LABOUR LAW

The course aims at providing students with a sound knowledge of labour relations, between subordination and autonomy, adopting a multi-level approach to their international, supranational and national regulations, investigating their relationships with the law and the industrial relations system, focusing, as for the latter, on national, supranational & transnational collective bargaining and action, strike and lock-out included. Major attention will be devoted to workers’ representation within the undertaking as granted through information, consultation and participation rights. Managerial prerogatives will be analysed in connection with AI, privacy & transparency, as well as with a view to granting equal treatment in labour relations, relying on antidiscrimination law and safety and health (wellbeing) at work. Working time regulations, work-life balance, digital, platform and remote work will be investigated. The course will also focus on more traditional topics of Labour Law, such as job classification, wage & wage setting mechanisms, fixed-term and agency work and posting of workers. Transfer of undertaking and its impact on the employment relationship, its termination in the individual dimension, collective redundancies & dismissal will conclude a journey though labour relations, which will make students ready to be successfully included in private and public organizations as experts in the field.

Good knowledge of Transnational Constitutional Law, Private Law, International Law and EU Law

A sound knowledge of labour relations, and their international, supranational and national regulations, making students ready to be successfully included in private and public organizations as experts in the field.

Labour relations, between subordination and autonomy, adopting a multi-level approach to their international, supranational and national regulations, investigating their relationships with the law and the industrial relations system, focusing, as for the latter, on national, supranational & transnational collective bargaining and action, strike and lock-out included. Workers’ representation within the undertaking as granted through information, consultation and participation rights. Managerial prerogatives will be analysed in connection with AI, privacy & transparency, as well as with a view to granting equal treatment in labour relations, relying on antidiscrimination law and safety and health (wellbeing) at work. Working time regulations, work-life balance, digital, platform and remote work will be investigated. Job classification, wage & wage setting mechanisms, fixed-term and agency work and posting of workers. Transfer of undertaking and its impact on the employment relationship, its termination in the individual dimension, collective redundancies & dismissal will conclude the course.

For compliant students, references will be provided during classes. For non-compliant students, at least 3 out of the following essays (provided by the professor): E. Ales, Well-being at Work A New Paradigm for Labour Relations, in N. Hummel, S.E. Heeger-Hertter, A.P.C.M. Jaspers, A.G. Veldman, D.J.B. de Wolff, Heroriëntatie op arbeid en sociale bescherming, Deventer: Wolters Kluwer, 2024, 23 – 32. E. Ales & E. D’Avino, Dismissal Protection in Italy, in B. Waas (ed.), Restatement of Labour Law in Europe. Volume III: Dismissal Protection. A Handbook, Munich: Beck, 2023, 565- 621. E. Ales, Genuine Autonomous Work: Towards a Tailor-made Social Protection, in T. Addabbo, E. Ales, Y. Curzi, T. Fabbri, O. Rymkevich, I. Senatori (eds.), Defining and Protecting Autonomous Work. A Multidisciplinary Perspective, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, 109 – 120. E. Ales, The Impact of Automation and Robotics on Collective Labour Relations: Meeting an Unprecedented Challenge, in T Gylavári, E. Menegatti (eds.), Decent work in the digital age, Hart Publishing, 2022, 39-56. E. Ales, EU Collective Labour Law: if any, how?, in B. ter Haar, A. Kun (eds.), EU Collective Labour Law, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2021, 26-55. E. Ales, The Collective Dimensions of the Employment Relationship: Ways Beyond Traditional Views, in T. Addabbo, E. Ales, Y. Curzi, T. Fabbri, O. Rymkevich, I. Senatori (eds.), The Collective Dimensions of Employment Relations. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Workers’ Voices and Changing Workplace Patterns, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, 63-77. E. Ales, Adapting Labour Law to ‘Digital’ Work: Between Scholarly Interpretation, Case Law and Legislative Intervention, in A. Perulli, T. Treu (eds.), The Future of Work: Labour Law and Labour Market Regulation in the Digital Era, Wolters Kluwer International, 2020, 225 - 236. E. Ales, The Regulatory Function of Collective Agreements in the Light of Its Relationship with Statutory Instruments and Individual Rights: A Multilevel Approach, T. Gyulavári, M. Menegatti (ed.), The Sources of Labour Law, Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International B.V., 2020, 37 - 74. E. Ales, (The Right to) Work as a Foundational Value: Italy and the very notion of a Constitutional Promise, in J. Bellace, B. ter Haar, Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019, 34 - 49. E. Ales, The Transfer of Undertaking Directive: A Puzzling Piece of Legislation, in E. Kovács, M. Winner (eds.), Stakeholder Protection in Restructuring. Selected Company and Labour Law Issues, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2019, 181 - 197. E. Ales, Protecting Work in the Digital Transformation: Rethinking the Typological Approach in the Intrinsically Triangular Relationship Perspective, in E. Ales, Y. Curzi, T. Fabbri, O. Rymkevich, I. Senatori, G. Solinas, Working in Digital and Smart Organizations. Legal, Economic and Organizational Perspectives on the Digitalization of Labour Relations, London – New York – Shanghai: Palgrave Mcmillan, 2018, 11 - 28. E. Ales, The European Pillar of Social Rights: an ambitious ‘soft-law guide’ to efficient employment and social outcomes, in R. Singer, T. Bazzani (eds.), European Employment Policies: Current Challenges, Berliner Juristische Universitätsschriften, Band 76, Berlin: BWV, 2017, 43 - 63.

Teaching will be organized in 24 units, structured as follows: explanation of the theoretical aspects of the topic at stake (50 minutes); Q&A (10 minutes); interactive analysis of the topic at stake (30 minutes).

70% of the assessment will be based on the individual contribution to a group presentation organized by students and delivered on the day of the final exam on a topic dealt with during classes. 20% will be awarded to individual interaction during classes. 10% will be awarded to the Mock Exam. Non compliant students must prepare for the exam on the texts listed above.

Constant and active participation to the classes.