Jonathan F. Harris

Associate Professor of Law

Grantee, University of California Student Loan Law Initiative

Senior Fellow, Student Borrower Protection Center

Courses Taught

• Contracts
• Employment Law
• Labor Law

Links

• CV
• SSRN
• Twitter
• ORCID

Background

Jonathan Harris writes and speaks on work law, contracts, and equity in workforce development. His most recent article, Consumer Law as Work Law, was selected for the 2023 Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. His publications have appeared or are forthcoming in the California Law Review, Alabama Law Review, California Law Review Online, Northwestern University Law Review Online, Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal, and New York City Law Review. Professor Harris's 2021 article, Unconscionability in Contracting for Worker Training, sparked a national movement to rein in abusive Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs) that require workers to pay large sums to quit. He is a grantee of the University of California Student Loan Law Initiative and a senior fellow with the Student Borrower Protection Center, and his writing has been cited by entities like the CFPB and the Senate Banking Committee in their efforts to regulate employer-driven debt.

Professor Harris is the Chair-Elect of the AALS Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law, as well as an executive committee member of the AALS Section on Employment Discrimination Law. He previously taught in the Lawyering Program at NYU School of Law. Professor Harris clerked for Judge James E. Graves, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit while teaching at Mississippi College School of Law. He began his legal career as a Skadden Fellow, focusing on the intersections of employment and consumer law. Prior to that, he was a labor and community organizer.

Law Review Publications

• Consumer Law as Work Law, 112 Calif. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2024) (selected for Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum)

• Economic Duress in Employment Contracting, 42 Compar. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. __ (forthcoming 2022) (invited)

• The New Noncompete: Training Repayment Agreement Provisions as a Scheme to Retain Workers through Debt, Nw. U. L. Rev. Of Note (2022)

• Unconscionability in Contracting for Worker Training, 72 Ala. L. Rev. 723 (2021) (reviewed in JOTWELL by Miriam A. Cherry)

• Is There a Right to Job Quality? Reenvisioning Workforce Development, 11 Calif. L. Rev. Online 339 (2020) (with Livia Lam)

• Worker Unity and the Law: A Comparative Analysis of the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Hope for the NLRA’s Future, 13 N.Y.C. L. Rev. 107 (2009) (winner, Burton Award for Distinguished Writing in a Student Note)

Reports

• Trapped at Work: How Big Business Uses Student Debt to Restrict Worker Mobility, Student Borrower Prot. Ctr. (July 2022) (with Chris Hicks)

• Collecting Unpaid Wages & Enforcing Judgments in Maryland (with Molly Theobald), Pub. Just. Ctr. (2012)

Op-Eds & Other Works

• The "Protecting the Right to Organize Act" and the Radical Roots of Labor Law Reform (with Dylan Holmes), ABA Hum. Rts. Mag. (Oct. 2023) (invited) 

• The Militant Labor Roots of this "Striketober," Daily Journal (Oct. 9, 2023) 

• The FTC’s Proposed Noncompete Ban Still Lets Companies Trap Workers in Bad Jobs, Truthout (June 12, 2023) 

• Bringing Home the Supply Chain (with Samuel Estreicher), Verdict (Apr. 15, 2020)

Agency Comments & Legislative Testimony

• Testimony Before CA Assembly Judiciary Committee on Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs) (Apr. 25, 2023)

• Comment Letter to FTC on Proposed Rule on Non-Compete Clauses (Apr. 19, 2023)

• Comment Letter to CFPB on Employer-Driven Debt (Sept. 23, 2022)

• Comment Letter on Dec. 6-7, 2021 FTC & DOJ Workshop, "Making Competition Work: Promoting Competition in Labor Markets" (Dec. 19, 2021)

• Comment Letter to FTC on Contract Terms that May Harm Competition (Sept. 30, 2021)

Media Mentions

• Sarah Lynch, Training Repayment Agreements: What Employers Need to Know for 2024, Inc. (Oct. 16, 2023)

• H. Claire Brown, They Quit Their Jobs. Their Ex-Employers Sued Them for Training Costs., N.Y. Times (Sept. 27, 2023) (references to research)

• Mark Betancourt, Health Care Companies Are Using Debt to Trap Nurses on the Job, Mother Jones (Sept. + Oct. 2023)

