Labour/Employment Law — Overview
Forthcoming Subject Events
April 2010
Wednesday 28 April Week 1
- The Right to Strike
- Speaker: John Hendy QC, Barrister
Exeter College Rector Drawing Room at 17.30
Discussion Group
These self-sustaining groups are an essential part of the life of our graduate school. They are organised in some cases by graduate students and in others by Faculty members and meet regularly during term, typically over a sandwich lunch, when one of the group presents work in progress or introduces a discussion of a particular issue or new case. They may also encompass guest speakers from the faculty and beyond.
Publications
Showing all[*] publications sorted by year [change this]
Showing all 21 Labour/Employment Law publications currently held in our database
Change to sort them by title | name or
Show only Recent publications
A Bogg, 'New Labour, Trade Unions, and the Liberal State' (2010) King's Law Journal
Abstract/note: An analysis of liberal theory and its application in the context of trade union legislation, using this as an intepretive framework for analysing post-1997 legislative developments in collective labour law (12,500 words)
A Bogg, The Democratic Aspects of Trade Union Recognition (Hart 2009)
A Bogg, 'The Mouse that Never Roared: Unfair Practices and Union Recognition' (2009) Industrial Law Journal
Abstract/note: A critical analysis of the CAC's jurisprudence dealing with the new unfair practice jurisdiction under the Schedule A1 recognition procedure (6,500 words)
A Bogg, 'Of Holidays, Work and Humanisation: A Missed Opportunity?' (2009) European Law Review
Abstract/note: An analysis of the humanisation principle in European working time regulation, and its specific regulatory effects (c 8,500 words)
A C L Davies, One step forward, two steps back? The Viking and Laval cases in the ECJ (2008) 37 Industrial Law Journal 126-148
A C L Davies, 'Developments in English Labour/Employment Law 2004-2007' (2008) 2 Europaische Zeitschrift fur Arbeitsrecht 267-271
S Fredman, 'Reforming equal pay laws' (2008) 37 Industrial Law Journal 193-218
Abstract/note: Despite 33 years of equal pay legislation, the gender pay gap remains stubbornly high. Multiple equal pay claims in the public sector have forcefully exposed the weaknesses, both of the Equal Pay Act and of the complaints-led model of enforcement on which it is based. This article argues that the equal pay apparatus is in need of radical reform. Single Equality legislation, due to be introduced in the autumn, is the ideal forum to do so. Substantively, it is essential to move beyond the current narrow range of comparison, the limited definition of equality and the lack of a collective dimension. So far as enforcement is concerned, the way forward lies in a positive duty to eliminate pay discrimination, which builds on and strengthens the current gender duty. Women's right to equal pay for equal work is often represented as an unreasonable demand on resources, carrying with it an unsustainable cost. In fact, it is a fundamental right recognised by major human rights instruments and the International Labour Organization (ILO). It is to be hoped that the Single Equality Bill will give equal pay reform the serious attention so urgently needed.
A C L Davies, The contract for intermittent employment (2007) 36 Industrial Law Journal 102-118
Abstract/note: Elaborates on Mark Freedland's work on the contract for intermittent employment in his book, The Personal Employment Contract.
ISBN: 0305-9332
J C McCrudden, Equality Legislation and Reflexive Regulation: A Response to the Discrimination Law Review\'s Consultative Paper (2007) 36(3) Industrial Law Journal 255-266
Abstract/note: Reviews the regulatory theory underpinning the recently published Discrimination Law Review's Consultative Paper
ISBN: 0305-9332
Davies and M Freedland, Towards a Flexible Labour Market (OUP: Oxford Monographs on Labour Law 2007)
Abstract/note: Taking as its starting point the authors’ earlier work on Labour Legislation and Public Policy, this book provides a detailed account and critical analysis of British labour legislation and labour market regulation since the early 1990s. Referring back to the earlier history, and filling in the gaps in the early and mid-1990s, the work concentrates mainly on the legislation and policy measures in the employment sphere of the New Labour governments which have been in power since 1997, placing those developments in the context of the relevant aspects of European Community law. The work argues for an understanding of this body of legislation and regulatory activity as being directed towards the realisation of a flexible labour market, and shows how this objective has been pursued in three intersecting areas, those of regulating personal or individual employment relations, regulating collective representation, and promoting work. It explores the methods of regulation which have been used, developing a taxonomy of regulation and a notion of ‘light regulation’ to characterise some recent legislative interventions. It considers how far the administration of Prime Minister Tony Blair has fulfilled its promises or claims of ‘fairness at work’, ‘welfare to work’ and ‘success at work’. It is intended to be of interest to those concerned with the study of British and European labour or employment law, employee relations or human resource management, labour market economics, and contemporary politics.
ISBN: 978-0-19-921788-5
A Bogg, 'The right to paid annual leave in the Court of Justice: the eclipse of functionalism' (2006) 31 European LR 892
Abstract/note: Analysis of ECJ decision in Robinson-Steele, incorporating broader analytical perspective on the ECJ's interpretive approach under Working Time Directive (approx 8000 words)
ISBN: 03075400
A C L Davies, Casual Workers and Continuity of Employment (2006) 35 Industrial Law Journal 196-201 [Case Note]
A C L Davies, 'Regno Unito - Lavori Occasionali e Continuita dell'Impiego: Riflessioni sul Caso Cornwall CC v Prater' (2006) Diritto delle Relazioni Industriali 1264-1269
Abstract/note: Casenote on Cornwall CC v Prater, in Italian!
A C L Davies, The Right to Strike Versus Freedom of Establishment in EC Law: The Battle Commences (2006) 35 Industrial Law Journal 75-86
Abstract/note: Commentary/extended casenote on Viking Line v ITF.
