Employment Law and Policy Research Group
Employment law is recognised as one of the most dynamic areas of law. Employment policy is subject to rapid change and development in an era of global competition.
The Employment Law and Policy Research Group (GELP) aims to provide a focus for discussion and dissemination of legal policy and developments in this global environment, by exploring current topics with leading academics and policy bodies. It has links with research groups in the UK and Europe and works with trade unions, government bodies and EU institutions.
Members of the group undertake socio-legal, empirical and doctrinal research in all aspects of employment and labour law. The group also acts as a focal point for research students with an interest in employment law.
Activities
GELP hosts annual conferences on topical aspects of employment and labour law. These conferences focus on the changing political and economic environment in which systems of labour law operate, examining the impact of changes in the global economy on labour structures and governance. Papers, especially those with a comparative and international dimension, are invited on all aspects of labour law.
The GELP acts as a focal point for a number of international collaborations, including labour law networks in Spain, France, Netherlands, Australia and Canada. The Unit has worked with trade unions on several projects e.g. BALPA on collective bargaining in the airline industry and ITWF on maritime labour conditions in UK waters.
The Unit hosts visiting professors from common law and civil law jurisdiction and invites collaborations in related areas of labour law and equality law. It has ongoing collaborations with the Universities of Valencia and Vigo, Spain and Ipag Business School, France.
GELP is currently collaborating with Employment Law Exchange in organising an International Symposium on Employment Regulation Post-Pandemic which will take place at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London in July 2021. Leading labour law academics will be debating the future of labour regulation in the light of changes in labour markets resulting from the recent pandemic and outlining policy alternatives for the new era of employment in a digital environment.
Recent GELP conferences
- Workers in the Modern Economy-Aspects of Flexibility (2018)
- Outlook for Labour Law (2016)
- Transitions in Labour law (2015)
- Future of Labour Law (2014)
- Crisis in Labour Law (May 2012)
- Contemporary Issues in Labour Law (2011)
- Prospects for Labour Law (2010)
Research interests
Professor of Labour Law Michael Wynn has written extensively on aspects of the employment relationship. His particular interests are in the contract of employment and flexible labour markets, the gig economy, temporary agency working and collective bargaining. Recent projects include:
- Digital Labour and the Modern Worker
- Social Security and Self Employment in the Modern Economy
- Labour regulation and pandemics
- Worker Vulnerability in the Maritime Labour Sector
- Labour Law, Modernity and Utopias
Dr Mauro Pucheta writes on all aspects of labour law, and in particular, on aspects of labour regulation in Latin America and South American trade blocs. Recent projects include:
- Food security measures and labour regulations in the EU-MERCOSUR agreement
- Human rights and labour law at regional level
Emeritus Professor Gwyneth Pitt is interested in all aspects of employment relationships and has a special interest in equality law.
Dr Konstantina Kalogeropoulou is interested in EU law, freedom of movement and pensions.
Selected publications
- Wynn, Michael and Paz- Fuchs, Amir (2019) Flexicurity outside the employment relationship? Re-engineering social security for the new economy. In: Westerveld, Mies and Olivier, Marius, (eds.) Social security outside the realm of the employment contract : informal work and employee-like workers. Cheltenham, U.K. : Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 2-29. ISBN 9781788113397
- Wynn, Michael T (2016) Chameleons at large : entrepreneurs, employees and firms - the changing context of employment relationships. Journal of Management & Organization, 22(6), pp. 826-842. ISSN (print) 1833-3672
- Wynn, Michael (2015) Feudal societies and Hobbit law : the story of ‘The Hobbit amendment'. Small Enterprise Research, 22(2-3), pp. 131-145. ISSN (print) 1321-5906
- Wynn, Michael (2015) Vulnerability of seafarers : rules and problems in the British and Irish systems -labour rights or commercial necessity? In: Cabeza Pereiro, Jaime and Rodriguez, Emma, (eds.) El trabajo en el mar: los nuevos escenarios juridico-maritimos. Albacete, Spain : Bomarzo. pp. 341-375. ISBN 9788416608058