• CBS Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Workers Prepare for One-Day Strike, (Aug. 7, 2023)

• Roxanne Nelson, Nurses Owe Thousands if They Break "TRAP" Training Contract, Medscape (July 27, 2023)

• Brian De Los Santos, The "Summer of Strikes", LAist (July 14, 2023)

• Michael Gormley, Bill would outlaw making some lower-wage workers pay cost of training, Newsday (June 7, 2023)

• Jillian Berman, They recruited IT staffers with the promise of a prestigious career. But there’s a catch—workers had to stay for two years or pay nearly $24,000, MarketWatch (Apr. 22, 2023)

• Sarah Lazare, How Secret ‘Bondage Fees’ Trap Contracted Workers in Low-Wage Jobs, American Prospect (Apr. 21, 2023)

• LAist, How to LA Podcast (KPCC), How Successful Are Worker Strikes? (Mar. 28, 2023)

• Shannon Pettypiece, “Indentured Servitude”: Nurses Hit with Hefty Debt when Trying to Leave Hospitals, NBC News (Mar. 12, 2023)

• Karla L. Miller, Work Advice: Training Debt Can Keep Employees Trapped at Jobs, Wash. Post (Feb. 9, 2023)

• Josh Eidelson & Zachary Mider, Giving Four Months' Notice or Paying to Quit Has These Workers Feeling Trapped, Bloomberg Businessweek (Jan. 26, 2023)

• Newsy, The Why, Quick Quitting (Nov. 29, 2022) (television)

• Taryn Luna & Hannah Wiley, A Sexual Misconduct Settlement Could Threaten #MeToo Progress at California Capitol, L.A. Times (Oct. 23, 2022)

• Jacob Zinkula, Be Careful before “Quick Quitting” and Joining the Great Resignation. Your Employer May Hand You a Bill for Your Job Training., Business Insider (Oct. 19, 2022)

• KMOX, The Show, Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (Oct. 18, 2022) (radio)

• Aayat Ali, Watch Out Great Resigners—These TRAPs Could Cost You, Allwork.Space (Oct. 17, 2022)

• Diane Bartz, More U.S. Employers Charging Employees for Job Training if They Quit, Reuters (Oct. 17, 2022)

• USC Annenberg Media, ATVN News, Disneyland Wages (Oct. 11, 2022) (television)

• Sam Knight, More US Employers Are Trapping Workers in a New Form of Indentured Servitude, Truthout (Sept. 19, 2022)

• Jillian Berman, ‘They are Looking for Other Ways to Keep Workers from Leaving Their Jobs’: Training Repayment Agreements are the Latest Corporate Battleground in a Tight Labor Market., MarketWatch (Sept. 1, 2022) (quoted in headline)

• Devin Leonard, ‘Free’ Job Training Can Cost a Fortune for Employees Who Quit, Bloomberg Markets (Aug. 11, 2022)

• Dave Jamieson, A PetSmart Dog Groomer Quit Her Job. They Billed Her Thousands of Dollars for Training., HuffPost (Aug. 4, 2022)

• Caitlin Harrington, Beware the Contract Clause Loading US Workers With Debt, Wired (Aug. 4, 2022)

• Evan Weinberger & Rebecca Rainey, Employers Face CFPB Scrutiny Over Job Training Repayment Demands, Bloomberg Law (Apr. 21, 2022)

• Shelby Nelson, California Bill Looks to Redefine, Scale Back 40-Hour Workweek, KTLA (Apr. 8, 2022)

• Josh Eidelson, Nurses Who Faced Lawsuits for Quitting Are Fighting Back, Bloomberg Businessweek (Feb. 2, 2022)

• CBS Los Angeles, Vaccine Mandates & Workplace Violence (Nov. 9, 2021)

• CBS Los Angeles, Worksite Vaccine Mandates (Aug. 24, 2021)

• Emily Albert Reyes & Luke Money, L.A. City Council Votes to Require COVID-19 Vaccine for City Employees, L.A. Times (Aug. 18, 2021)

• Elena Botella, More Workers Are Starting Their Jobs in Debt Under “Training Repayment Agreements,” Forbes (Jul. 19, 2021)

Presentations