ISBN: 0305 9332
S Fredman, 'Precarious Norms for Precarious Workers' in J Fudge and R Owens (eds), Precarious Work, Women and the New Economy (Hart Publishing 2006)
Abstract/note: The chapter assesses the legal position of precarious workers from a feminist perspective and in the light of the development of flexible working and New Labour and 'Third Way' policies
ISBN: 978-1-84113-616-6
A C L Davies, 'Should the EU have the power to set minimum standards for collective labour rights in the Member States?' in P. Alston (ed), Labour Rights as Human Rights (Oxford University Press 2005)
Abstract/note: This chapter in a volume of the Collected Courses of the Academy of European Law is based on a lecture series I gave at the European University Institute in Florence. It considers the EU's current role in the regulation of collective labour rights both internally and externally, and argues that the EU should have the power to set minimum standards for collective labour rights in the Member States.
ISBN: 0-19-928106-8
S Fredman, '‘Disability Equality: A Challenge to the Existing Anti-Discrimination Paradigm’' in A Lawson and C Gooding (eds), Disability Rights in Europe: From Theory to Practice (Hart 2005)
Abstract/note: This chapter assesses existing discrimination paradigms and their applicability to disability discrimination.It argues that a possible way forward lies in a duty to promote equality based on social rights.
ISBN: 1-84113-486-4
S Fredman, The Ideology of New Labour Law (Hart, 2004 2004)
Abstract/note: A critical analysis of third way ideology in the field of labour law.
ISBN: 1-84113-404-X
S Fredman, Women at Work: The Broken Promise of Flexicurity (2004) 33 Industrial Law Journal 299-319
DOI: 10.1093/ilj/33.4.299
Abstract/note: This article argues that it is no accident that the flexible workforce is largely made up of women in precarious jobs. The change in women's role, as both breadwinners and home-makers, has not been matched by changes in the legal structure of employyment law, and particularly the contract, with its assumption of bilateral, mutual, transactional exchange. Rights should be afforded to all who participate in the paid workshop, however marginally.
ISBN: 0305 9332
M R Freedland and PL Davies, 'The role of EU employment law and policy in the de-marginalisation of part-time work', paper presented at Cambridge University Press 63-82
Abstract/note: An overview chapter in a volume of which the author is one of the editors, being a Comparative Analysis of Employment Policy and the Regulation of Part-time Work in the European Union.
ISBN: 0-521-84002-3
M R Freedland and C Kilpatrick, 'The United Kingdom; how is EU governance transformative?' in Comparative Analysis of Employment Policy and the Regulation of Part-time Work in the European Union (Cambridge University Press 2004)
Abstract/note: The chapter on the United Kingdom in a volume of which the author is one of the editors,
ISBN: 0-521-84002-3
Courses
The courses we are offering in the 2009-10 academic year in this field are:
Undergraduate
FHS - Final Year (Phase III)
The degree is awarded on the basis of nine final examinations at the end of the three-year course (or four years in the case of Law with Law Studies in Europe). Phase II of the Final Honour School includes the first and second term of the final year; the Final Examinations are taken in the third term of the final year.
[less]
Issues in labour law affect most people during their working lives. What rights does a worker have if he or she is dismissed? Is there a right to strike? What can the law do about discrimination? This is a rapidly changing field, particularly in the past decade, which has witnessed a transformation in labour law. Most major industrial disputes are now fought out in the courts rather than on the shop-floor, in stark contrast with the traditional view that strikes are best resolved by the parties themselves. Of growing importance is the impact of EU law on British labour law, particularly in the field of discrimination. Labour law will be of considerable interest to anyone who is concerned with the interaction between law, politics and society. All British governments in recent decades have regarded policies on labour law as central to their political programmes.
Labour Law is also useful in practice. Many young barristers acquire invaluable experience by appearing before employment tribunals; and most solicitors’ firms, whether in the City or elsewhere, require specialists in employment law. It remains truer than ever that “the law governing labour relations is one of the centrally important branches of the law - the legal basis on which the very large majority of people earn their living. No-one should be qualified as a lawyer - professionally or academically - who has not mastered its principles.” (Kahn-Freund).
The course covers the law concerning individual employment law (including discrimination law), as well as trade unions, industrial action and collective bargaining. The student is not expected to acquire a detailed knowledge of the whole of this relatively large and complex field, but to pick out the central themes, and integrate them into a wider social and theoretical context.
[less]
Postgraduate
BCL/MJur
European Employment and Equality Law
Recent decades have witnessed a dramatic transformation of the aims of the European Community. The assumption in the Treaty of Rome that economic integration would naturally bring about social development was replaced in the 1970’s by the view that “vigorous action in the social sphere is ... just as important as achieving Economic and Monetary Union.” This realisation led to the rapid evolution of a social dimension to the internal market, culminating in the incorporation into the Treaty of Amsterdam of a proper legal basis for legislating on employment law and the strengthening and expansion of equality law. This course aims to develop a critical perspective whereby students can assess these developments, examining the conflicting pressures of harmonisation and subsidiarity, the legitimacy and effectiveness of EU intervention, the role of the social partners and other actors in producing employment and equality legislation, and the nature and form of regulation which has thus far emerged, including the European Employment Strategy.
[less]
People
Labour/Employment Law teaching is organized by a Subject Group convened by:
Mark Freedland: Professor of Employment Law
in conjunction with:
Alan Bogg: CUF Lecturer
Cathryn Costello: Fellow and Tutor in EC and Public Law
Anne Davies: Reader in Public Law
Sandra Fredman: Professor of Law
Christopher McCrudden: Professor of Human Rights Law
Wanjiru Njoya: CUF Lecturer
