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Combining sociological, legal and political science approaches, our article investigates some pandemic-related national policy measures and analyses survey studies on the reactions of the labour market and its actors to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary, a neoliberal national-populist country. Our surveys conducted with employers and employees show that job losses and working time reductions especially hit vulnerable groups of employees, among them young people and low wage earners, increasing existing social inequalities. The legislative changes seriously damaged the employees' individual and collective rights and did not prove to be overly helpful for the employers either. The pandemic did not initiate any substantial policy changes, as the Hungarian autocratic regime was not very interested in effectively tempering its shocking effects on public health and the labour market. Instead, the government took the situation as a pretext in order to further reduce pluralism in the country's policymaking processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Hosting the FIFA World Cup was a pivotal moment for Qatar and the broader Arab region, attracting attention, tourism, and economic benefits. However, it also intensified global scrutiny of Qatar's labor laws that govern the lives of migrant workers. In response, Qatar implemented significant labor reforms to address criticisms and enhance the business environment. Despite these efforts, ongoing evaluation is crucial for assessing reforms' effectiveness. To understand public attitudes, a 2021 nationally-representative telephone survey targeted Qatari nationals and migrant workers. The survey explored how recent employment system changes affected their lives, perceptions, and attitudes. Findings reveal the potential for substantial change, driven partly by international pressure promoting reform. Continuous research and monitoring are vital for sustaining these changes and navigating challenges. This comprehensive approach is essential for grasping the intricate dynamics shaping Qatar's evolving socio-economic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the complex interplay between social protection law and gender differentiation in the context of digital labour platform work. Focusing on economic working conditions, we explore how social protection laws impact gender dynamics within the rapidly evolving field of the digital economy. Drawing upon empirical evidence and legal analyses, we examine how social protection frameworks intersect with gendered experiences and vulnerabilities in digital platform work. Through a gender-sensitive lens, we question the implications of social protection laws on issues such as income security, access to benefits, and workplace rights for women and gender minorities engaged in platform labour. Furthermore, we investigate the potential of social protection legislation to mitigate or exacerbate existing gender disparities in digital work environments. By shedding light on these critical dimensions, this paper aims to significantly contribute to policy discussions and legal interventions, fostering gender equity and social inclusion in the digital labour platform economy.

Copyright of Revista Internacional y Comparada de Relaciones Laborales y Derecho del Empleo is the property of ADAPT University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Internacional y Comparada de Relaciones Laborales y Derecho del Empleo is the property of ADAPT University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

AbstractThe impact of Indian state labour law reforms on employment, output, new industrial units, investment and size of industrial units is examined from 2000–01 to 2017–18. States with inflexible labour laws had lower growth of large industrial units and regular employment. Contract worker hiring spiked in firms with 301–500 workers in both flexible and inflexible states. Capital growth was higher than growth of workers in all state categories. Rajasthan, the first state to carry out additional reforms in 2014, had good performance. Regressions carried out to control for factors that impact employment other than labour laws indicate that: (i) reforms had a positive impact on employment; (ii) good infrastructure, reduction in industrial disputes, low crime and better education resulted in significant employment generation. Difference-in-differences estimates show that post-reform, employment, fixed capital, and output were higher for flexible labour law states, when compared to inflexible labour law states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to inform a sociological jurisprudence of the implied duty in the contract of employment of mutual trust and confidence. Present analyses of the emerging term have been doctrinal in nature. Such scholarship contributes a normative internal perspective to what can be understood as the jurisprudential project of guarding and maintaining law as a practice of regulation. This paper seeks to generate knowledge that will allow for an extension of the jurisprudential analysis to take into account how mutual trust and confidence may manifest in contemporary conditions of work. This is achieved by, first, presenting original sociological data of the employment relation in a work context likely to demonstrate practices that resonate with features of mutual trust and confidence – that of early-stage digital technology startups – and, secondly, contrasting this empirical account with doctrinal conceptions of the term. Findings unsettle the dominant jurisprudential account of mutual trust and confidence as positively contributing to the social goal of labour law as operating to counter the power of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the politics surrounding the construction, implementation, and administration of the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act (stua) between 1944 and 1950. The act is important because it reflects the first attempt by a social democratic government in North America to construct a system of labour law that ostensibly aligned socialist ideas with the rights of workers to form trade union freedoms. This makes the stua unique in Canadian labour and political history because the legislation demonstrated the policy priorities of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (ccf) and the Canadian Congress of Labour as both organizations were attempting to solidify their places in postwar Canada. This history reflects the fact that the ccf and the unions, like the left in general throughout the 1940s and 