We are all blessed with many legal rights, and the rights we enjoy in the workplace are certainly not the least of these. Some employers look with suspicion on worker's rights, but I would argue it is much better from an employer's point of view to respect the legal rights of his or her employees, and pay them compensation when they are entitled to it, than wait for government bureaucrats to strangle incentive and profit with busy body regulations that are often an exercise in overkill.

And the workers' right to organize into unions and negotiate contracts with their employers is fundamental and makes sense for all concerned. I lead the dissent in Wingert v. Yellow Freight System, Inc., 146 Wn. 2d 841 (2002) to preserve the integrity of the contract freely negotiated between the Teamsters Union and Yellow Freight Lines. The national union and the company were on the same side of that case, arguing that government work rules were legitimate chips on the bargaining table. But they lost 5-4.

In the past I have done my best to stand up for worker rights in Labor and Industry cases involving work place injuries. And I have enforced work place anti-discrimination laws to the letter, and preserved the worker's right to access the courts to resolve disputes, while protecting the equally important rights of business men and woman to their rights under the law. My web site, justicesanders.com, has a complete list of my opinions on every subject.