In its judgement of 17 October 2019, in the case of López Ribalda v. Spain, the Grand Chamber Applications nos. 1874/13 and 8567/13) of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) revised the former judgement of the third section of the court. The Court now held that video surveillance of workers did not violate the right to privacy…
In cooperation with the Delegation of the Emilia Romagna Region to the European Union, the Marco Biagi Foundation (University of Modena) organized a conference on “Employment and Jobs beyond 2020: Challenges and Perspectives for the European Union” in Brussels on 10 October 2019. In my presentation, I was invited to focus on “Informal employment”. The…
In a series of posts on this blog, I have emphasised the centrality of skills to work. I have identified skills’ recognition as vital in facilitating access to and participation in the labour market. I have noted the importance of education and training in preparing people for work. And I have identified the role which…
In 1890, Warren and Brandeis defined the right to privacy as ‘the right to be let alone’ (4 Harvard Law Review, 93-220). What if we apply this in a modern work context? In light of automation and new technologies in the work environment, the right to privacy has become part of the labour law language….
In a series of earlier entries on this blog, I have argued that all human activity is skilled; work involves the productive use of one’s skills; the most fundamental right in relation to work must be the right to work; an important derivative right thereof is the right to have one’s skills recognised; and the…
Thinking positively ‘Do or die’, the UK will leave the EU by end of October 2019. Since assuming the role of Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has made a number of spending commitments including: £1.85 billion for hospital upgrades and equipment, 20,000 more police officers by 2022, more money for schools, and raising the higher tax…
This post constitutes the latest in a series of blog posts reflecting on the skilled nature of work. In previous posts, I have argued that work is best characterised as skilled productive activity; that the right to work must be understood as the most fundamental right relating to work; and that an important derivative right…
The recent case of FCO and others v Bamieh [2019] EWCA Civ 803 in the Court of Appeal considered a particular aspect of the extra-territorial application of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (“ERA”), namely whether whistleblowing provisions could apply in respect of co-workers employed by the UK government but seconded to the international European Union…
The Regulation establishing the European Labour Authority (‘ELA’) was recently adopted by the European Parliament and the Council and will shortly come into force. It is expected that the ELA will be up and running by the autumn. The ELA is one of many measures which are being introduced as a result of the European…
By Valerio De Stefano & Mathias Wouters Should digital platforms be allowed to charge fees to workers to work? If ordinary rules were clearly applied to platform work, the answer would be a resounding “No”. Workers should, in theory, never be charged to get work. This norm stems directly from the principle that “labour is…
