Full Description
The very existence of an employment relationship places the human rights of a worker at risk. Employers can, and frequently do, exercise their managerial and disciplinary powers in a manner that interferes with the most fundamental rights of the individual worker. Adequate safeguards against such infringements are necessary if individuals are to receive full protection of their rights. This book examines how far the labour laws of England and Wales offer such guarantees, with a particular focus on dismissal law. The chapters reflect on the relationship between employment, labour, and human rights before conducting a detailed and critical analysis of the scope, shape, and application of domestic employment law. The framework for evaluation is drawn from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, as it develops a principled and tailored approach to how the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Right should be enforced in working relationships. Statutory mechanisms, such as the law of unfair dismissal, and common law causes of action are examined and found to be lacking in their capacity to vindicate and enforce the human rights of workers. This book culminates in the proposal and elaboration upon an innovative solution, the Bill of Rights for Workers, that would draw on the successes of human rights and labour law instruments to render the Convention rights directly enforceable in the relationship between a worker and their employer.
Contents
The role of human rights in labour (law)
1: Why must we protect the human rights of workers?
2: The role of human rights in labour law
3: Labour law, the ECHR and the states' positive obligations
Under pressure - the current framework of labour rights
4: The existing patchwork of rights protection
5: The relational scope of labour rights: employees only?
6: Human rights and the law of unfair dismissal
The future of human rights at work
7: Human rights and the common law of the contract of employment
8: The merits of contractual human rights protection
9: A bill of rights for workers
