Thoughts on the Foodora Fiasco: Have Labour Laws Been Violated?

“There’s a familiar pattern emerging.  Foodora announces its entry into a new country with a flourish, runs into legal problems that question its sketchy business model, and then shuts down claiming …

Tips and Benefits: Lessons from Israeli Law for the COVID Era

This post looks at the on-going issues faced by restaurant workers’ tips versus wages, and how the current pandemic exacerbates this issue. Among the many issues that tipping causes, one …

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Council of Global Unions Statement on Recognition of COVID-19 as an Occupational Disease

On the occasion of International Workers Memorial Day 20201 , the global trade union movement calls upon governments and occupational health and safety bodies around the world to recognise SARS-CoV-2 …

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RCWA & JANE DOE V. SMITHFIELD

The action is the first lawsuit seeking to secure injunctive relief to protect frontline workers from the coronavirus. The plaintiffs in the suit are the local nonprofit workers’ rights group …

Dispatch 22: Polish Legislative Reform Tests a More Principled Approach to Collective Rights of Self-Employed Workers

Until 2019 Poland had one of the highest levels of workers performing personal work outside employment relationship who were at the same time fully excluded from the right to form …

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Sri Lanka: Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) Seeks Post Covid Short Term Relief for Employers

Here is the full text of the EFC’s submission. The EFC is asking the Hon. Minister of Skills Development, Employment & Labour Relations to approve a longer work week, allow …

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How and Why to Empower Workers in the COVID-19 Response

“From the lack of paid sick leave to a shortage of hospital beds, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed glaring problems in our social infrastructure. Those who remain on the job …

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What do we know about the extent of stand downs, their legal basis, and challenging unlawful stand downs?

Over the last month, we have become all-too-familiar with a very old concept in employment law: stand downs. Government restrictions to contain COVID-19 have had a devastating economic impact, leading …

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Will fundamental workers’ rights also fall victim to COVID-19?

“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed in stark terms the fact that our economies are built on the systematic exploitation of workers, whether at our local grocery store or in distant farms, factories …

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What Now for Wage Theft? Enforcement of Employment Rights and Entitlements in a Time of Crisis

“At the start of 2020, not a day would go by where a story of ‘wage theft’ did not appear in the major news outlets. There were multiple government inquiries …