Introduction—The Goliath in the Room: How the False Assumption of Equal Worker–Employer Power Undercuts Workplace Protections

Abstract

The belief that employers and workers have equal power and are therefore “free to contract” continues to hold sway among employers and jurists, but not among those who live in the real world of work. The papers in this issue rebut this assumption of equal power by examining the claims made in philosophy and law to support it, contrasting those claims with the realities of the labor market, and showing that limitations on management power do not generate adverse economic outcomes—and may even enhance it.