1950s, defined the working class narrowly, focusing attention on white and male breadwinners with women and racialized workers very much on the periphery. The history also demonstrates the inherent contradiction within social democratic reform politics, as the act extended numerous rights to workers to organize and collectively bargain but when those same workers pushed back against government decision-making during the province's first public-sector strike in 1948, political tensions found many of those same social democrats acting in similar manners to their private-sector counterparts. These tensions within social democratic approaches to labour relations – so evident in the Saskatchewan experience – have become a central contradiction of the movement throughout the postwar period and continue today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big Tech holds out a mythology of exceptionalism – promising disruption and innovation, operating on a pristine, otherworldly, abstract, imaginary plane – that is, the immaterial rather than the material. It holds itself out as different and separate from the ‘old’ economy and its concerns about material harms to people and the environment. Whilst there is increasing recognition of the harms of Big Tech, even these seem to be exceptional and epic, posing threats to democracy and our souls. This article argues against glamour of exceptionalism by Big Tech and instead contends that Big Tech epitomises problems of ascribing criminal liability to corporations – on steroids. This article aims to disrupt the myth and cultural imaginary of Big Tech as exceptional by teasing out various themes of legally enshrined corporate irresponsibility to highlight commonalities and to argue that corporations (including those that are part of Big Tech) urgently need to be regarded and regulated as criminal legal subjects. Far from exceptional and immaterial, Big Tech operates by a familiar playbook that enables it to externalise banal, routine harms that can and should be the subject of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State socialist Vietnam formally embraced market reforms in the mid-1980s, and since then advancing marketization under the undisrupted rule of the Communist party. As marketization deepens, the party state's legitimacy continues to rest on socialist practices of governance, structures of feeling and visions of a class-free society. This political-economic context gives rise to struggles between market and socialist logics over the social question in an economy that now powers global production with raw material and cheap labour, much of which is migrant labour. This article highlights these struggles through an analysis of the public debates around the regulation of overtime work during the revision of the 1994 Labour Code by Vietnam's National Assembly in 2019, which foresees limiting it to ensure workers' well-being. While parties to the debate position themselves as pro-business or pro-workers, they all evoke socialist narratives of nation-building, solidarity and care while emphasizing the market ethos of competitiveness and productivity. In arguing for removing the limit, the pro-business camp highlights the workers' responsibility to contribute to the competitiveness of the country and their employers by working overtime to make up for their low productivity. In contrast, the pro-worker camp pleads for limiting overtime work on the grounds of workers' poor health and difficult family lives, portraying their sufferings as deserving compassion. Despite these contrasting justifications, both arguments are characterized by the assumption of self-responsibility as the mainstay of well-being and failure to acknowledge the deeper societal problems posed by the commodification of labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1990s, the Sumangali (Tamil for "happily married women") Scheme was in practice at spinning mills in various districts of Tamil Nadu. Considering its highly exploitative characteristics, the Sumangali Scheme was generally viewed as "modern slavery". Interventions by the government and non-governmental organizations have curbed these typical characteristics of the Sumangali Scheme. In this context, this article finds that the Sumangali Scheme has not been eradicated. Rather, it has been mutated into another form. Under this "Mutated Sumangali Scheme", female labour rights violations still continue. This article analyses the reasons for these labour rights violations, including absence of collective bargaining, ineffective proactive enforcement by government agencies, inherent loopholes in substantive laws, and slack in interventions by government and non-governmental agencies. Finally, the article recommends appropriate measures to curb these violations and eradicate the Mutated Sumangali Scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the law of digital platforms has been a much-discussed topic in the past few years, academic studies have generally overlooked the gender approach to law and digital technologies. This is hardly surprising. Studies on gender, which have grown since the 60s, have remained a relatively separate field from law and the same can be said about many other disciplines. Legal scholars usually do not include gender in their studies, and the law of digital platforms and digital technologies makes no exception. Yet, a gender approach to the law of digital platforms is strongly needed, as it would help to unveil some of the most challenging aspects of the digital revolution. Against this backdrop, this Special Issue has gone the extra mile to propose studies on gendering platform law. The result is both international and multidisciplinary. The Issue gathers lawyers and scholars from a wide range of disciplines. Also it collects papers from scholars from different countries and organisation, such as the United Kingdom, Croatia, the European Union, Italy, Israel, the United States, Germany, India and China. Thanks to a very diverse background, each article touches upon different sectors of platform work and adopts a different perspective: from crowdwork to taxi rides and deliveries, from care work to reputational systems, from abortion to youtubers, among other subjects. By reading them together, it is remarkable to see that the issue of gendering platform work is significant and worth raising worldwide. The solutions proposed in the different articles are diverse and thought-provoking. They vary from suggesting amendments to specific laws to invoking policy or practical changes, emphasising the primary role of the state but also the importance of non-state actors.

