The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations (Oxford Labour Law)

This text explores the framework of European employment law through an analysis of domestic national laws and their interaction with EU law. It focuses on understanding current developments in the law's picture of working relationships, and exploring the potential for further harmonisation of employment law. This book explores the conceptual framework of European employment law, focusing on understanding the law's construction of employment relationships. The book draws on extensive comparative research of the legal architecture of employment relations in national legal systems and EU law to analyse the traditional model of the contract of employment and the difficulties of using the traditional model to frame modern working relationships. The authors then present a new model of the foundations of employment relationships, based on the concept of a personal work nexus, and explore the potential of their model to shape the future development of employment law. Throughout the book, the authors analyse the interaction of domestic and EU employment law, and discuss the possibility of future legal harmonisation in the area. They conclude by exploring the potential for a common framework for European employment law, in the context of broader debates surrounding the harmonisation of European private law Cover Contents Table of Cases Table of Legislation PART I. THE LEGAL ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL WORK RELATIONS Introduction: Evolution and Reformulation in the Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations 1. The Legal Analysis of Personal Work Relations – Boundaries, Paradigms, and Legal Formats Introduction Section 1: The Relational Scope of Labour Law – An Initial Analysis Section 2: The Personal Work Relation as the Domain of Labour Law Section 3: A Functional Definition of the Personal Work Relation Section 4: Aligning the Personal Work Relation with Existing Categories 2. A European Comparative Approach to the Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations Introduction Section 1: Functions and Perspectives Section 2: Methodology Section 3: Sources of Regulation and Hierarchies of Norms Section 4: Programme and Outcome PART II. THE PERSONAL WORK RELATION AS A CONTRACT 3. The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations as Contracts Introduction Section 1: Contractuality, Individuality, and Layered Regulation Section 2: The Personal Work Contract as a Definitional Category and the Place of the Contract of Employment within that Category Section 3: The Contractual Construction of Personal Work Relations – Towards a Multidimensional Analysis 4. The Formation and Structure of Contracts of Employment Introduction Section 1: The Conditions of Formation of Contracts of Employment Section 2: Other Factors in the Making of Contracts of Employment Section 3: The Personal and Organizational Structure of Contracts of Employment Section 4: The Economic Structure of Contracts of Employment 5. The Content and Performance of Contracts of Employment Introduction Section 1: Implied Terms and Guiding Principles Section 2: Performance Section 3: Variation Section 4: Suspension 6. The Termination and Transformation of Employment Contracts Introduction Section 1: The Role of Contract Law in the Regulation of Termination of Employment Section 2: The Duration and Termination of Employment Contracts – a European Regulatory Spectrum Section 3: English Law as a Case-Study in the Dual Regulation of Termination of Employment Section 4: The Construction of Transformations in Contractual Employment Relations PART III. THE PERSONAL WORK RELATION AS A LEGAL NEXUS 7. Personal Work Contracts Other Than the Contract of Employment Introduction Section 1: The Legal Categorization of Personal Work Contracts Other Than the Contract of Employment Section 2: Formation and Structure Section 3: Performance and Termination Section 4: The Narrowness of the Contractual Perspective 8. Contract, Relation, and Nexus in the Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations Introduction Section 1: The Personal Work Relation and the Personal Work Nexus as Generic Concepts Section 2: The Personal Work Relation as a Complex Network or Nexus Section 3: The Legal Connections of Which the Personal Work Nexus is Composed Section 4: The Personal Work Nexus and the Personal Work Relation 9. The Personal Work Profile and the Idea of Personality in Work Introduction Section 1: The Idea of the Personal Work Profile Section 2: A Critical Taxonomy of Personal Work Relations Section 3: The Personal Work Profile in the Taxonomy and Regulation of Personal Work Relations Section 4: The Idea of Personality in Work PART IV. THE PERSONAL WORK RELATION IN EUROPEAN LAW 10. The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations and the Role of European Law Introduction Section 1: European Law and the Fragmentation of Personal Work Regulation Section 2: A European Legal Framework for Personal Work Relations Section 3: EU Regulatory Layers as the Basis of a European Legal Framework for Personal Work Relations Section 4: A European Legal Framework for Personal Work Relations: Prospects and Problems Conclusion: Mutualization and Demutualization in the Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z This book explores the conceptual framework of European employment law through a comparative analysis of domestic national laws and their interaction with EU law. The focus throughout is on understanding current developments in the law's picture of working relationships, and exploring the potential for further harmonisation of employment law.