The Place of the Undocumented Worker in the United States Legal System after Hoffman Plastic Compounds: An Assessment and Comparison with Argentina's Legal System

36 Pages Posted: 8 Aug 2008

See all articles by María Mercedes Pabón

María Mercedes Pabón

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law

Date Written: August 6, 2008

Abstract

This article analyzes how the United States legal system treats undocumented workers in the wake of a very significant U.S. Supreme Court decision and compare it with the way one Latin American country, Argentina, treats its undocumented workers. The article examines post Hoffman Plastics federal labor and employment case law, including among others, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as well as state labor and employment laws, such as state worker's compensation laws. Based on that examination, I argue that the U.S. legal system treats undocumented workers with hostile inconsistency. I also take a comparative approach in this article, by analyzing how Argentina, another immigrant receiving country, treats its undocumented workers under its domestic legal systems and its regional trade agreement, MERCOSUR. My conclusion is that that denying the undocumented workers' labor and employment law rights because of their immigration status denies them their personhood, which is inconsistent with the notions of freedom and equality that founded this nation.

Keywords: undocumented workers, Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Argentina's legal system, federal labor, employment case law, immigrant, immigration law, Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII, Civil Rights Act, MERCOSUR, Argentina

JEL Classification: N30, K19, K39

Suggested Citation

Pabón, María Mercedes, The Place of the Undocumented Worker in the United States Legal System after Hoffman Plastic Compounds: An Assessment and Comparison with Argentina's Legal System (August 6, 2008). Indiana International & Comparative Law Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1208802

María Mercedes Pabón (Contact Author)

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law ( email )

7214 St Charles Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
110
Abstract Views
1,130
Rank
445,710
PlumX Metrics