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Centennial Conference Set for High Court Ruling that Limited Women’s Work Hours |
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This year marks the 100th anniversary of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court’s Muller v. Oregon decision, which, for the first time, upheld a state law regulating workers’ hours. The case had a seismic impact on both gender discrimination and labor law and came about during a tumultuous time in America’s industrial development.
On June 25, the National Consumers League (NCL), whose early leaders were responsible for mobilizing and assisting then-attorney Louis Brandeis—who later served on the U.S. Supreme Court—in presenting the case to the court, will host a centennial conference at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the landmark case and explore its legacy and impact on American labor law.
At the start of the 20th century the nation’s labor laws, such as they were, did little to protect workers and their rights. However, the state of Oregon had law on its books that banned employers from forcing women to work more than 10 hours day.
Curt Muller, the owner of a laundry, was convicted of violating the Oregon laws by making a female employee work more than 10 hours in a single day. Muller was fined $10. He appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, both of which upheld the constitutionality of the labor law and affirmed his conviction.
The case opened the door for other states to regulate hours and other working conditions. The daylong NCL conference will explore its impact on labor and women’s rights, wage and hour protections, union rights and more. Speakers and panel discussion will include Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.); Fred Mason, president of the Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO; Bill Lurye, AFL-CIO associate general counsel; Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ); and other union and women’s rights leaders and labor historians.
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