This paper is concerned with how precarious work in gendered production networks can be regulated to address distributional injustices—examining the regulation of homework in Thailand as a case study. The contribution of this paper is to empirically analyse these outcomes of the organisation and governance of production as gendered distributional injustices. The analytic extends the distributive analysis

In March 2019, the UK government launched a pilot scheme offering six-month visas to migrant workers in the horticulture sector. The first year of operation of this scheme has now been evaluated by the Home Office and the Department for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).11 It would have been easy to overlook the publication of this review, taking place as it did on 24 December 2021. However

AbstractThe proposition that employers are right to prevent absolutely employees from proselytising their religious beliefs at work has been mooted by AG Sharpston, now retired Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in her Opinion in Bougnaoui and Association de défense des droits de l’homme (ADDH) v Micropole SA. She argued this on three bases: that proselytism is not core

The Future of the Employment Contract by BrodieDouglas [Cheltenham: Elgar, 2021, 1232 pp., £85, hb ISBN 978178347 967 2]

Some Employment Tribunal claims brought under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) involve situations where a person’s protection from discrimination on the grounds of a protected characteristic—such as sex, sexual orientation or gender reassignment—comes into conflict with the rights of others, such as, for example, the right to freedom of expression or the right to manifest religion or belief under the European

Jobs and Homes. Stories of the Law in Lockdown by RentonDavid [Legal Action Group, 2021, pp. 2161, ISBN 9781913648190]

Walter Citrine. Forgotten Statesman of the Trades Union Congress by MoherJim [JGM Books, 2021, pp xxii + 377, ISBN 978 09557 107 28]

Irish Research Council10.13039/50110000208115954

Given the emphasis, at the time of the 2016 referendum, on the need to take back control of UK immigration policy, the article raises the question as to why the founding EU States decided not only to cede control in this sensitive field but also to allow such a generous approach to economic migration (to include not just workers but also their family members and to include equal access to benefits

Prevention and elimination of modern slavery is a priority of this era, eliciting responses at an international level and in domestic laws. The duty of organisations to ensure transparency in their supply chains is the strongest representation of corporate responsibility in this field. Less attention has been given to the current/potential role of insolvency mechanisms, in relation to companies’ commission

Women are overrepresented in informal employment in the Indian labour market. They also devote more time to unpaid care work than men do. The poor working conditions of women are attributable to this double burden of work. Due to the lack of regulatory measures to protect the interest of informal women workers along with rigid gender norms, women’s participation in paid work is drastically reduced

European Research Council10.13039/501100000781757395

Drawing on a case study of contemporary employment relations in tourism and catering in Greece, this paper seeks to contribute to our empirical understanding of employment law. Which factors determine the ways in which the law is perceived by employers and workers and complied with, breached or avoided? The main argument of the paper is that not only market forces are relevant here; several other factors

Labour Rights and the Catholic Church – The International Labour Organisation, the Holy See and Catholic Social Teaching by BeckettPaul [Abingdon: Routledge, 2021, pp xii + 2811, ISBN 978 0 367 55633 4]

Critics of migration often claim that migrant workers displace local workers from jobs and apply downward pressure on wages. This article begins from the premise that it is impossible to understand the impact of migrant workers on labour markets without considering the functioning of law. Drawing on a reconstructed version of legal institutionalism, one that attends to the structuring influences of

Building upon research that explores the managerialisation of law and the production of ‘symbolic’ and ‘cosmetic’ compliance, this article explores the way in which HR professionals understand and engage in the (re)production of legality at work. Drawing on interviews, observation and discourse analysis, it presents rich qualitative data on the legal consciousness of HR professionals to argue that

It is expected that the maritime world will be significantly different by 2050, from smart ports through to blockchain-based shipping documents and autonomous vessels. As the maritime trade witnesses further developments in this field, there will be an inevitable struggle to harmonise the new technology vessels with the traditional rules of law. This article seeks to further the discussion of one of

