Search results

1 – 10 of over 37000
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2002

Polonca Koncar

Outlines the present system of labour and social disputes settlement in Slovenia. Looks at the construction of the courts, precedural aspects and the areas which they govern…

Abstract

Outlines the present system of labour and social disputes settlement in Slovenia. Looks at the construction of the courts, precedural aspects and the areas which they govern. Provides some suggestions for improvement and change. Considers alternative methods of dispute settlement and the impact of the European convention on Human Rights.

Details

Managerial Law, vol. 44 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2006

Manfred Weiss

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the effectiveness of labour law based on the experience of Germany.

1637

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the effectiveness of labour law based on the experience of Germany.

Design/methodology/approach

The article provides an analysis of the factual impact of labour law in Germany.

Findings

Different subsystems – as are labour administration, labour court system, works council system, collective bargaining system and individual labour law protection – show deficiencies of factual implementation which are inherent to the structure of these subsystems and not easily to be changed. The most problematic area are small and medium‐sized enterprises where to a great extent works councils as internal monitors do not exist.

Originality/value

The paper offers some randomly selected examples to illustrate the problems at stake.

Details

Managerial Law, vol. 48 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 December 2020

Meshal Nayef Alharbi

Saudi Arabia recently amended the Labour Law provisions governing the unfair dismissal of employees in the private sector. The previous version of the legislation, which had been…

Abstract

Purpose

Saudi Arabia recently amended the Labour Law provisions governing the unfair dismissal of employees in the private sector. The previous version of the legislation, which had been in force for many years, had entitled employees to demand reinstatement or make a claim for fair financial compensation equal to the damages sustained. The recent amendments eliminated the right of a dismissed employee to seek reinstatement and also revised the rules relating to monetary compensation. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse and evaluate the new approach, which has been criticized heavily. In addition, it suggests feasible alternative ways to handle unfair employee dismissal, which can be incorporated into the current Saudi Labour Law.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents an analysis of the existing approach to dealing with unfair employee termination in the Saudi Labour Law. It is based mainly on information collected from various legal materials, such as books, review of judgments issued by the Commission for the Settlement of Labour Disputes in Saudi Arabia and relevant Islamic rules.

Findings

The results of this examination clearly show that there are several flaws in the current approach to dealing with the issue of unfair dismissal of employees. To correct this situation, workable approaches have been suggested for possible consideration and incorporation into the Saudi Labour Law.

Originality/value

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first academic study to analyse the current approach to handling unfair employee dismissal in the Saudi Labour Law.

Details

International Journal of Law and Management, vol. 63 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-243X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2003

Michal Seweryñski

Investigates the Polish Labour Code and how it has been updated to modern standards similar to those int he rest of Europe. States the Polish Labour code doctrine is for…

889

Abstract

Investigates the Polish Labour Code and how it has been updated to modern standards similar to those int he rest of Europe. States the Polish Labour code doctrine is for maintaining the multiplicity of employment contracts, defined by the Labour Code in corresponding to various needs and interests of both employers and employees. Sets out four main conclusions in depth, which cover labour relations contracts in full and how they are perceived to affect the workers and bosses.

Details

Managerial Law, vol. 45 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 March 2022

Wenfang Wu and Xuan Luo

This study aims to examine the adequate application of rights and protections granted to employees under labor laws and regulations to foreign employees working in China.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the adequate application of rights and protections granted to employees under labor laws and regulations to foreign employees working in China.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyzed applicable laws, regulations and related literature on the employment of foreigners in China and employed quantitative and qualitative methods to scrutinize the features of labor disputes involving foreign employees, to assess claims of inconsistencies. A group of judges and labor arbitrators were also interviewed.

Findings

The inconsistencies between Chinese immigration and labor laws, and between applicable laws and court enforcement, result in a considerable gap in employment protection for foreign employees. They have grown over the last two decades, in a changing legal environment of labor protection and labor market for foreigners.

Research limitations/implications

This study focused on documented foreign employees' labor litigations from 2017 to 2020 in people's courts in China's five most economically developed regions. Future studies could cover a wider geographic territory and labor disputes of undocumented foreign employees to provide an even more comprehensive picture of the challenges and potential solutions.

