Doctoral Dissertation Research: From Agriculture to Information Technology: American Guestworkers and the Law in Flexible Labor Markets

本论文项目研究的法律的做法，是通过在美国的临时外国人就业监管法律构成的类型。联邦行政强制执行农业和紧急情况外来工的就业合同可追溯到1940年代;然而，非农业外来工只是从1990年代开始才能求助于这些保护措施以解决就业问题。随着越来越多的非农业外来工进入和离开“新自由主义化的工作场所”（即灵活劳动力），我们看到就业保护的循环以及国家纠纷处理和这一领域的法律动员的增加。 然而，与此同时，雇主终止合同的权利几乎是绝对的。与以前的客工项目不同，雇主解雇客工员工不需要举行行政听证会。在PI的监督下，论文学生将调查老年人，临时农业和紧急就业框架如何塑造当代工作场所灵活劳动的现行法律的规定。与新自由主义劳动监管的学术相反，论文学生认为，灵活的工作场所不是“不受监管的劳动角落”，而是国家“推出”对私人雇佣合同执行的最低形式的领域。借鉴历史sociolegal的方法，研究的重点是在整个时间和劳动部门的纠纷处理的变化和各种索赔客工已提交/使对他们的雇主。本论文透过法律的人类学研究，探讨雇主的权力如何塑造客工对自身权利的认知，进而探讨一个未被研究的领域：国家法规的发展、雇佣法与法律的主张。这项研究提供了一个历史背景下提出的悬而未决的外来工政策和法律，使现有的法律的做法的辩论法律的设计和工作场所的正义。

This dissertation project examines the type of legal practice that is constituted through temporary alien employment regulatory laws in the United States. Federal administrative enforcement of agricultural and emergency guestworkers' employment contracts dates to the 1940s; however, it is only since the 1990s that non-agricultural guestworkers can turn to these protections for help with employment problems. As more and more non-agricultural guestworkers enter and exit "neoliberalized workplaces" (that is, flexible labor), we see the circulation of employment protections as well as an increase in state dispute processing and mobilization of law in this area. Yet, at the same time, an employer's right to terminate is almost absolute. Unlike in previous guestworker programs, an administrative hearing is not required for an employer to fire a guestworker employee.Under the supervision of the PI, the dissertation student will investigate how the older, temporary agricultural and emergency employment framework shapes current legal regulations of flexible labor across contemporary workplaces. Contrary to scholarship on neoliberal labor regulation, the dissertation student argues that flexible workplaces are not "unregulated corners of labor," but rather areas where the state is "rolling out" a minimalist form of enforcement over private employment contracts. Drawing upon historical sociolegal methods, the research focuses on variations in dispute processing across time and labor sectors and the kinds of claims guestworkers have filed/make against their employers. Through legal anthropological research, this dissertation examines how the power of employers shapes guestworkers' perceptions of their entitlements.Ultimately, this research approaches an unstudied area of state regulatory development, employment law, and legal claims-making. The research provides a historical context for proposed pending guestworker policies and laws, bringing existing legal practices into the debate about legal design and workplace justice.