Brazee v. Michigan

Background

Brazee ran a private employment agency in Detroit and had taken out a license under Michigan’s Act 301 of 1913. He was convicted for sending a person seeking work to an employer who had not applied for help, which the law forbids. The statute requires agencies to be licensed and bonded, to keep registers and give receipts, to follow limits on fees, to avoid sending applicants to employers who did not request labor, and to face penalties for violations.

Reasoning

The central question was whether Michigan’s law violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections against depriving people of life, liberty, or property without due process or denying equal protection. The Court explained that a State, using its police power, may require licenses and reasonable regulation of businesses like employment agencies to protect the public. Relying on prior decisions, the Court said the type of business is properly subject to such regulation and affirmed Brazee’s conviction because his conduct fell squarely within the harmful behavior the law targets. The Court also said the fee-limit rules are separable from other parts of the law but did not decide whether those fee limits themselves are valid.

Real world impact

States may enforce rules that prevent employment agencies from sending jobseekers to employers who did not ask for help, and may require licensing, bonding, recordkeeping, and receipts. Agencies and jobseekers should expect enforcement of these conduct rules. The legality of the statute’s specific limits on fees remains unresolved and could be decided in a later case.