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Student Work
Race, Racism and the Law
Spring, 2012
Thesis Statement:
This paper will focus on the possibility of an increase in the minimum wage and how this will help minorities in earning a higher equality in regards to income. Since the secondary job market, which consists of lower paying jobs and minimum wages, is over represented by minorities, this increase in the minimum wage will attempt to specifically help these groups of people. If the minimum wage is increased to equal the current living wage, this will narrow the income inequality gap and will increase the quality of life for those living on minimum wage salaries. A higher minimum wage will provide many benefits and will alleviate the income inequality which exists in our society.
Statutes
- “Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007”, 29 U.S.C.A. § 206 (West)
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq
- Section 602 of Title VI; 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000d (West)
Cases
- Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 121 S. Ct. 1511, 149 L. Ed. 2d 517 (2001)
- Lees v. Case-Hoyt Corp., 779 F. Supp. 717 (W.D.N.Y. 1991)
Law Review Articles
- Bruce E. Kaufman, Institutional Economics and the Minimum Wage: Broadening the Theoretical and Policy Debate, 63 Industrial & Labor Relations Review. 427 (2010)
- David Neumark, William Wascher, Minimum Wages and Low-Wage Workers: How Well Does Reality Match the Rhetoric?, 92 Minnesota Law Review 1296 (2008
- Debra Burke et. al., Minimum Wage and Unemployment Rates: A Study of Contiguous Counties, 46 Gonzaga Law Review 661 (2011)
Journal
- Anjana Samant, “Race, Religion, and National Origin in Post-9/11 Employment Discrimination Cases in the Wake of Discrimination Against People Perceived to Be of Middle-Eastern Descent, Courts Have Had to Revisit the Hazy Boundary Between Race and National Origin, as Well as Consider the Potential Overlap Between These Categories and Religion”, Practical Litigator Journal, March 2009
- Brenda Valle, You Don't Have to Reinvent the Wheel: A Comparison of Wage and Hour Laws, Their Effects on the Latino Family, and What We Can Learn from Them, 8 Hastings Race & Poverty Law Journal 137 (2011)
Other
- Raising the Minimum Wage: The Impact of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 and State Minimum Wage Increases on U.S. Workers, by Race and Ethnicity”, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, January 2007.
Annotations
Statutes
“Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007”, 29 U.S.C.A. § 206 (West) Total Pages Read: 4
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (“2007 Act”) amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“1938 Act”) to raise the required minimum wage. The previous minimum wage had been $5.15 an hour, but the 2007 Act raised this wage floor to $7.25 per hour. The new minimum wage standard was set-up into three tiers with $7.25 being the highest tier and the amount that is currently in effect today. However, this new minimum wage does not apply to employees who are compensated with tips. Employees who earn tips have a current minimum wage of $2.13. The raising of the minimum wage by more than two dollars is a step in the right direction in an attempt to raise the earning power of those employees in the secondary job market. Congress made an attempt to increase the earning power for those who work minimum wage jobs and the new minimum wage should increase their quality of life. There was no bibliography.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq Total Pages Read: 3
This title declares that “discrimination on the ground of race, color, or national origin shall not occur in connection with programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance.” This applies to my thesis since employees shall not be discriminated upon in regards to the amount of their salary. Since a large part of the secondary job market is composed of minorities, who have historically been the targets of such discrimination, this Act helps ensure they will be given a fair opportunity in the work place. While a higher minimum wage is not directly related to this Act, I think it will raise the standard of living for those people whom this Act was intended to protect. While not all programs and activities are under these guidelines, a large number are and I think that it is a good start in the fight against discrimination in the workplace. There was no bibliography although there are over 13,000 citing references to this statute.
Section 602 of Title VI; 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000d (West) Total Pages Read: 5
Agency regulations which are enacted pursuant to Section 602 of Title VI forbid recipients from "utilizing criteria or methods of administration which have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination because of their race, color, or national origin, or have the effect of defeating or substantially impairing accomplishment of the objectives of the program as respects individuals of a particular race, color, or national origin.” This applies to my thesis because the disparate impact of employers discriminating based upon race or national origin directly affects a person’s ability to earn income. A minimum wage floor which provides enough money for a person to enjoy a decent quality of life should remove the ability for an employer to discriminate against their employee’s salary based on race since they will not be able to pay them below that amount. A high enough minimum wage floor ensures that an employee will receive a higher standard of living and should lower the level of economic equality which exists between the secondary and primary job markets. There was no bibliography.
