Labor lawyer Paul Weiler examines the social and economic changes that have profoundly altered the legal framework of the employment relationship. He not only discusses a wide range of issues, from wrongful dismissal to mandatory drug testing and pay equity, but he also develops a blueprint for the reconstruction of the law of the workplace, especially designed to give American workers more effective representation.

During the middle third of the 20th century, workers in most industrialized countries secured a substantial measure of job security, whether through legislation, contract or social practice. This “standard employment contract,” as it was known, became the foundation of an impressive array of rights and entitlements, including social insurance and pensions, protection against unsociable working conditions, and the right to bargain collectively. Recent changes in technology and the global economy, however, have dramatically eroded this traditional form of employment. Employers now value flexibility over stability, and increasingly hire employees for short-term or temporary work. Many countries have also repealed labor laws, relaxed employee protections, and reduced state-provided benefits. As the old system of worker protection declines, how can labor regulation be improved to protect workers? In Rethinking Workplace Regulation, nineteen leading scholars from ten countries and half a dozen disciplines present a sweeping tour of the latest policy experiments across the world that attempt to balance worker security and the new flexible employment paradigm. Edited by noted socio-legal scholars Katherine V.W. Stone and Harry Arthurs, Rethinking Workplace Regulation presents case studies on new forms of dispute resolution, job training programs, social insurance and collective representation that could serve as policy models in the contemporary industrialized world. The volume leads with an intriguing set of essays on legal attempts to update the employment contract. For example, Bruno Caruso reports on efforts in the European Union to “constitutionalize” employment and other contracts to better preserve protective principles for workers and to extend their legal impact. The volume then turns to the field of labor relations, where promising regulatory strategies have emerged. Sociologist Jelle Visser offers a fresh assessment of the Dutch version of the ‘flexicurity’ model, which attempts to balance the rise in nonstandard employment with improved social protection by indexing the minimum wage and strengthening rights of access to health insurance, pensions, and training. Sociologist Ida Regalia provides an engaging account of experimental local and regional “pacts” in Italy and France that allow several employers to share temporary workers, thereby providing workers job security within the group rather than with an individual firm. The volume also illustrates the power of governments to influence labor market institutions. Legal scholars John Howe and Michael Rawling discuss Australia's innovative legislation on supply chains that holds companies at the top of the supply chain responsible for employment law violations of their subcontractors. Contributors also analyze ways in which more general social policy is being renegotiated in light of the changing nature of work. Kendra Strauss, a geographer, offers a wide-ranging comparative analysis of pension systems and calls for a new model that offers “flexible pensions for flexible workers.” With its ambitious scope and broad inquiry, Rethinking Workplace Regulation illustrates the diverse innovations countries have developed to confront the policy challenges created by the changing nature of work. The experiments evaluated in this volume will provide inspiration and instruction for policymakers and advocates seeking to improve worker’s lives in this latest era of global capitalism.

This book is intended for human resources management academics, researchers, students, organizational leaders and managers, HR Practitioners, and those responsible for helping support employees in the 21st-century workplace. It offers a path forward to create an environment that will not only build a healthier workplace by providing appropriate and effective well-being interventions but also offers solutions to manage multi-generational and ‘holistic’ employees within the employment relationship. The book describes the factors that promote healthy and WELL organizations and introduces concepts and strategies to reduce workplace stress and mental health issues and improve workplace well-being toward sustained organizational success. Employers that embrace the corporate responsibility of promoting the health and well-being of multi-generational, holistic employees will reap cost savings, employee engagement, and productivity advantages, as well as a healthier and more productive workforce.

Why our workplaces are authoritarian private governments—and why we can’t see it One in four American workers says their workplace is a “dictatorship.” Yet that number almost certainly would be higher if we recognized employers for what they are—private governments with sweeping authoritarian power over our lives. Many employers minutely regulate workers’ speech, clothing, and manners on the job, and employers often extend their authority to the off-duty lives of workers, who can be fired for their political speech, recreational activities, diet, and almost anything else employers care to govern. In this compelling book, Elizabeth Anderson examines why, despite all this, we continue to talk as if free markets make workers free, and she proposes a better way to think about the workplace, opening up space for discovering how workers can enjoy real freedom.

As the government increasingly uses commercial augmentation to perform many of its most basic functions, it is critically important that all employees understand the rules, expectations and boundaries that define the government-contractor relationship. The enormous shortfall of experienced acquisition personnel has left much of the burden of oversight and accountability to employees who are not trained in contracting regulations and procedures. Now, more than ever, all government employees and supervisors must possess a basic understanding of contract administration best practices and familiarity with rules and regulations governing the conduct of contractors in the workplace. This handbook introduces the fundamentals of managing government-contractor relations in a blended workforce. In Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce, author Glenn Voelz offers best practices and tips for employees and junior supervisors tasked with managing hybrid government-contractor teams. Focusing primarily on service-based contracting, the most rapidly expanding element of government acquisitions over the past decade, he provides an understanding of the tools, techniques, rules, and regulations relating to supervision of contractors in the workplace. He also discusses legal, ethical, and security tips to help avoid common mistakes and violations of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) guidelines. Voelz explains in a straightforward way all aspects of government contracting that acquisition personnel need to know, including the basics of service-based contracting, the government-contractor relationship, acquisition team responsibilities, administration procedures, contract language, common mistakes government managers may make, methods of evaluation, Performance-Based Service Acquisitions, and ethical and legal concerns. An extensive bibliography supplements the text along with several appendices which include a glossary of key acquisition terms, a checklist for reviewing and analyzing contracts, tips for writing Performance Statements and Statements of Work, and guidelines for contingency contracting and contracting in forward locations or austere environments.

The first book to explore the philosophical foundations of labour law in detail, including topics such as the meaning of work, the relationship between employee and employer, and the demands of justice in the workplace.