Equality and Freedom in the Workplace: Recovering Republican Insights

In this paper, I focus on a domain in which the conflict between freedom and equality is at stake: the world of work. Current U.S. laws impose many negative liberty restraints on employers with respect to employees. They may not discriminate by race, gender, religion, or age. They must pay minimum wages to most employees, and pay overtime to those working more than 40 hours per week. They must pay wages in cash, not scrip. They must bargain in good faith with any labor union their employees elect to represent them, and may not fire any employee for joining it or urging others to do so. They are subject to workplace safety standards imposed by OSHA. These laws are justified at least in part in terms of equality: antidiscrimination laws directly aim to secure equality among workers; unionization laws aim to equalize workers’ bargaining power with employers; other laws aim to correct for unequal bargaining power.