Why would someone become an indentured servant?

The idea of indentured servitude was born of a need for cheap labor. With passage to the Colonies expensive for all but the wealthy, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to attract workers. Indentured servants became vital to the colonial economy.

What is the difference between indentured servitude and slavery?

Indentured servitude differed from slavery in that it was a form of debt bondage, meaning it was an agreed upon term of unpaid labor that usually paid off the costs of the servant’s immigration to America. Indentured servants were not paid wages but they were generally housed, clothed, and fed.

What rights did indentured servants have?

Indentured servants did have some rights, though, at least in theory. For example, they had access to the courts and were entitled to own land. However, masters retained their right to prohibit their servants from marrying and had the authority to sell them to another master at any time.

What is the difference between forced labor and slavery?

Slavery is when someone actually owns you like a piece of property. Servitude is similar to slavery – you might live on the person’s premises, work for them and be unable to leave, but they don’t own you. Forced labour means you are forced to do work that you have not agreed to, under the threat of punishment.

Can indentured servants be bought and sold?

Indentured servitude in Virginia was a kind of temporary slavery. While still serving their time, servants were under the total authority of their masters and they could be bought and sold like slaves.

Can indentured servants vote?

Indentured servants in colonial British America could not vote.

Could indentured servants be sold?

Why did colonists stop using indentured servants?

Servants ran away largely because their lives in Virginia tended to be nasty, brutish, and short. Although they often worked alongside their masters in tobacco fields, they usually lived apart and often under primitive conditions.

What are the consequences of forced labor?

The negative impacts of forced labour on a country’s economy are manifold: lack of investment in human capital, lower state revenues, productivity costs, and depletion of natural resources. To communities and society as a whole, forced labour is a drag on devel- opment.

Are non-disclosure agreements illegal?

In cases where the courts thought that the non-disclosure agreement placed an illegal anti-competition restriction on the Receiving Party such as in the case of Everett J. Prescott, Inc. v. Ross, the court did not voice support for those kind of clauses (that prevent an employee from future job prospects).

Are non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases buying silence?

“Outside of a trade secret where a company has a genuine business reason to keep something very closely contained, every single one of these non-disclosure agreements in a sexual harassment or sexual assault case is buying silence or attempting to buy silence.”

Will judjudges enforce a non-disclosure agreement?

Judges will only enforce a non-disclosure agreement that complies with state law on trade secrets. Every situation is different, but some factors that could lead a court to find a confidentiality agreement unenforceable include:

What is a non-disclosure agreement in Massachusetts?

Any agreement between a Massachusetts employer and employee that requires the worker to not disclose certain information learned within the workplace environment is a non-disclosure agreement. Because they mandate confidentiality from employees, these contracts are also commonly referred to as confidentiality agreements.