Italian Labour Law e-Journal

Erratum: EU Digital Covid Certificate: from a ‘gentle push’ for vaccination to a condition to work? Implications and legacy in the field of employment relationship

Matteo Avogaro — 2023-07-20

The virtual space of the Metaverse and the fiddly identification of the applicable labor law

Marco Biasi — 2023-07-20

The paper deals with the puzzling identification of the applicable labor law in the event of Metaverse Work. Stemming from the distinction between a working activity just occasionally performed in the Metaverse (“Ancillary Meta-Work”) and a working activity entirely performed in the virtual dimension (“Pure Meta-Work”), the Authors observe that the former case is simply the evolution and the further progress of remote working and it thus requires only a – yet, delicate – adjustment of the relevant policies. Conversely, the latter case poses a serious challenge in relation to the identification of the applicable law, considering that the conflict-of-law rules hardly conform to a “space-less” sphere.

The metaverse matrix of labour law

Magdalena Nogueira Guastavino — 2023-07-20

The rise of the idea of a metaverse in which the real world is replicated has implications for industrial relations. Some of the most important cross-cutting issues are raised in this study in order to situate the particular challenges posed to worker data. There is a pronounced need to address specific multidisciplinary studies that contribute to the development of theoretical foundations that provide legal certainty to this new reality.

Labour Law and Metaverse – can they fit together?

Ildiko Racz-Antal — 2023-07-20

The paper focuses on some labour law questions which arise from work in the metaverse. The first question is whether meta-work could be the next new type of work as standard employment relationship, which is going through a transformation in general. Indeed, the idea of personal work – as a main pillar of the employment relationship – was challenged by platform work in the recent years, but metaverse seems to further question the old paradigms. The article shortly examines the question of wages, for instance, as the metaverse generally relies on cryptocurrency (CC) to pay for transactions and purchases. Subsequently, the paper mainly concentrates on the analysis of health and safety at work and of the discrimination ban in metaverse.

Collective Labour Relations in the Metaverse

Federico Pisani — 2023-07-20

The essay examines the challenges related to the industrial relations system in the Metaverse. After analysing the current national and European regulatory framework, the Author focuses on collective information rights, as the main tool through which achieving a balance between AI and social rights. In this context, the company-level collective agreements appear the most appropriate tool to ensure an adequate protection. Within such a framework, trade unions are called upon to rediscover their own role of employee representation and also involvement.

Potential challenges of working in a virtual space

Peter Sipka — 2023-07-20

The next big step in technological development is the expansion of the physical world and the emergence of virtual worlds. The technology is now reaching the right level for this to spread, so it is predicted that the virtual presence of individuals will become more common in the coming years. This will naturally bring with it the emergence of working in virtual worlds, as the virtual presence of firms can provide a clear competitive advantage. However, the question arises as to whether labour law, with its current instruments, is suitable for the legal regulation of work in the virtual world and whether this type of work can be understood at all within the framework of the classical employment relationship. The very notion of work, the contracting parties, the contract's content, the place of performance, etc., can be called into question. In this article, I will examine these issues and consider the challenges facing future legislation.

Guest Editorial. The Labour Side of the Metaverse

Marco Biasi — 2023-07-20

The contribution purports to map the regulatory issues of Metaverse work. After a brief overview of the origin and of the function(s) of the virtual space known as the Metaverse, the Author distinguishes the case of “Ancillary Meta-Work” (which occurs when Metaverse work is just the supplement of a regular working activity carried out in the employer’s premises or even remotely in the non-virtual world) from the case of “Pure Meta-Work” (which occurs when the working activity is entirely carried out in the Metaverse): whilst the former is simply the evolution and the further progress of remote working and it thus requires only a – yet, delicate – adjustment of the relevant policies, the latter poses more serious challenges to the extant labor regulation, ranging from the identification of the applicable law(s) to the recognition of the protective urges arising from a working performance which, despite its virtual dimension and actors (Avatars), involves, as always, the provision of (human) labor.

Concerted inspections in the road transport sector: which role for the European Labour Authority?

