What is Labor Law?

From Wikipedia: Labor Laws: 

Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, employer, and union. Individual labour law concerns employees' rights at work also through the contract for work. Employment standards are social norms (in some cases also technical standards) for the minimum socially acceptable conditions under which employees or contractors are allowed to work. Government agencies (such as the former US Employment Standards Administration) enforce labour law (legislature, regulatory, or judicial).

From Wikipedia: United States labor law:

United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the "inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association".[3] Over the 20th century, federal law created minimum social and economic rights, and encouraged state laws to go beyond the minimum to favor employees.

Components of labor laws / Areas of conflict with business

1 - Contract and rights at work
- Scope of protection
- Contract of employment
- Wages and pay
- Working time and family care
- Pensions
- Health and safety
- Civil liberties

2 - Workplace participation
- Labor unions
- Collective bargaining
- Right to organize
- Collective action
- Right to vote at work

3 - Equality and discrimination
- Constitutional rights
- Equal treatment
- Equal impact and remedies
- Affirmative action
- Free movement and immigration

4 - Job security
- Termination and cause
- Economic layoffs
- Full employment
- Trade and international law

Development of Labor Laws

British 

- Ordinance of Labourers 1349.
- Statute of Labourers 1351.
- Statute of Artificers 1562.

American

- Railway Labor Act of 1926.
- National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
- Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
- Employment Act of 1946.

From the U.S. Department of Labor: Summary of the Major Laws of the Department of Labor.