Practical implications

The inconsistency between immigration and labor law regarding employment protection for documented foreign employees requires legal clarification and regulation to ensure equal employment protection of both Chinese and foreign employees.

Originality/value

There are limited studies using empirical data from different regions in China to document and understand the gap between the statutory labor protections and the labor protection granted to foreign employees in law as well as in court practice.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 44 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Siqi Luo

The purpose of this paper is to explore how different actors interacted to influence local labour legislation in the case of the collective bargaining regulations in Guangdong…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how different actors interacted to influence local labour legislation in the case of the collective bargaining regulations in Guangdong Province, China, using long-term observation and in-depth interviews.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the case study method to investigate the process of local labour law-making in China. First, the primary data focus on a series of in-depth interviews conducted in 2014. In Guangdong Province, the author collected the thoughts of three well-informed provincial and municipal-level trade union officials, one government official, five scholars and lawyers, four enterprise union chairs and three labour activists. Second, these interviews are triangulated with legislative documents and the author’s observation of three public meetings. Held at various times from 2011 to 2014, these meetings were organized to discuss different legislative drafts on collective bargaining.

Findings

The six-year process of adopting collective bargaining legislation in Guangdong presents a complex picture as different actors joined the process at different times and engaged in different ways. Labour strikes were a crucial force in drawing the attention of both the local and central governments and functioned as a means to repeatedly make collective labour relations a policy “issue” for the government, particularly in 2010. Another actor – the local official trade unions – played a decisive role by not only putting the “issue” into the decision-making agenda, but by also providing policy alternatives based on workers’ bargaining practices. At the same time, business associations, using slow economic growth as an excuse, exerted their economic leverage to pressure for suspension of the first two rounds of legislation. Nevertheless, the new political leadership assuming office in 2013, using an adoptive but restrained logic, pushed for the enactment of the compromise regulation.

Research limitations/implications

Guangdong Province and its emerging collective labour regimes are not representatives of China, but they are at the frontier of the labour field. Thus, this case study was an example of the “most dynamic” interaction with the “most participative” actors and perhaps the “most pro-labour” of China’s official trade unions.

Originality/value

This paper is original and draws special attention to the dynamic process of the local law-making and the rationales of different actors in China.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2019

Dong Yan

The purpose of this paper is to examine the post-enactment status of China’s Labour Contract Law and Labour Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, focusing on the dramatic rise in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the post-enactment status of China’s Labour Contract Law and Labour Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, focusing on the dramatic rise in remuneration litigation amidst much criticism of weak or ineffective implementation of these laws.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper deploys both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods to investigate the features of remuneration litigation. Remuneration judgments by Beijing People’s Courts from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2017 provide the primary empirical data. The intrinsic features of remuneration disputes are investigated to delineate subcategories of claims. Several judges were also interviewed to further explore the nature of remuneration disputes.

Findings

Four types of remuneration claims were identified: regular wage, minimum wage, overtime and others (including subsidies and welfare). Examination of these four types, especially how they are processed until concluded by court adjudication, provides a fuller picture of the post-enactment status of these laws and yields objective and rational findings. To explain the continuing steady rise in the volume of remuneration claims, as more workers have knowledge of their rights and access to the courts, this study identifies an increase in the number of factually complicated cases (e.g. overtime claims) and abmiguity in the relevant law, leaving some remuneration disputes difficult, if not impossible, to adjudicate. Conversely, the study also finds significant positive trends following these laws’ enactment, particularly a reduction in straightforward cases, such as disputes concerning non-payment of wages/minimum wages, on which the law is clear. It is evidently imperative to improve the clarity of the current laws through further legislation, as the most appropriate next step in China’s juridification process of developing its own rule of Labour Law.

Research limitations/implications

This study is purposely limited to examining remuneration litigation in Beijing’s courts from 2014 to 2017, which is representative of the national trend of dramatically rising remuneration disputes, and thus provides valuable insights. Future studies should cover a wider geographic territory and other categories of labour disputes to provide an even more comprehensive picture of the challenges and potential solutions.

Practical implications

By understanding the driving factors of rising labour remuneration disputes, the legislature, workers and employers can act accordingly to curb labour conflicts. The growing complexity and technicality of remuneration litigation indicates that the pressing need of labour juridification is to deploy a subtle, comprehensive method to improve legal clarity and judicial professionalism.