Leonardo Battista — 2023-07-20

The Mobility Package assigned the coordination and the support of such transnational inspections to the European Labour Authority, the European Agency aimed at ensuring that EU rules on labour mobility and social security coordination are enforced in the internal market. Such investiture is a unicum in the entire EU legislation because there is no other economic sector in which the EU imposed transnational inspection under the ELA’s coordination. An action that the ELA has recently started to put in practice with the firsts joint inspections in EU alongside its involvement in the fight of undeclared work, a phenomenon that occurs in road transport in terms of non-declaration of working status, rests or through “envelope wages” to reduce costs. The challenge for ELA is not simple due to the different nature, fragmentation and experiences of national Labour Inspectorate and to the lack of enforcement power against them in case of refusal for administrative cooperation: a problem that is neither easy to be solved even considering the sincere cooperation principle among Member States according to art. 4 TEU. The paper will start from an analysis of the road transport sector and its relevance. The analysis will be conducted starting from a definition of the problem, related to the social frauds and illegal practices experienced by drivers, and the amendments made by the Mobility package I in the EU drivers’ legislation. Lastly, the role of the European Labour Authority, its nature and competencies, will be deeply developed with regards to its involvement in the road transport sector and the outcomes of the joint inspection. A role of coordination of Labour Inspectorate that could be beneficial for ensuring the enforcement of the EU social legislation and could be an experiment that could be transposed in other sector, such as seasonal work and agriculture.

The posting of workers in the road-transport sector, in the light of the Directive (EU) 2020/1057

Stefano Bini — 2023-07-20

As the title suggests, the essay proposes a study of the regulation of the posting of workers in the road-transport sector, in the light of the Directive (EU) 2020/1057, focusing on the main aspects of this complex recent regulatory intervention. Taking the cue from a general introduction to transport work, the attention is focused on the 2020 Directive, putting it in relation to two previous ones (Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU), to then analyze the focal points of the new discipline and then conclude with some critical reflections of a proactive nature, with a view to future interventions in the field.

Does care matter – The Principles of The Polish Labor Law versus Care Practices

Barbara Godlewska-Bujok — 2023-07-20

In recent years, the interest in supporting working parents has become a more and more popular motivator for companies. Employers notice that introducing work-life balance support strategies may be crucial to the development of an organization by the better access to skilled employees who require some flexibility in working conditions due to their caring responsibilities. Therefore, they do not limit themselves only to the fulfilment of obligations under the law, but grant additional rights to caregivers and the children themselves. Because although, as a rule, in the Polish legal system, the care of employees is regulated by the Labour Code and other acts, various forms of supporting care may also be provided in corporate sources of labour law, collective agreements, work regulations, and other documents.

The principle of satisfying the living, social and cultural needs of employees expressed in Article 16 of the Labour Code is interpreted most often as an axiological basis for the functioning of the company's social benefits fund, while the content of Article 16 of the Labour Code should be understood as an instrument of social and employment policy, especially in the context of supporting parenthood. Further research is recommended on this principle, which is essential for the content of the labour law.

Data privacy and digital work platforms in global perspective

Sonja Mangold — 2023-07-20

The article focuses on privacy risks in the global platform labour market. As an empirical analysis of privacy statements shows, German, Chinese and U.S. crowdsourcing platforms collect large amounts of personal data from workers and other users. Some platforms use detailed monitoring measures of work processes that are questionable from a data protection point of view. German platforms are relatively transparent in their data handling compared to non-European portals. They also stand out positively in terms of self- initiative precautions such as anonymisation and pseudonymisation of personal data. Nevertheless, there are also data protection gaps here. There is thus a need for further legal policy action to improve privacy rights for platform workers in the future.

Do the “categories” of labour law still exist? An Italian and European perspective

Alberto Pizzoferrato — 2023-07-20

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has clarified the applicability of European Union law to collective redundancies. In a recent case, the ECJ ruled that the concept of “collective redundancies” should be interpreted broadly to cover both direct and indirect terminations. The Court emphasized that national legislation must include assimilated terminations into the definition of collective redundancies provided by EU law to ensure effective protection for workers. The contribution underlines the existing contrast between the above-mentioned European category and the one built by the Italian legal order with respect to the domestic jurisprudential interpretation.

Labour Rights and International Labour Standards in the ESG Agenda

Elena Sychenko — 2023-07-20

The paper considers the place of international labour standards in the key ESG instruments adopted at the level of the UN: UN Global Compact, Guiding principles on business and Human Rights and the Principles of responsible investment. In the first part, the focus will be made on the definition of ESG and its content, the second part is dedicated to analysing the texts of the instruments and the relevant guidelines on the point of their reference to international labour standards. This part substantiates the absence of clear incorporation of the international labour standards (other than fundamental ones) in the UN ESG instruments. Also, it argues that both business and the UN ESG agenda lack the understanding of the related to labour human rights in line with the UN Human Rights covenants.