· Chicago-Kent Law Review · By Shahid Haque · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
In this Chicago-Kent Law Review note, Shahid Haque examines what remained of federal labor-law protection for undocumented workers after the Supreme Court's 2002 decision in Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB. He argues that cutting off backpay and reinstatement can reward employers who exploit unauthorized labor, and proposes stronger employer penalties to restore the deterrent that the Court's ruling removed.
Written while Shahid was a J.D. candidate at Chicago-Kent, the article is an early expression of a concern that later became central to his work in Montana: immigration status should not give an employer license to abuse a worker. It also captures the legal debate immediately after Hoffman Plastic, when courts and the National Labor Relations Board were still deciding how broadly the ruling should reach.