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European Employment Laws: a comparative guide

Dr. Stephen Hardy, barrister, and Mark Butler

Foreword by Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston QC, Court of Justice of the European Communities

Publication date: September 2007 Price: £75.00 ISBN: 978 1904905 19 6

The book reviews the evolution of labour law within the EU, analyses the distinct regional approaches to employment and welfare, and looks at the pressures for change within a further enlarged EU. The authors then provide a basic outline of employment law in each of the 27 member states.

The book identifies those areas where the law is unified by the enactment of European Directives, and regional differences which are potential pitfalls for employers with workers in more than one EU state.

It is intended for HR persons, lawyers looking for basic knowledge, policymakers & lawmakers elsewhere in EU, and EU bodies.

To see the full Table of Contents please click here

From the Foreword

This book caters for at least three distinct groups of readers:

First, perhaps, are those with a particular interest in a specific topic – say, minimum wage legislation, the role of works councils, or the sensitive issue of positive discrimination. They will find that they can track it across the Union, seeing the extent to which it manifests itself in each Member State (or, indeed, whether it is even really recognised) – an essential preliminary to more detailed study.

Second are likely to be those who need, for whatever reason, to get an intelligible overview of the employment law position in a series of Member States. They will have a clear picture of the whole before they move on to scrutinise any particular part.

Finally, there will be the Euro-buffs (amongst whom I unashamedly count myself) who are fascinated by the process of evolving law: both as passive spectators and sometimes as active participants. Behind the mosaic of individual facts, an extraordinary kaleidoscope emerges. One sees the tensions between different economic and social ideologies in the national traditions. As the reader learns more, both the challenge and the excitement of trying to reconcile different, often conflicting interests (European Social Model / free market forces; employer / employee; or national / Community, to name but three pairings) become apparent.

In my work at the Court, I often wish, when I am asked to give an opinion on the meaning of a provision of Community law, that I knew much more than I actually do about the underlying law of all the Member States in that particular area, whatever it may be. Works like the present are truly valuable in enabling one to get something like a reasonable ‘feel’ for what is going on, reasonably quickly.

To read the full text of the Foreword please click here

From the Preface

“To master one country’s national labour law is enough.
However, to attempt, as we do, to extol the principles of all 25 EU Member States and beyond is madness!”
We quite agree having now completed the long pathway to this guide. It has been both a painstaking discovery of our own ignorance, as well as a wealth of learning.

Urged on by our contact with several labour lawyers, EU-wide, all yearning for a quick reference guide to basic principles; the curiosity of many an EU, transnational HR practitioner seeking a straight forward answer to an everyday query; or, the interesting debates held with our internationally diverse students of employment law, all questioning each others’ systems.

This guide aims to provide a solid basis of general principles for the lawyers; solutions to HR needs; as well as stimulate students and scholars of comparative labour regulation. That achieved, it is hoped…what we have NOT produced is a definitive guide. A health warning is given – experts of each labour law system need be consulted further for more detailed analysis. For instance, some new, especially, EU Member States have yet to fully modernise and develop their labour laws in full compliance with established EU standards and practices. Our project was ambitious, yet we hope it proves of some use and helpful to those is search of an overview.

What we certainly highlight, despite our own bias, is that the development and the impact of the European Social Model, which has been much debated since the 2000 Lisbon Council, where the Member States agreed that this model was in need of modernisation, is that the ‘ESM’ provides a basic framework only, rich in its national diversity.

About the authors:

Stephen Hardy LLB PhD FRSA MCIArb, is a barrister and was Professor of Law at the University of Manchester where he researched into EU and employment law. Currently, he is General Editor of Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Employment Encyclopaedia’. He has recently co-authored ‘TUPE: Law & Practice’, 2006 (Spiramus) and continues as Co-editor of Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Doing Business in Europe’ looseleaf (2 volumes).

Mark Butler LLB, LLM is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Manchester, formerly of the University of Salford’s European Law Research Centre. He is Co-Editor of SAGE’s International Business Themes (2007).

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