One of the most distinguishing features of labour law is the existence of a category of legal acts considered autonomous sources of law. Although not adopted by public authorities, they establish general and abstract norms regulating various labour-related issues and are secured by a complex system of sanctions. The legal effects of autonomous acts must be confronted with the normative model of sources of law. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland has established numerus clausus of sources of law. None of the autonomous sources of labour law are mentioned as a part of the constitutional legal system. The article presents the Polish system of sources of law and clarifies constitutional grounds for creating the normativity of collective agreements and employer’s regulations as autonomous acts.

This contribution seeks to delineate the current legal and institutional framework concerning workers training in Italy, with a focus on the roles played by social partners and the latest legislative updates. Additionally, special attention will be given to policies addressing the needs of vulnerable groups, including young people and workers with disabilities.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the mechanisms established by the Directive 2022/2041 for the purpose of determining adequate and fair minimum wages and promoting collective bargaining. The authors present the objectives, scope of application, and legal nature of the provisions of the Directive, and subsequently undertake the clarification of the doubts that have emerged in the preparatory stages of the process of its transposition. Furthermore, the paper offers a preliminary reflection on the potential directions of the Directive’s impact on national laws.

In this study, my goal is to analyse the transformation of employer rights in the context of the application of artificial intelligence (AI). The introduction of AI technologies has a significant impact on the employers’ right to instruct, control and discipline, and also raises new data management challenges. My central theme is the growing role of automated decision-making, particularly in the areas of recruitment, selection and performance appraisal, which are also an important part of human resource management, a subset of employer rights. In the course of the above-designated research path, I attempt to answer questions that make the relevance of the topic indisputable: How can the transparency and legality of automated decision-making be ensured in the employment relationship? What data protection concerns arise in the application of AI? Due to the rise of AI technologies, examining these questions is of fundamental importance from the aspect of the protection of employee rights and interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the impact of the European Union (EU) Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) on employment relations within the EU. Topics include the broad scope of the Regulation covering AI systems in employment, the categorization of AI systems into prohibited and high-risk applications, and the distribution of responsibility among actors in the AI supply chain.

