Introduction
Despite the form of governance in any country, formulation of laws is vital and essential to both the institutes in authority and the citizens being governed. Besides maintaining order within the nation, laws facilitate preservation of freedom, protection of citizens and resolution of conflicts. Considering the various laws that exist, in this essay, we shall concentrate on the constitution and labor laws. On the other hand, example of cases that elaborate the mentioned laws shall be highlighted to expound in details the components of these legislations.
Constitutional Law
As explained by scholars, the government is made up of three main branches which are the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive. The authorities and responsibilities bestowed on the three branches are defined by the laws elaborated in the constitution. Referred to as constitution law, it is the entity that controls the functions of the government branches. According to the Institute of Find Law (2017), constitution laws are comprised of rights that are formulated in the constitution which in most cases are interpreted by the adjudication. Under the constitution laws, the Bills of Rights of citizens that are composed of ten amendments in the constitution are elaborated, implemented and enhanced.
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The key responsibilities of the government branches are distinctive. The legislative is involved in creating and reviewing the legislation from both the house of state and the Congress. Composed of the President and the cabinet, the executive is responsible for executing the laws created by the legislative. The judiciary on the other hand, which is made up the judges, courts and advocates have the role of interpreting the implemented laws as mentioned earlier. Since the inception of the constitution in America, there have been cases presented to the Supreme Court to amend some essential rules. For instance, the 14th amendment has been submitted to the Supreme Court through close to ten cases since the 19th century. The 14th amendment is focused on the rights and elements of citizenship whose commonly used clause is the ‘equal protection of the laws.’ Besides citizenship and equal protection, the 14th amendment also highlights privileges & immunities, details of the representation of Congress and elements and practices of the federal institutes. As highlighted by the Legal Information Institute (LII, 2017), court cases that help explain constitution law differ with the clauses in the fourteenth amendment. For example, the city of Boerne v. Flores in 1997 is under the enforcement clause of the 14th amendment whereas Fisher v. the University of Texas in 2013 highlights on the equal protection clause.
According to Oyez (1997), the City of Boerne v. Flores case was seeking to analyze whether the 14th amendment enforced excessive powers by implementing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The petitioner being the city of Boerne in Texas had denied Archbishop Flores the permit to expand his church in the area arguing that the site was historic and no further construction was allowed. The RFRA Act was enacted to protect religious instituted from being suppressed or limited by government authorities on how they should operate. The court appealed that the RFRA Act had exceeded the powers of the Congress and hence it granted Boerne the request for certiorari which is an order that seeks a review of an already tried case in a higher court.
As for the case that highlights equal protection clause in the constitution law, the petitioner Abigail Noel Fisher sued the University of Texas at Austin for denying her admission in the Top Ten Percent Plan offered in Texas to all high school graduating classes within the state. Among the University’s elements of considerations used to qualify students is a race. Fisher argued that the use of race violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment which was the reason for her to miss the chance in the University since she was white. In response, the court argued that the University’s use of race as a consideration in the admission of students to the Top Ten Percent Plan did not in any way violate the Equal Protection Clause since its purpose was to encourage ethnic diversity in the school and to catalyze advance education to the minorities.
Labor Laws
The purpose of labor or employment laws is to create mutual understanding between employees, the employer, and a possible existing labor union. Besides the elaboration of the rights, the labor laws are implemented to exercise fairness, safety, and highlight on the responsibilities of the concerned stakeholders. Moreover, labor law is not only based on the constitution but also court opinions, administrative rules and legislation are involved. For instance, since most of the frequent disputes presented to the court about labor are based on violations of either wage or working hours, the federal law dictates the minimum wages which sometimes differ from one state to the other (Georgetown Law) . Besides the protection from wage and hour violations, the labor laws also restrict discrimination of any kind in the workplace either from fellow workmates or the employer. Forms of discrimination that are on the rise include racial or religious discrimination and stigmatization based on an individual’s sexual orientation or disabilities.
An example of the court case is that of Sandhu v. Solutions2go Inc. (2012), where the petitioner accused the responded for indefinitely terminating her without notice. Moreover, despite Sandhu’s legibility to bonuses, the employer did not give her any although she received her wages. According to Sandhu, the employer declares bonuses at the time of the notice which never happened in her case. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the employer – Solutions2go Inc. did not give any bonuses at the time of Sandhu’s termination. In defense of their actions, the company argued that they had pre-conditions laid out that disqualified Ms. Sandhu on receiving bonuses. Among the conditions laid out included the need for Sandhu to be an active employee at the announcement of the profit share which would have entitled her the bonus she expected (Sandhu v. Solutions 2 go Inc., 2012). On the other hand, Solutions 2 Go insisted that the profit sharing was discretionary on their part. While Sandhu denied being informed of the conditions before signing her employment contract, the court also found it challenging to make a fair judgment because of the lack of a written policy that elaborated on the bonus. The court hence determined that the respondent was responsible for the employment contracts that they had to explain to their employees. Furthermore, the profit sharing was a condition that existed in the company which they had to comply to. Therefore, Solutions 2 Go Inc. was expected by the court to pay Ms. Sandhu all her bonuses as required.
Conclusion
It is evident that laws are formulated to ensure that besides the maintenance of order in a country, neither government institutes nor citizens engage in activities that violate the rights of others anyway. Moreover, the constitution is a foundation of most implemented laws that include criminal and labor laws among others. Depending on the statutes being looked at, different court cases are decided in variations because of specific clauses that directly affect matters at hand. In most cases, constitution law handles some issues because of the different provisions that exist within the 14th amendment.
References
City of Boerne v. Flores. (1997). Oyez . Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/95-2074
FindLaw. (2017). What is Constitutional Law? Retrieved October 29, 2017, from FindLaw: http://hirealawyer.findlaw.com/choosing-the-right-lawyer/constitutional-law.html
Fisher v. University of Texas. (2013). Oyez . Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981
Georgetown Law. (n.d.). Employment / Labor Law . Retrieved October 30, 2017, from Georgetown Law: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/careers/career-planning/practice-areas/employment-labor.cfm
Sandhu v. Solutions 2 go Inc., 2012 ONSC 2073 (CanLII), <http://canlii.ca/t/fqw5w>, retrieved on 2017-10-30
