate clandestine movements and trafficking in migrant workers, while at the same time assuring the protection of their fundamental human rights.

Workers who are non-documented or in an irregular situation are frequently employed under less favourable conditions of work than other workers. Some employers find this an inducement to seek such labour in order to reap the benefits of unfair competition.

The recourse to the employment of migrant workers who are in an irregular situation will be discouraged if the fundamental human rights of all migrant workers are more widely recognized and, moreover, that granting certain additional rights to migrant workers and membrs of their families in a regular situation will encourage all migrants and employers to respect and comply with the laws and procedures established.

Migrant workers and members of their families are considered, in this treaty:

• as documented or in a regular situation if they are authorized to enter, to stay and to engage in a remunerated activity in the country of employment pursuant to the law of that country and to international agreements to which that country is a party;
• as non-documented or in an irregular situation.

Context

This international conventiont takes into account the most important international instruments
of the United Nations concerning human rights, including:

• the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
• the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
• the Convention against Discrimination in Education of the United Nations
  Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco),
• the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
• the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
• the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

This international conventiont takes into account also other international instruments elaborated within the framework of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), including:

• the Convention concerning Migration for Employment (No. 97),
• the Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers (No. 143),
• the Recommendation concerning Migration for Employment (No. 86),
• the Recommendation concerning Migrant Workers (No. 151),
• the Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour (No. 29), and
• the Convention concerning Abolition of Forced Labour (No. 105).

One of the objectives of the International Labour Organisation, as stated in its Constitution, is the protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own, and bearing in mind the expertise and experience of that organization in matters related to migrant workers and members of their families,

It also takes into account other treaties, such as:

• the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
• the Declaration of the Fourth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders,
• the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, and
• the Slavery Conventions.

Main Objective

In Part II (Non-discrimination with respect to rights), the Article 7 states tha the countries signatories of the treaty “undertake, in accordance with the international instruments concerning human rights, to respect and to ensure to all migrant workers and members of their families within their territory or subject to their jurisdiction the rights provided for in the present Convention without distinction of any kind such as sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic position, property, marital status, birth or other status.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

On October 05, 2015, the United States reached an agreement with its eleven partner countries, concluding negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Trump refused the Agreement.

The Agreement was a new, high-standard trade instrument that, according to the White House in the Obama Administration, “Includes the Strongest Worker Protections of Any Trade Agreement in History.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership puts American workers first by establishing the highest labor standards of any trade agreement in history, requiring all countries to meet core, enforceable labor standards as stated in the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

The fully-enforceable labor standards we have won in the Trans-Pacific Partnership include the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively; prohibitions against child labor and forced labor; requirements for acceptable conditions of work such as minimum wage, hours of work, and safe workplace conditions; and protections against employment discrimination. These enforceable requirements will help our workers compete fairly and reverse a status quo that disadvantages our workers through a race to the bottom on international labor standards.

In fact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership will result in the largest expansion of fully-enforceable labor rights in history, including renegotiating NAFTA and bringing hundreds of millions of additional people under ILO standards – leveling the playing field for American workers so that they can win in the global economy.”