Blacklist (employment)

In employment, a blacklist or blacklisting refers to denying people employment for either political reasons (due to actual or suspected political affiliation), due to a history of trade union activity, or due to a history of whistleblowing, for example on safety or corruption issues. Blacklisting may be done by states (denying employment in state entities) as well as by private companies.

The first published reference to blacklisting of an employee dates from 1774. This became a significant employment issue in American mining towns and company towns, where blacklisting could mean a complete loss of livelihood for workers who went on strike.

The 1901 Report of the Industrial Commission stated "There was no doubt in the minds of workingmen of the existence of the blacklisting system, though it was practically impossible to obtain evidence of it." It cited a news report that in 1895 a former conductor on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad committed suicide, having been out of work ever since a strike: "Wherever he went the blacklist was ahead of him".

The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 gave employees the right to organize and bargain collectively. and numerous strikes occurred until the Act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935, and organized labor sought relief from employers who had able to blacklist union members. Though the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 outlawed punitive blacklists against employees who supported trade unions or criticised their employers, the practice remained common. A U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics report published in 1938 noted that "Closely related to discrimination and the employer's right to discharge is the blacklist." Employees who had been fired had no recourse to legal action against the employer, but "most States have statutes which make criminal the establishment of a blacklist."

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 made amendments which sustained blacklisting by affirming the right of employers to be anti-union, and by requiring trade union leaders to make loyalty oaths which had the same effect as the Hollywood blacklist.

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