Federal Labor Law - State Labor Law

In this article, we seek to provide a brief understanding on various facets of law. Federal Labor law is involved with the relationship between employer and employee and seeks to sort out problems arising therein.

Labor law seeks to equalize the bargaining power between employees and employers. These laws define the relationship between employers and employees and are governed by federal and state law as well as judicial decisions on the same. State labor law allows employees and employers to engage in strikes, picketing and seek injunctions to have their demands met. Labor Law is instrumental in determining the rights and obligations that may arise out an employment contract. This law regulates the relationship between employers and employees starting from the hiring process to termination of the employment relationship.

Employment law is a broad term that covers all aspects of employer and employee relationship, the only exception being the negotiation process that is covered by state labor law and collective bargaining. The specific areas that come under the purview of employment law albeit under their own topical categories are employment discrimination, unemployment compensation, pension, and worker's compensation and workplace safety.

The current Federal labor laws are a product of the New Deal era of the 1930s. A quick glimpse into the salient features of the New Deal Era reforms:

National Industry Recovery Act of 1933 aimed at providing codes of 'fair competition' as well as fixing wages and hours for work in industries.
The Wagner Act of 1935 or the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was made applicable to all firms and employees in activities affecting inter-state commerce. The exceptions to this act were agricultural laborers, government employees and those who came under the purview of the Railway Labor Act. This act entrusted workers with the rights to organize and join labor movements and to choose representatives for collective bargaining.
The Anti-Strike breaker Law or the Byrnes Act of 1936 made it a felony to transport persons who were employed for using forceful tactics in labor disputes or collecting bargaining efforts.
The Walsh-Healy Act of 1936 laid stringent guidelines to ensure that workers are not paid less than the prevailing minimum wage in environments that fall under prescribed sanitation and safety standards.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was responsible for establishing minimum wages and maximum hours for workers engaged in 'interstate commerce'.
The Labor Management Relations Act, also known as the Taft Hartley Act of 1947 added a list of unfair labor practices that were forbidden to unions. These were established procedures for delaying or averting 'national emergency' strikes. This act retained Wagner Act's basic guarantees of workers' rights to strikes and collective bargaining.
The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, also known as the Landrum -Griffin Act, added to the Taft Hartley Act by clearly defining unfair labor practices and providing State labor relations' agencies and courts the jurisdiction over labor disputes.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was established to hear disputes between employees and employers. The labor sector that is not subject to the NLRA is the railway and airline employees. They are governed by the Railway Labor Act. The employees in the Federal public sector come under the purview of the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Act (FSLMRA).

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