Cases
Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 121 S. Ct. 1511, 149 L. Ed. 2d 517 (2001)
The holding of this case held that there is no private right of action to enforce disparate-impact regulations promulgated under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If we want economic equality between all races, we need to make sure that they are protected from racial discrimination. Although the statute mentions only intentional discrimination, unintentional discrimination needs to be taken into consideration as well. Since there are no private actions pursuant to this title of the Civil Rights Act, the government will need to mandate a required minimum wage to protect those employees in the secondary job market. I agree with this Court’s decision since they followed the words in the legislation, but I hope that our government works to properly enforce laws to protect minimum wage employees. Since the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was passed after this case was decided, it is safe to say that our government has at least made an attempt to rectify economic equality issues by raising the bar for the minimum wage. There was no bibliography for this case
Lees v. Case-Hoyt Corp., 779 F. Supp. 717 (W.D.N.Y. 1991)
The plaintiff in this case established a prima facie case of wage discrimination by showing that she was paid less than the employer’s other white employees with similar educational backgrounds performing similar jobs. This case showed that even as recently as twenty years ago, and probably still today, certain employers still show racism in the work place. By enacting a nationwide minimum wage, which is higher than the current standard, this would remove the possibility of employers paying employees different minimum wages based on race since there would be a mandatory floor. I agreed with the case holding that there was wage discrimination since the employer was shown to pay employees different amounts based on race. Besides raising the quality of life, a mandatory minimum wage of a higher amount would possibly alleviate racist tendencies of employers by removing their ability to pay certain races extremely low amounts of money well below what they deserve. There was no bibliography for this case
Law Review Articles
Bruce E. Kaufman, Institutional Economics and the Minimum Wage: Broadening the Theoretical and Policy Debate, 63 Industrial & Labor Relations Review 427 (2010) Total Pages Read: 18
This article went into detail behind the economics behind imposing a higher minimum wage and how this will affect our economy. Since I was an Economics major in college, I really enjoyed the author’s points, although I am not sure how someone unfamiliar with basic economic principles would have been able to understand some of his points. His best point for proving my thesis was his interpretation that a higher minimum wage may, in fact, increase economic deficiency in the marketplace. This helps my thesis since the obvious argument against it would be that a higher minimum wage would mandate employers to hire fewer workers due to the higher salary and thus have lower production. A higher minimum wage will make the employer’s employees happier and thus increase their production at work. This is a basic economic principle of the happy worker and this article’s author based part of his paper on it. In sum, by raising the minimum wage, employers may have to pay more to their employee but they will also possibly get more work out of them. This is a win for both sides since the employee will be able to have a higher standard of living and the employer will also see more production. This article did contain a bibliography.
David Neumark, William Wascher, Minimum Wages and Low-Wage Workers: How Well Does Reality Match the Rhetoric?, 92 Minnesota Law Review 1296 (2008)
This article discussed the history of the minimum wage regarding how it was initially enacted through the current minimum wage set by Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. This article weighs the pros and cons of enacting a minimum wage and how it affects our economy. I disagreed with the author’s conclusion that a minimum wage is not an effective antipoverty program. If we have a minimum wage which is equal to the current living wage, it will provide enough incentive for the worker’s to increase productivity that it will cancel out the increase overhead costs for salaries. I believe that if the minimum wage is set to an amount, for example say $12, this would give the employee’s an incentive to work hard to avoid losing their job. While this article did not touch on the concept of race, it dealt with the idea of minimum wage and whether it is beneficial for society. While I disagree with the author’s view that a minimum wage is a detriment, this article showed how the minimum wage has evolved to what it currently is today. There was no bibliography although the article contained 116 footnotes citing cases.
