The state of worker protections in the United States: Unregulated work in New York City

Bernhardt, Annette; McGrath, Siobhán; DeFilippis, James

doi:10.1111/j.1564-913x.2008.00029.x

Cited by 26 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 3 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Flexibility and some opportunism in methodology is an established approach in fieldwork of this kind and our empirical focus required that we adopt similar techniques (for a discussion of methodological issues, see Bernhardt et al, 2008). We began by 'mapping' the location of car wash sites within the city boundaries, using direct observation supported by content analysis of business directories, internet and social media sites.…”

Section: Research Methods and Emerging Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the USA many workers who are forced to accept informal employment feel unable to seek recourse to regulatory agencies. Indeed, the absence of regulatory recourse is so extensive in nail bars, HCWs and restaurants that in New York City violations of employment and labour laws constitute the dominant business strategy, putting pressure on responsible employers to follow suit in order to compete (Bernhardt et al, 2008). The lessons for this study from the American literature are that in the presence of a sector dominated by informalization employers are effectively insulated from regulatory compliance because worker grievances are unlikely to be mobilized into activism in the absence of a countermovement which operates beyond collective bargaining.…”

Section: The Context Growth and Diffusion Of The Hcw Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

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New insights into informal migrant employment: Hand car washes in a mid-sized English city

Clark

Colling

2016

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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This article provides new analytical insight into migrant labour by examining a newly emergent low-margin sector, hand car washes (HCWs). The sector is co-created by pressures from above in the form of economic restructuring and from below by employers and migrants who diffuse fluid and flexible low-wage employment. The diffusion of HCWs demonstrates how exploitative privatized employment generates autonomous economic growth in the unregulated economy. The formal and informal economies are however interlinked and overlapping within and beyond the labour process. Locally, HCWs have the potential to become the established car wash sector, putting regulated outlets in a state of uncertainty as informalization in employment if not business practice becomes the norm.

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Section: Research Methods and Emerging Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Context Growth and Diffusion Of The Hcw Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into informal migrant employment: Hand car washes in a mid-sized English city

Clark

Colling

2016

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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“…This depends on the willingness of the state to enforce the labor laws. Unfortunately, the Israeli government-similarly to the UK and the U.S. governments (Bernhardt, McGrath, & DeFilippis, 2008;Robinson, Dryden, & Gomez-Duplantis, 2010)-does not enforce the labor laws very srictly (Shamir, 2013). According to Kaufka (2003), one of the main reasons for underenforcement of workers' laws is that the home care work is perceived by governments worldwide as part of the private sphere.…”

Section: The Israeli Casementioning

confidence: 96%

Whose Right Is It Anyway? Familiarity with Workers’ Rights Among Older Adults, Family Caregivers, and Migrant Live-In Home Care Workers: Implications for Policy and Practice

Green

Ayalon

2014

Educational Gerontology

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Live-in home care provided to older adults blurs the boundaries between private and professional, personal and public matters, and working hours versus off-duty time. As a result, live-in home care workers are at risk for exploitation. The present study examines the extent to which older adults, family members, and migrant live-in care workers are familiar with the rights of migrant live-in care workers. A random stratified sample of adults over the age of 70 who receive home care services was conducted. Overall, 338 migrant live-in care workers, 224 older adults, and 442 family members were interviewed and asked about their knowledge regarding 10 basic migrant live-in workers' rights. Moderate levels of knowledge regarding migrant live-in care workers' rights were found. On average, older adults were aware of 4.22 workers' rights (out of a possible number of 10 rights), whereas family members and migrant live-in care workers were aware of 7.77 and 7.34 rights, respectively. No more than 4% of older adults, 18% of family members, and 10% of migrant live-in care workers were aware of all 10 workers' rights. It seems that whereas some rights regarding social benefits were well acknowledged, core issues related to the job and to the status of migrant care workers remain unclear. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

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“…Complaint-based enforcement had long been the dominant approach taken by the federal government, but by 2015, directed enforcement accounted for a remarkable 45 percent of investigations -an unprecedented percentage in WHD's history (DOL 2017). Yet, while state enforcement is essential, government does not have enough investigators to monitor all employer sites, nor is it likely to ever have an adequate number (Wial 1999;Bernhardt, McGrath, and DeFillipis 2008). Additionally, government is unlikely to have as much information about conditions on the ground as workers in the workplace, and it generally lacks the relationships with vulnerable workers that strong organizations can build.…”

Section: Labor Standards and The Corrective Of Co-enforcementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segmentation and the Role of Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigration Reform

Fine¹,

Lyon²

2017

JMHS

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Executive SummaryDespite the fact that many low-wage, violation-ridden industries are disproportionately occupied by immigrants, labor standards and immigration reform have largely been treated as separate pieces of an otherwise interrelated puzzle. Not only is this view misguided, but this paper argues that strengthening labor standards enforcement would ensure that standards are upheld for all workers, immigrant and others. In addition, labor standards enforcement is instrumental to the erosion of sub-standard conditions in certain sectors, often referred to as the "secondary" labor market, that are associated with advanced market economies. Ensuring labor standards are upheld diminishes the incentive for employers to undercut wages by exploiting vulnerable workers, many of whom are immigrants. As this paper argues, strengthening enforcement must include not only "vertical" mechanisms, including strategic enforcement and penalizing and criminalizing egregious and repeated labor violators, but also "lateral" mechanisms, such as co-enforcement by workers and through worker and community organizations. The article illustrates the role of co-enforcement in labor standards through two case studies.

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The state of worker protections in the United States: Unregulated work in New York City

Cited by 26 publications

References 3 publications

New insights into informal migrant employment: Hand car washes in a mid-sized English city

New insights into informal migrant employment: Hand car washes in a mid-sized English city

Whose Right Is It Anyway? Familiarity with Workers’ Rights Among Older Adults, Family Caregivers, and Migrant Live-In Home Care Workers: Implications for Policy and Practice

Segmentation and the Role of Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigration Reform

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