Hernández, Tanya Katerí --- "The limits of U.S. racial equality without a Latin American constitutional “right to work” – a thought experiment" [2018] ELECD 150; in Crawford, Colin; Bonilla Maldonado, Daniel (eds), "Constitutionalism in the Americas" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 258

Book Title: Constitutionalism in the Americas

Editor(s): Crawford, Colin; Bonilla Maldonado, Daniel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781788113328

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: The limits of U.S. racial equality without a Latin American constitutional “right to work” – a thought experiment

Author(s): Hernández, Tanya Katerí

Number of pages: 29

Abstract/Description:

This chapter argues that the U.S. legal system’s failure to recognize the right to work has negatively impacted the case law on racial issues issued by the Supreme Court, unlike Latin America where this right has been recognized formally. For Hernández, the lack of a right to work does not allow U.S. judges to examine the specific contexts in which work spaces are immersed. In these spaces, racial prejudice and the vulnerability of workers are the rule. Hernández concentrates her critical analysis on three key labor case law rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court: Vance v Ball State University, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v Nassar and Dukes v WalMart. From Hernández’s perspective, these three rulings show the disconnection between the Supreme Court and the realities of the U.S. labor market in paradigmatic fashion.