Court of Industrial Relations (Kansas)

The Court of Industrial Relations (Kansas), established in 1920, was a state government entity created in Kansas with the aim of preventing strikes and labor disputes that disrupted essential industries, specifically those involving food, fuel, clothing, and transportation. Its primary function was to arbitrate labor disputes and, if necessary, to impose binding decisions on employers and employees regarding wages, hours, and working conditions.

The Court was championed by Kansas Governor Henry Allen and reflected a progressive-era attempt to address labor unrest following World War I. The underlying philosophy was that the public interest in essential services outweighed the absolute right of workers to strike or employers to lockout employees.

The Court’s authority was quickly challenged in the courts. In Charles Wolff Packing Co. v. Court of Industrial Relations of Kansas (1923), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Court's power to fix wages violated the employer's due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, finding the packing company not to be engaged in a business "affected with a public interest" to a degree that justified such regulation. In Dorchy v. Kansas (1926), the Supreme Court further clarified the limitations on the Court’s power, finding that the state could not prohibit union activity, such as striking, in order to enforce an order of the Court of Industrial Relations.

These Supreme Court decisions significantly weakened the Court's power and effectiveness. The Kansas Court of Industrial Relations was eventually abolished in 1925, marking a relatively short but significant experiment in state-level labor regulation. The concept, though, remains a point of reference in discussions about compulsory arbitration and the balance between workers' rights, employers' rights, and the public interest.