Abstract
One of the primary ways in which workers exercise power in the employment relationship is by leveraging competition among employers through the threat that they may go work for an employer that would pay them more or treat them better. Increasingly, employers have tried to undermine this core component of worker bargaining power through stay-or-pay contracts that charge workers penalties or threaten them with damages actions for leaving jobs before they have completed a prescribed term of employment. These contracts are intended and function to constrain worker mobility, suppress wages, and enable worker mistreatment. Through case studies of contemporary litigation challenging stay-or-pay contracts in the courts, this Article examines enforcement opportunities offered by existing state and federal laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, consumer protection laws, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and state unfair competition and unfair and deceptive acts and practices laws. It proposes that, while these laws provide some useful tools for enforcement, effective regulation will require the development of clear and bright-line rules.
Recommended Citation
Dempsey, Rachel and Seligman, David H.
(2024)
"Worker Debt and Worker Exit,"
University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy: Vol. 34:
Iss.
2, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/jlpp/vol34/iss2/5