The first day of #ADAPTConference2023 sees the contribution of Cristina Mihes, head of the #Labour Law and Reform Unit of International Labour Organization, with a presentation named “Reflections on application of Universal Labour Guarantee in #domestic law and practice” (1/10)

Future of Work - ADAPT

What is the Universal Labour Guarantee? An International Labour Organization publication of 2019 describes it as an element which ensures that all workers, regardless of their contractual arrangement or employment status enjoy certain basic guarantees or fundamental rights (2/10)

International Labour Organization The ULG, however, still faces challenges in its implementation: this, given the difficulty in defining the employment relationship in a legal and regulatory space where the written employment contract is the only gateway to labour protection. (3/10)

One of the main strategies to enforce the ULG is that of expanding the employee category:
1) by determining employee status based on tests of control or economic dependence
2) by implementing a legal presumption of employment (shift of the burden of proof to the employer) (4/10)

Then, intermediate categories of workers might be created, who are afforded only some of the labour rights granted to regular employees (e.g., #minimumwage ). Risk: misclassification of employees by employers to avoid the payment of social security and other entitlements (5/10)

Lastly, another possible strategy consists of the extension of (some) labour rights beyond the #employment relationship to “personal work” relations or on a #universal basis (e.g., universal basic income and universal health care). Risk: labour standards being watered down (6/10)

Research activities in #Hungary , #Montenegro , #NorthMacedonia , #Poland , #Romania , #Slovakia and #Ukraine show that 1) the “binary” concept of the employment relationship is the foundation of most labour legislations – so most atypical forms of work fall outside their scope (7/10)

2) the written form of the employment contract (defining the legal terms of the employment relationship) is a condition for its validity in the majority of the examined legislations, making access to justice difficult for informal workers and misclassified employees (8/10)

What are some possible solutions to these issues? The International Labour Organization suggests: 1) the legal and practical recognition of the primacy of factual reality of the existence of an employment relationship over its juridical form (employment contract) (9/10)

International Labour Organization 2) protecting all PAID work relationships - and not only employment ones - through the application of fundamental labour rights 3) creating innovative designs of social security and fiscal mechanisms able to realize universal coverage (10/10)