This article explores the interconnections and continuities between racial inequalities in the contemporary labour market and the legacies of colonialism and racial distinctions woven into the evolution of market economy. It argues that race is embedded in the legal form by which labour is regulated. In its focus on the legal relations between individual subjects, namely, the contract of employment

Focussing on the UK, this paper considers how employment has been understood and identifies the policies pursued to promote specific models of working life over the course of the twentieth century. In recent decades, jobs on offer in Britain have become increasingly precarious, a trend actively promoted by governments of all political complexions. Labour markets have been deregulated, flexibility of

Commercial platforms were once lauded as a facet of the sustainable ‘sharing economy’. Today, the short-termism associated with ‘gig work’ is widely condemned as an obstacle to sustainable development. This article begins by examining what is meant by ‘sustainability’, including how we might interpret and apply the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations and endorsed by the International

Drawing on a series of interviews with key actors including representatives of the main trade unions, this paper considers the response of unions in the UK to the emergence and growth of platform work. Comparing the partly different strategies adopted by traditional and alternative unions in respect of the representation of platform workers’ interests, it demonstrates that the unions’ choices have

This is the story of the Information Services Division (ISD) of a leading Russell Group member, University College London (UCL), and what happened where management wanted to reassert control over its email lists and thereby communications. When the local University and College Union (UCU) branch decided to reinstate what had been an established method of communication, an opt-out unmonitored email

The globalisation of employment relationships means that the international aspects of employment law are important in an ever growing number of cases. In particular, international employment cases may raise issues relating to international jurisdiction, choice of law and territorial scope. Before the UK left the EU, directly effective EU Regulations regulating jurisdiction and choice of law provided

The Standard Employment Relationship (SER) in industrialised countries is associated with strong protection for employees who fulfil its criteria but tends to neglect those who do not. Although the theoretical concept of SER has had repercussions around the world, its global empirical incidence and the variation of regulatory patterns associated with it have not been scrutinised so far. Comparative

The question of whether an Employment Tribunal should accept the employer’s reason for a dismissal has received little attention in studies of the law of unfair dismissal. This shortage of analysis continues even though this stage holds the potential to decide the outcome of the case. The current approach to the interpretation of the five potentially fair reasons for a dismissal is to leave them undefined

Do British Employment Judges consider that they are paid a reasonable salary for the work that they do? Would they leave the judiciary if it was a viable option? Does their job give them a sense of achievement? Answers to these, and other questions, are revealed in a new survey that enables comparison over time and comparison with other categories of judicial postholders.

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has maintained since 1984, in its well-established Hofmann case law, that maternity leave is a legitimate exception to the principle of equal treatment between men and women to protect both a woman’s biological condition during and after pregnancy and the special relationship between a woman and her child over the period which follows childbirth. This case law

R (on the application of The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy1 is a significant decision of the High Court in a judicial review claiming health and safety protection for workers in compliance with European Union (EU) Directives. The changing nature of the labour market

The jurisprudence of the Canadian Supreme Court has been at the forefront of a judicial conversion to a more progressive view of the employment relationship, which is attuned to key realities such as inequality of bargaining power. The Court’s influence can be seen in the decisions of courts in other jurisdictions such as the UK. The change in outlook has had a discernable impact on doctrinal development

The year 2019 saw interesting developments at the EU level in relation to the phenomenon of social dumping in cross-border labour mobility. There were prospects for better regulation of posting of workers as a result of the revision of Directive 96/71/EC1 by Directive (EU) 2018/957.2 At the end of July, Regulation (EU) 2019/1149 establishing a European Labour Authority3 entered into force. Regulation

Labour and the Wage: A Critical Perspective by AdamsZoe [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, 1 pp, £80, ISBN 978 0 19885 889 8]

Will the internet, robotics and artificial intelligence mean a ‘jobless future’? A recent narrative, endorsed by tech-billionaires, says we face mass unemployment, and we need a basic income. In contrast, this article shows why the law can achieve full employment with fair incomes, and holidays with pay. Universal human rights, including the right to ‘share in scientific advancement and its benefits’

