Answer:
States cannot interfere with an employee's right to contract for work.
Explanation:
In Utah, a law was passed in 1895 that limited miners' working hours to ten hours a day and 60 hours a week. If the employer violated this law, then he was fined.
The main reason for adopting such a law was the “inequality of the negotiation position,” where one side has a stronger position and imposed its conditions on the weaker side, while the employee, having no means of subsistence, was forced to take often unprofitable obligations on the part of the employer.
Not everyone understood this law. Employers did not understand this - why should someone decide instead how much an employee should work for him. They saw here a restriction of their rights. In 1905, Joseph Lochner, the owner of the bakery, was fined twice for violating this law and decided to sue New York State. He believed that if an employee is ready to work longer than it is prescribed by law, then why should the state forbid him to do this? The court ruled in favor of Lochner and quashed the law. This precedent essentially marked the beginning of the Lochner era when the Supreme Court repealed a number of laws regulating the relationship between business and workers.