Debra Burke et. al., Minimum Wage and Unemployment Rates: A Study of Contiguous Counties, 46 Gonzaga Law Review 661 (2011)
This article studied the impact of varying minimum wage amounts on communities and how this affected their way of life. The study found that communities which had higher minimum wages also were the same communities which had higher levels of employment. This makes economic sense because employers will need to spend more money on employee’s salary which limits their amount of money to hire extra workers. However, if the government mandates a nationwide higher minimum wage, there will be no discrepancies between communities and thus should have no effect on unemployment rates. The author made good points regarding alternative means for minimum wage workers instead of pursuing a higher minimum wage however I think a nationwide change to the minimum wage is still the best way to meet the goal of economic equality.
This author did not include a bibliography; however the law review article did contain 122 footnotes which cited specific sources
Anjana Samant, “Race, Religion, and National Origin in Post-9/11 Employment Discrimination Cases in the Wake of Discrimination Against People Perceived to Be of Middle-Eastern Descent, Courts Have Had to Revisit the Hazy Boundary Between Race and National Origin, as Well as Consider the Potential Overlap Between These Categories and Religion”, Practical Litigator Journal, March 2009 Total Pages Read: 14
This journal article talks about the types of employment discrimination minorities have had to deal with in the United States after the 9/11 attacks. Many of these people have been denied jobs so their families have suffered economically. Others have been forced to take jobs which pay them well below what they deserve to be earning. This leads to lower levels of economic equality between races since whites continue to prosper while minorities are denied jobs. If our government had enacted a higher minimum wage, these people would not be forced to take jobs which fail to provide them with the proper means to enjoy a better lifestyle. After 9/11, Middle Eastern Americans have relegated to poor paying jobs and have begun a cycle of poverty. A higher minimum wage floor may deter that poverty cycle and ensure a higher standard of living. I agree with author’s point that the American society was shocked by 9/11 and its aftermath but the treatment of the Middle Eastern people has been unnecessarily cruel. A higher minimum wage helps people who are being oppressed by ensuring them to receive a fair wage for their work. There was no bibliography for this article.
Brenda Valle, You Don't Have to Reinvent the Wheel: A Comparison of Wage and Hour Laws, Their Effects on the Latino Family, and What We Can Learn from Them, 8 Hastings Race & Poverty Law Journal 137 (2011) Total Pages Read: 16
This article discusses the economic problems which Latinos, the fastest growing minority in the United States, have been suffering. This race has historically worked lower paying jobs so a raise in the minimum wage may affect their race more than others. A higher wage will allow these people to obtain a higher standard of living. This article studied wages for Latinos in certain US states and how they have been negatively affected by current hourly wage laws. I agree with the author’s contention that our government does not need to “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to economic policy for the Latino people. I think a solution for many of their problems would be a higher minimum wage. I think the author’s best point was that as the Latino population grows, so will the number of workers in these lower paying jobs which thus makes it all the more important to make sure that this group of people is protected. We need to protect the Latino population from being taken advantage of and being forced to work jobs which pay salaries that make it almost impossible to support their families. A higher minimum wage may not solve all of their problems, but I think it would be a step in the right direction. There was no bibliography although the article contained 32 footnotes citing cases.
Other
Raising the Minimum Wage: The Impact of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 and State Minimum Wage Increases on U.S. Workers, by Race and Ethnicity”, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, January 2007. Total Pages Read: 25
This article goes into great detail about how the increased minimum wage from the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 will affect each different racial minority group. It mentions that over 10.4 million workers in the United States will see benefits caused by the increase in the minimum wage under this Act. This article did a nice job of breaking down how the increase in wage will help certain minority groups by using graphs to give a visual aid. These graphs broke down the percentage of minorities working minimum wage jobs and how the increase in pay will be beneficial to them. There were different sections of the article for each group and the graphs visually broke down how the increase in pay, through the three tier pay increase of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, will affect both the economy and each individualized racial group. The graphs made it easier to see how big of an impact a higher minimum wage would have and if our government increases the minimum wage to equal the living wage, even more improvement will be seen. There was no bibliography for this source.
