Globalizing U.S. Employment Statutes Through Foreign Law Influence: Mexico’s Foreign Employer Provision and Recruited Mexican Workers

It is widely acknowledged that Mexican nationals comprise a growing portion of the U.S. workforce, both as authorized and unauthorized workers. The focus on Mexican workers who are currently within the United States overshadows the fact that U.S. employers—typically with the help of their Mexico-based agents—are regularly recruiting and hiring low-wage Mexican workers in Mexico to work in the United States (hereinafter referred to as “recruited Mexican workers”). For instance, it was reported in January 2008 that “Iowa meatpackers actively recruited workers in Mexico” to have enough workers so that they could ship pork “from Iowa slaughterhouses to the rest of America.” Moreover, in conjunction with U.S. work authorization visa programs for low-skilled workers, there are vast networks operating within Mexico to help U.S. employers find employees who will travel to the United States to work. This article considers whether a provision of Mexican labor law—which unconditionally forbids foreign employers from failing to pay recruited Mexican workers’ relocation costs to the United States up front—may influence two domestic U.S. employment statutes in cases involving recruited Mexican workers