Considerable advancements have been achieved on an international level with regard to the promotion of women's rights and their equitable engagement in economic activities and the labour market. However, despite the widespread endorsement of equal pay for men and women by international authorities, its practical application has proven to be challenging. The United Nations has reported that an estimation places the global gender wage disparity at 20%. In addition to being a concern within the realm of gender justice, wage inequality has far-reaching implications for societies and their economies. Addressing this issue is a top priority for both the international community and developing nations. Given the significance of examining the status of the right to equal pay in both Iran and the international legal system, this study investigates the following question: "Are there suitable criteria for the right to equal pay in Iran's domestic law and the international legal system?" In providing an answer, legal documents and texts were consulted. The research findings suggest that the international legal system has made some progress in recognizing the right and establishing norms in this area; however, effective practical measures are necessary to achieve this equality. This right has been acknowledged in Iranian legislation through labor contract regulations and employment laws, and in certain instances, a guarantee of proper implementation has been established; however, deficiencies persist in this domain. Consequently, further endeavors appear imperative to advance the complete realization of this right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the challenges faced by employees in the Czech Republic when seeking legal redress in cases of discrimination and unfair dismissal. It emphasizes the importance of accessible legal recourse as a means to rectify individual grievances and reinforce equitable employment practices. In the context of discrimination, the article discusses challenges such as low awareness of anti-discrimination rights and the ancillary nature of sanctions. Recommendations include aligning the Anti-Discrimination Act with the Civil Code, empowering NGOs or the Ombudsman to initiate lawsuits in the public interest, and raising awareness among potential victims. In the section on unfair dismissal, the article outlines the complex process involved in disputing terminations from an employee's perspective. It discusses obstacles such as complex, costly, and lengthy legal procedures and the requirement for reinstatement. These challenges contribute to the low number of employment lawsuits in the Czech Republic. Recommendations for improvement include enhancing the visibility of court actions, providing free or subsidized legal advice, shifting the focus of lawsuits towards monetary compensation, promoting mediation, and expediting proceedings. The article identifies common challenges in discrimination and unfair dismissal cases in the Czech Republic, highlighting the need for reforms to improve access to justice, reduce financial barriers, expedite legal proceedings, and enhance the dissuasive impact of remedies. These reforms are seen as essential for creating a fair and equitable workplace environment for all employees in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ukraine, as the sole post-Soviet country still reliant on the Labour Code of 1971 to govern labour relations, faces a critical need for an update. Despite numerous amendments over its half-century lifespan, this regulatory act no longer aligns with the current state of social and labour relations. The urgency to codify labour legislation to meet European Union standards is paramount, underscoring the significance of this endeavour. Since the end of the last century, all attempts to adopt a new Labour Code of Ukraine have never been completed. None of the drafts of the Code submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine managed to overcome the so-called "second reading" stage, remaining somewhere on the archival shelves of the Parliament. Therefore, the emergence of the next draft Labour Code gives us hope that our country will finally receive a modern codified act that will not be ashamed to join the system of legislation of the united Europe. However, the very first impressions from reading the draft of this code submitted to the Parliament were not encouraging. Unfortunately, the conceptual component of the draft looks relatively weak. Serious concerns are raised about the structure of the code, the object of its regulation, the principles (foundations) on which such regulation will be based, the scope of its validity, etc. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to review some conceptual approaches to defining the most important concepts and terms of labour law and to make suggestions and recommendations to the drafters and the submitting entity to improve its regulatory content. It is proposed, in particular, to revise some of the wording of such legal concepts as labour relations, employment contracts, a form of employment contracts, etc., that are crucial for labour law. The author concludes that a promising option in the context of the globalization of the labour market is the adoption of a codified act to regulate only individual labour relations. Special legislative acts should regulate collective relations and relations that depend on labour relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By focusing on three groups of whistleblowers in Slovakia speaking out against the use of bogus self-employment in their companies, this study contributes to the debate on the political dimension of whistleblowing. Specifically, it conceptualises whistleblowing as a practice that opens up broader societal, ethical and political questions by examining its relationship to institutions, with particular interest in those institutions that create the law. In doing so, the study analyses how labour law and enforcement institutions are deconstructed through the long process of whistleblowing, which involves the interactions of multiple institutions and social actors in a regulatory space that tend to sustain (bogus) self-employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper argues that Ontario should learn from France and grant non-union workers the statutory right to collective expression and the statutory right to strike. Currently, non-union workers in Ontario cannot meaningfully express their collective voice in the workplace. This is despite the Supreme Court of Canada recognizing that freedom of association under section 2(d) of the Charter protects the right to make collective representations in the workplace, engage in a meaningful process of collective bargaining, and go on strike. This paper calls this dilemma the "freedom of association deficit." In France, all workers have a statutory right to collective expression at work. Additionally, French non-union workers can strike without repercussions from their employer. This paper argues that Ontario should extend a statutory right of collective expression to non-union workers. Further, Ontario should grant non-union workers a statutory right to collectively withdraw their labour if they cannot achieve their goals through expression alone. This paper proposes how Ontario could implement these French rights as incrementally as possible. The result would be a greater collective voice for non-union workers and a shrinking of the freedom of association deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Luridica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)