- Wynn, Michael (2014) Power politics and precariousness: the regulation of temporary agency work in the European Union. In: Fudge, Judy and Strauss, Kendra, (eds.) Temporary work, agencies, and unfree labour: insecurity in the new world of work. Abingdon, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 48-69. (Routledge Studies in Employment and Work Relations in Context) ISBN 9780415536509
- Lambropoulos, Victoria and Wynn, Michael (2013) Unfair labour practices, trade union victimisation and voice: a comparison of Australia and the United Kingdom. Adelaide Law Review, 34(1), pp. 43-64. ISSN (print) 0065-1915
- Leighton, Patricia and Wynn, Michael (2011) Classifying employment relationships: more sliding doors or a better regulatory framework? Industrial Law Journal, 40(1), pp. 5-44. ISSN (print) 0305-9332
- Wynn, Michael (2009) Regulating rogues? Employment agency enforcement and sections 15-18 of the Employment Act 2008. Industrial Law Journal, 38(1), pp. 64-72. ISSN (print) 0305-9332
- Wynn, Michael and Leighton, Patricia (2009) Agency workers, employment rights and the ebb and flow of freedom of contract. Modern Law Review, 72(1), pp. 91-102. ISSN (print) 0026-7961
- Renan Kalil & Mauro Pucheta, "The Right to Fair and Satisfactory Working Conditions Through the Lens of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights" March 2021 COMPARATIVE LABOR LAW & POLICY JOURNAL Dispatch No. 32 - Argentina -
- Pucheta, Mauro, Álvarez Alonso, César and Ruiz Macho, Carlos (2020) Food security measures and labor regulations in the EU-MERCOSUR agreement : an overview of the legal challenges = Medidas de seguridad alimentaria y regulaciones laborales en el Acuerdo UE-MERCOSUR : una visión general de los desafíos legales. Revista De La Secretaría Del Tribunal Permanente De Revisión, 8(16), pp. 224-248. ISSN (print) 2307-5163
- Pucheta, Mauro Leonardo and Sasaki, Maria Angela (2019) Action due to omission or inactivity : Court of Justice of the Andean Community of Nations. In: Ruiz Fabri, Helene, (ed.) Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law. Oxford, U.K. : Oxford University Press. (Oxford public international law) ISBN 9780191872549
- Pucheta, Mauro and Alonso, César Álvarez (2019) Mercosur and the Pacific alliance convergence in building a labor level playing field across Latin America. In: Alonso, César Álvarez and Hernández, José Ignacio, (eds.) Latin American geopolitics : migration, cities and globalization. Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 13-56. ISBN 9783319995519
- Pucheta, Mauro (2016) Labour policies in South American integration processes : the main role played by national actors. In: Comini, Nicolás and Stola, Iván, (eds.) Políticas públicas regionales : un abordaje sectorial de la integración latinoamericana. Paris, France : UNTREF Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero. pp. 149-170. ISBN 9789871889822
- Pucheta, Mauro (2015) Derechos humanos y derecho del trabajo : un vínculo que requiere mayor desarrollo en el ámbito regional [= Human rights and labour law : a link that requires further development at the regional level]. Revista de la Secretaría del Tribunal Permanente de Revisión, 3(6), pp. 123-139. ISSN (print) 2307-5163
- Pucheta, Mauro (2014) The social dimension of Mercosur. Centre for European Law and Legal Studies, 3(5), pp. 1-27.
- Pitt, Gwyneth (2020) Pitt's Employment Law, 11th edition, Sweet & Maxwell, London.
- Pitt, Gwyneth (2013) Taking religion seriously. Industrial Law Journal, 42(4), pp. 398-408. ISSN (print) 0305-9332
- Pitt, Gwyneth (2013) Crisis or stasis in the contract of employment? Contemporary Issues in Law, 12(2), pp. 193-206. ISSN (print) 1357-0374
- Pitt, Gwyneth (2011) Keeping the faith: trends and tensions in religion or belief discrimination. Industrial Law Journal, 40(4), pp. 384-404. ISSN (print) 0305-9332
- Pitt, Gwyneth (2011) Are occupational requirements genuinely necessary? Contemporary Issues in Law, 11(1), pp. 1-18. ISSN (print) 1357-0374
- Kalogeropoulou, Konstantina (2014) Addressing the pension challenge: can the EU respond? Towards facilitating the portability of supplementary (occupational) pension rights. European Journal of Law Reform, 16(4), pp. 747-769. ISSN (print) 1387-2370
- Kalogeropoulou, Konstantina (2006) Improving the portability of supplementary pension rights. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 28(1), pp. 95-104. ISSN (print) 0964-9069
- Kalogeropoulou, Konstantina (2006) European governance after Lisbon and portability of supplementary pension rights. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 2(1), pp. 75-91. ISSN (online) 1815-347X
Contact us
Professor Michael Wynn
Professor of Labour Law, Department of Law
Email: M.Wynn@kingston.ac.uk
Professor Gwyneth Pitt
Emeritus Professor
Email: G.Pitt@kingston.ac.uk
