> But not required to continue working there. It should be pretty easy to find a job that pays more than 1c/hr.
That's pretty glib and misses the point: labor laws like the minimum wage exist for a reason. The tl;dr is that the free market didn't solve the problems the laws were meant to solve 100 years ago, and the free market isn't going to solve them now (if the GP is corrected and forced arbitration gives employers a way to bypass the laws).
The parent was talking about people being forced to work for 1c/hr. It's an absurd claim, and that hypothetical person could walk into basically any other job. Preferably one paying more than minimum wage.
That's pretty glib and misses the point: labor laws like the minimum wage exist for a reason. The tl;dr is that the free market didn't solve the problems the laws were meant to solve 100 years ago, and the free market isn't going to solve them now (if the GP is corrected and forced arbitration gives employers a way to bypass the laws).