Bargaining in the Shadow of Social Institutions: Competing Discourses and Social Change in Workplace Mobilization of Civil Rights

Abstract

The Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to provide job‐protected leave, but little is known about how these leave rights operate in practice or how they interact with other normative systems to construct the meaning of leave. Drawing on interviews with workers who negotiated contested leaves, this study examines how social institutions influence workplace mobilization of these rights. I find that leave rights remain embedded within institutionalized conceptions of work, gender, and disability that shape workers' perceptions, preferences, and choices about mobilizing their rights. I also find, however, that workers can draw on law as a culture discourse to challenge these assumptions, to build coalitions, and to renegotiate the meaning of leave.

Relational Power, Legitimation, and Pregnancy Discrimination

“…While prior work has shown that the seeming neutrality of organizational decisions alongside the risks of formally disputing discrimination may cause some pregnant workers to forego this form of legal mobilization (Albiston 2005), it is worth noting that all of the pregnant women in this study exercised some aspects of power by filing a formal discrimination charge. Yet, they largely follow the lead of employers by attempting to vilify organizational actors who directly took part in the discriminatory act while amplifying the need for fairer workplace policies (see Figures 2 and 3).…”

“…One barrier lies in the fact that workers with legal grievances encounter several obstacles as they move through naming, blaming, claiming, and disputing (Felstiner, Abel, andSarat 1980-1981). An employee that falls into a protected group must first be legally conscious of such protection and then must traverse both employer control over information about existing workplace rights and the threat of retaliation (Albiston 2005;hirsh and Lyons 2010;Kelly 2010). Moreover, those who reach the dispute stage are often met with tremendous emotional and financial strain, not to mention uncertainty regarding a favorable resolution (Berrey, hoffman, and Nielsen 2012;hirsh 2008).…”

Operating Room: Relational Spaces and Microinstitutional Change in Surgery

“…They may also encourage subordinates to blame themselves for the perpetuation of these practices by recasting complaints as due to personality conflicts or employee deficiencies rather than discrimination (Edelman et al 1993;Harlan and Robert 1998). Finally, they may lead subordinates not to claim their rights by encouraging fear of retaliation or the belief that their efforts will not result in change (Edelman et al 1993;Harlan and Robert 1998;Fuller, Edelman, and Matusik 2000;Albiston 2005;Marshall 2005).…”

Precarious Claims: The Promise and Failure of Workplace Protections in the United States

“…Workers' understanding of their rights, and their ultimate propensity to mobilize them, are tied not only to the overarching policies of the state and the principles embedded in the formal law, but also to the social institutions in which they are embedded (Albiston 2005a). Key to this process are workers' relationships with their employers, who may withhold and control access to certain information, who may or may not inspire loyalty, and who frame how their rights should be interpreted.…”