Undocumented Asian American Workers and State Wage Laws in the Aftermath of Hoffman Plastic Compounds

In 2002, the United States Supreme Court held in Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB' that an undocumented immigrant employee who used false work-authorization documentation could not be awarded statutory back pay regarding his employment termination for lawful union activity.2 The Court's underlying premise lay in limiting the back pay remedy to be consistent with federal immigration law.3 Hoffman sent shockwaves through the immigrant rights and labor organizing community; the Court had eliminated perhaps the most effective means of encouraging employer NLRA compliance and had raised questions as to whether courts