Extraterritorial Employment Standards of the United States

This book offers an exhaustive analysis of extraterritorial employment standards. Part I addresses the U.S. role in the enforcement of internationally recognized worker rights in the world community. Worker rights include the right of association; the right to organize and bargain collectively; a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory labor; a minimum age for the employment of children; acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health; and the right to work in an environment free from discrimination. By using economic coercion in the form of preferential trade benefits, investment incentives, and trade sanctions, the United States attempts to encourage foreign governments and employers, both local and transnational, to abandon exploitative working conditions for employment standards recognized by the world community. Part II is an exhaustive review of employment standards for U.S. citizens employed abroad, including equal employment opportunity standards. It also addresses extraterritorial wage and hour regulation and federal statutes establishing worker compensation standards to persons employed at military installations or in areas where the risk of war hazards are prevalent. Part III is a discussion of the policy concerns and implications of extraterritorial employment standards. These standards impact domestic producers, domestic workers and their representative organizations, consumers, exporters and importers, as well as multinational enterprises and their employees. This book is indispensable for managers, legal counsel for employers and employees, and policy makers and labor leaders in any industry having contact with the global economy.

JAMES MICHAEL ZIMMERMAN is an attorney in private practice in San Diego, California with the firm Sparber, Ferguson, Naumann, Ponder & Ryan. He writes frequently on international law topics, including international trade and labor issues, publishing articles in such journals as China Business Review, International Labor Review, Cornell International Law Journal, Suffolk Transnational Law Journal, and Hastings International and Comparative Law Review.