Originality/value

This study uniquely divides the types of remuneration litigation in Beijing, adopting methods and yielding findings absent from the prior literature. Both the progress and challenges in China’s rule of Labour Law process are reflected in this work, together with public policy and theoretical implications for further study.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 January 2022

Ying Chen and Yuanyuan Sun

This study investigates, from a resource dependence perspective, the effects of domestic private firms' political connections and economic power on their labor law compliance in…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates, from a resource dependence perspective, the effects of domestic private firms' political connections and economic power on their labor law compliance in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used data from a large-scale nationwide survey on Chinese domestic private firms, the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey collected from 2004 to 2012, to examine factors of interest that affect firms' compliance to labor laws. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression models with robust standard errors.

Findings

The results indicate that domestic private firms' institutional political connections specified by the presence of a union or a Chinese Communist Party committee is positively related to firms' labor law compliance, and firm owners' formal political connections indicated by their membership in the People's Congress or the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have a somewhat negative effect. The post-hoc analysis shows that firm owners' political representation at the county and city levels is negatively related with labor law compliance, while the political representation at the national level is positively related to labor law compliance. Moreover, the economic power of a domestic private firm is related positively to its labor law compliance. Finally, although the authors did not find evidence that the 2008 Labor Contract Law increased labor contract coverage, it did increase pension coverage after 2008.

Research limitations/implications

The present study reveals a more refined relationship between domestic private firm owners’ political connections and the degree of labor law compliance. It also demonstrates that the economic power of domestic private firms has a positive effect on their labor law compliance. This implies the importance of the contribution of domestic private firms to economic and social development in China, warranting continued support of the development of the private sector in China.

Originality/value

This study adds to the sparse literature on the determinants of domestic private firms' labor law compliance in China. It also sheds light on whether political connections and the rising economic power of Chinese domestic private firms influence their compliance with labor laws.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 44 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2003

Gilles Trudeau

Investigates what is happening in North America with regard to labour relations law. Examines, first, collective labour relations and labour law and, second, focuses on the legal…

1144

Abstract

Investigates what is happening in North America with regard to labour relations law. Examines, first, collective labour relations and labour law and, second, focuses on the legal regulation of the individual relationship, also known as employment law. Goes on to cover these two separate, but intertwined, entities in depth and as they are interpreted in both Canada and the USA. Concludes that labour law is changing and moving toward contractualization and proceduralization. Wonders whether labour law will be able to continue to play the role of protecting wage earners for which it was originally developed.

Details

Managerial Law, vol. 45 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2015

Jessica Williams

This paper aims to analyse whether the World Trade Organisation (WTO) covered agreements ought to be interpreted in a manner that enables an importing country to restrict or…

1020

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse whether the World Trade Organisation (WTO) covered agreements ought to be interpreted in a manner that enables an importing country to restrict or prohibit import of goods manufactured using child labour. This question is pertinent, given the WTO-covered agreements do not explicitly mention child labour, yet there is increasing international concern for the phenomenon of child labour, evidenced through international human rights law and international labour law treaties and a push by some developed countries’ WTO Members for inclusion of a “social clause” governing child labour under the covered agreements.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines the WTO-covered agreements, current trends in interpretation of the covered agreements by panels and the Appellate Body (AB) and scholarly debate regarding connecting trade with labour standards and human rights.

Findings

This paper argues: that although inclusion of a social clause in the covered agreements is unlikely, Article XX(a) GATT, Article XX(b) GATT and Article 2.1 TBT can in certain circumstances be interpreted as to allow such restrictions on the import of goods; that no clear academic argument logically precludes connecting trade with labour standards and human rights; and that to legitimate both the WTO and the international legal system as a whole, the covered agreements, as the basis of international trade law, ought to be interpreted in a manner consistent with international labour law and international human rights law.

Originality/value

This paper draws upon the recent AB decision in European Commission – Seal Products, examining the AB’s interpretation of the Article XX(a) GATT “public morals” exception. This paper further seeks to provide a succinct overview of the argument surrounding WTO involvement in the issue of child labour.

Details

Journal of International Trade Law and Policy, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-0024

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 37000