“Forcing people into magistrates’ courts greatly increases the initiative required”; “Legislation that is not coupled with meaningful implementation is generally ineffective”

Latest in a series of posts on wage equality

Peter Crownfield is officially retired but spends most of his time working with students in his role as internship coordinator for the Alliance for Sustainable Communities–Lehigh Valley.

Wage Equality Memo (1)

10:06 AM

My initial reaction is that the HRC should not be able to exclude a whole class of people who are exploited — especially on the basis that there might be too many people who consider themselves to be aggrieved! Forcing people into magistrates’ courts greatly increases the initiative required by the employee and makes it more difficult for them to pursue justice.

A more logical and just course of action would before the city to budget funds to provide some administrative and investigative support for the HRC.

11:20 AM

Realistic, meaningful implementation (& enforcement) is always an issue. Look at Bethlehem’s marijuana ordinance, which LUPD uses when appropriate, but has been basically ignored by the City’s own police department.

Legislation that is not coupled with meaningful implementation is generally ineffective and tends to be discriminatory in that some people are better able to have it enforced the others.

Peter