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is disrupting and transforming many aspects of society, including the organisation and performance of work.1 Much of the focus and debate regarding this transformation has so far been on the effect of automation on the availability of jobs and work.2 However, AI-based technologies are also increasingly being adopted by employers as a means of exercising their

Stress is a significant practical problem in modern workplaces. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), more than half of all working days lost to ill health each year are attributed to stress, depression or anxiety. This article offers an overview of the occupational psychology literature on workplace stress, focussing on the job demands–resources or JD-R model, developed by Demerouti

This article addresses unionisation in the armed forces, an issue which has recently attracted the attention of the courts, most prominently in Europe. First, the article focuses on the organisational profiles of military structure, discussing the relationships between the exercise of union freedoms and the necessity of preserving the chain of command, the readiness of troops and their political neutrality

AbstractIn this article, we consider how Covid-19 revealed the extent to which, in Britain, the core functions of labour law have been compromised by successive governments stretching back to the 1980s and how workers collectively have been failed as a result by a discipline intended ostensibly in their interests. We seek to measure these deficits against a set of core normative principles rooted in

In his magisterial analysis of Epidemics and Society throughout history, Frank Snowden writes that of all the issues raised by pandemics, ‘the most important is preparedness’.11 The articles in this Special Issue22 show how Covid-19 found Britain dangerously unprepared: its society divided and fragmented, and its systems of governance verging on the dysfunctional. Small government and laissez-faire

Abstract In this article, we consider how Covid-19 revealed the extent to which, in Britain, the core functions of labour law have been compromised by successive governments stretching back to the 1980s and how workers collectively have been failed as a result by a discipline intended ostensibly in their interests. We seek to measure these deficits against a set of core normative principles rooted

This article seeks to demonstrate the potential contribution that a closer attention to structural factors can make to our understanding of some of the practical problems, such as the problem of personal scope, facing labour law today. This means engaging closely with questions about labour law’s socio-economic function and, in turn, the socio-economic function of its juridical form. Having shown the

Building on recent calls to expand the field of empirical labour law research, this article seeks to delineate a special place for legal consciousness research within a new sociology of labour law. The idea that employment relations have become increasingly juridified has been used to justify important policy interventions such as reforms to the employment tribunal system, restricting the ability of

Deploying insights from legal experts in New Zealand, this article examines how a union default could strengthen unions and boost their membership, while reconciling conflicting liberal and social democratic conceptions of freedom of association. The insights are used to develop a broad framework by which a default system could work both in New Zealand and more generally. These insights are then applied

AbstractFollowing a series of corporate governance scandals which involved exploitative treatment of workers, reforms were introduced to the UK’s corporate governance system in 2018, presented both as an attempt to rebuild trust and to afford a stronger voice for workers in that system. This paper explores the new landscape from a workers’ voice and protection perspective. It highlights that, while

This article argues that the requirement of group disadvantage in indirect belief discrimination is incompatible with the human right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The latter protects sincerely held beliefs even if they are not shared by others or part of group orthodoxy. Consequently, the group disadvantage requirement in indirect belief discrimination ought to be interpreted away

The ‘range of reasonable responses’ (RORR) test for assessing the fairness of a dismissal under section 98(4) ERA 1996 started life as a mistake and never recovered. Where the statute tells judges a dismissal is unfair if an employer acted ‘unreasonably’, the RORR tells them this refers to a special kind of ‘employer reasonableness’. In a setting where the only question is whether a dismissal is too

Labour law struggles to deal with the vertical disintegration of the enterprise, a phenomenon that questions the traditional bilateral and contractual analysis of the employment relationship and the unitary concept of the employer. Multiple employer patterns have been proposed by the Italian and English scholarship to try to sidestep the current impasse. However, these seem to be inconsistent with

AbstractAmong other matters, the Taylor Review addressed the issues of employee and worker status for statutory purposes and how the current law might be updated to reflect the realities of the modern workplace and developing models of the engagement of workers. It did not, however, propose reform in relation to the important and intimately connected question of the identity of the employer for the

