The classic Foundation science fiction trilogy, written by Isaac Asimov in the 1950s, tells the story of the fall of the Galactic Empire. The Empire was a civilizing force, and its predicted fall heralds 30,000 years of darkness and barbarism throughout the galaxy.

To minimize the impact of the fall of civilization, psychohistorian Harry Selden establishes the Foundation, a colony of artists and scientists, who will maintain mankind’s grace and knowledge as they weather the storm of barbarism, to emerge in 1,000 years to bring order and humanity back to the galaxy.

California is akin to the Foundation for workers’ rights in this country, and this combined edition of the CELA Bulletin demonstrates it. The contrast between our Supreme Court’s view of wage and hour law in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court, and that of the United States Supreme Court in Encino Motorcars LLC v. Navarro, could not be more plain.

The Dynamex decision describes, at multiple points, the importance of wage and hour laws to the protection of California workers. It discusses the statutes and regulations as having been “adopted in recognition of the fact that individual workers generally possess less bargaining power than a hiring business and that workers’ fundamental need to earn income for their families’ survival may lead them to accept work for substandard wages or working conditions.” To guard against this, “such worker are provided at least the minimal wages and working conditions that are necessary to enable them to obtain a subsistence standard of living and to protect the workers’ health and welfare . . . . These [are] critically important objectives . . . . “

The US Supreme Court’s decision, on the other hand, contains no such discussion. There is no recognition of the need and critical importance of federal minimum wage law. Indeed, Encino Motorcars begins its analysis by talking about the exception to the rule, rather than the importance of the rule itself. The statute’s remedial nature is never mentioned, and never factors in to the majority’s decision.

In the Foundation stories, regression in technology and a loss of interest in advancing mankind’s welfare presaged 30,000 years of barbarism. Substitute fundamental workers’ rights for technologies, and the similarities are eerie. California continues to stand as a bulwark against the growing storm.