The Employment Contract: Legal Principles, Drafting, and Interpretation provides a detailed analysis of the content of the employment contract. It explains the way in which the general principles of contract law operate in respect of the employment contract, discusses the significance ofimplied terms in interpreting the employment contract, and includes guidance on the drafting of effective employment contracts. Offering a balance between a reliable guide to the current law and an analysis of how the employment contract might develop, the book will be of equal interest to thepractitioner and the academic.

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 Many countries have also repealed labor laws, relaxed employee protections, and reduced state-provided benefits.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 analytical book examines how the common law of the employment contract is likely to evolve. Tracing the radical evolution of this area over the last 40 years, it explores how many of the changes in common law have been triggered by the judicial ‘discovery’ of the key attributes of the relationship. The author concludes that these key attributes of the contract, including the imbalance of power between employee and employer, are likely to remain the key driver for change.

A Tea Reader contains a selection of stories that cover the spectrum of life. This anthology shares the ways that tea has changed lives through personal, intimate stories. Read of deep family moments, conquered heartbreak, and peace found in the face of loss. A Tea Reader includes stories from all types of tea people: people brought up in the tea tradition, those newly discovering it, classic writings from long-ago tea lovers and those making tea a career. Together these tales create a new image of a tea drinker. They show that tea is not simply something you drink, but it also provides quiet moments for making important decisions, a catalyst for conversation, and the energy we sometimes need to operate in our lives. The stories found in A Tea Reader cover the spectrum of life, such as the development of new friendships, beginning new careers, taking dream journeys, and essentially sharing the deep moments of life with friends and families. Whether you are a tea lover or not, here you will discover stories that speak to you and inspire you. Sit down, grab a cup, and read on.

The contract of employment is the central legal institution of modern English employment law. It provides the foundation upon which most statutory employment rights are constructed; it provides a conduit for the implementation of norms negotiated in collective bargaining; and it continues to provide a contractual structure for the terms and conditions of employment for a significant proportion of the working population. The Contract of Employment provides the most ambitious and comprehensive treatise on the theoretical and doctrinal aspects of the English contract of employment in the common law world. Under the general editorship of Professor Mark Freedland, the text has been produced by a team of world leading experts in employment law. Part I examines the theoretical context to the contract of employment, studying its structure and development from a wide variety of theoretical and comparative perspectives. Part II provides an exposition and analysis of the doctrinal aspects of the contract of employment. The coverage of The Contract of Employment is unrivalled in its depth, detail and sophistication. The legal analysis is always informed by a keen sense of the modern labour market context of the contract of employment, and it is sensitive to contemporary challenges such as precariousness, the interaction with migration law, the role of legislation in the contract of employment, and the decline of collective bargaining. It will be the principal reference point for the practitioners, judges, and academics concerned with the contract of employment as a legal category, both nationally and internationally.

The world of work has undergone major changes in the last two decades. This book examines these changes in their international context. It is argued that collective bargaining should no longer be viewed as the most important means of regulating the employment relationship. In the changed world of work such an approach is becoming less relevant. Instead, other means of protecting legitimate worker interests are explored. These include: an adaptation and extension of the general principles of the law of contract; a constitutional right to fair labour practices; and the pursuit of good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. The conclusion is that these alternative means of addressing legitimate worker interests can play a valuable role in filling the vacuum left by the worldwide decline of trade unions.