Although a right to protection against unjustified dismissal is not widely recognised in human rights law, the European Court of Human Rights has begun to use Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights to develop a general right based on the adverse consequences to ordinary private life caused by an unjustified dismissal. Instead of requiring the employer’s reason for the dismissal to be

The exceptions to the principle of equality in employment for employers in Britain with a religious or belief ethos (or who employ personnel for the purposes of organised religion) are ambiguous in scope and lack any clear foundational principle to guide judicial interpretation. In view of the consequent risk of inconsistency in decision-making, this article addresses the question of how best to understand

Just how significant is the freedom of contract found in article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights for the regulation of the employment relationship? For the first half of its existence, few could have foreseen that article 16 would soon be at the centre of debates surrounding the place of business freedoms within EU employment law. This has changed in the wake of a number of controversial

Several European countries have a first instance ‘mixed’ labour court, that is a judicial panel comprising a professional judge and two or more lay judges, the latter with experience as employees or employers/managers. The lay judges’ main contribution is their workplace knowledge, but they act in a juridical setting where legal norms prevail, so does the professional judge, despite being in a minority

This article will examine how a right to care could be applied in the UK to better support people’s ability to balance their paid work and caring responsibilities. I will argue that this would inject the ethic of care into the body of work-life balance legislation to better value caring relationships and carers. This is important because paid work is currently prioritised in this body of legislation

" This article examines whether content of international public norms is significantly altered when embedded in transnational private labour regulations (TPLR); and, if it is, whether these alterations enrich or weaken the effect of these norms. Through a case study of freedom of association as regulated in five major TPLR initiatives, this research pursues a textual analysis of TPLR generated norms

The question of time off for religious holidays raised its head again in Cresco Investigations v Achatzi. The facts though did not involve the previously considered, but thorny, question of whether it would be indirectly discriminatory to deny a religious employee time off to perform religious activities but whether it was directly discriminatory for legislation to provide an extra day of leave, or

The conceptualisation of access to justice in the Employment Tribunal (ET) as a public benefit essential for the realisation of the rule of law has recently been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court’s judgment in R v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51. However, reforms to the law and policy framework in recent years have been framed by Government as providing a necessary shift away from the use of full hearings

We use recent research and two 2018 arbitration cases to argue that the 2013 Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety represents a regulatory model that is in principle worthy of extension to other countries and sectors. It has achieved considerable membership from purchasing multinationals and other stakeholders, and has successfully secured major improvements to building safety so far. It implicitly

This article considers the potential for implied terms in the contract of employment to protect employees’ human rights. The slim prospects of legislative action in this area make it important to consider common law means of protecting human rights at work. Part 2 begins by setting out the function of implied terms in the contract of employment and the various ways human rights can affect the legal

The Equality Act 2010 provides that people with severe disfigurements are deemed to be disabled. Through the lens of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and models of disability, this article highlights a number of difficulties with the the Act’s approach , including the problematic ‘severity’ threshold, the issue of complex conditions which include both disfigurement and functional

Human dignity is often cited as a justification and foundation for equality law. However, it is also used in some contexts to justify detracting from equal treatment, including in relation to mandatory retirement ages in the UK. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship from legal theory and industrial relations, this article argues case law on retirement ages adopts a limited approach to the notion

In 2016, the UK Parliament passed the Trade Union Act 2016 (TU Act 2016), which introduced new quorum and approval requirements for pre-strike ballots. In Australia, mandatory pre-strike ballots, including a quorum requirement, were first introduced in 2006. This article explains the key features of the Australian pre-strike ballot system and reports on quantitative and qualitative empirical research

Do employing entities have a responsibility to not misrepresent the employment status of their staff? This article suggests that recent jurisprudence does create this responsibility. The article starts, first, by discussing the much-awaited Taylor Review, released in July 2017. This purported to address the problems of employment rights and tax in the software driven ‘gig’ economy. Four main groups