Labour Law (Hart)

Citation

Adams, Z., Barnard, C., Deakin, S., & Fraser Butlin, S. (2021). Deakin and Morris' Labour Law (7th ed.). Hart Publishing.

Chapter Summary

The seventh edition has nine chapters in two broad halves: individual employment law (Chapters 2–5) and collective labour law (Chapters 6–9), after an introduction on history, sources and institutions. The publisher describes a comprehensive analysis of current British labour law that explains the role of different legal and extra-legal sources in its evolution, including collective bargaining, international labour standards and human rights. The new edition keeps the broad pattern of earlier ones but considers the consequences of Brexit, the emerging effects of the Covid-19 crisis, the increasing digitisation of work, and policy debates about the role of law in constituting and regulating the labour market.

Chapter 1: Introduction: History, Sources and Institutions of Labour Law

Covers the scope and nature of the subject, its historical development, the sources of labour law and its institutions. It sets the frame for the chapters that follow.

Chapter 2: The Employment Relationship

Asks who is protected: contract or status, the hiring process, identifying dependent labour and quasi-dependent labour, public sector employment, continuity of employment and qualifying thresholds, equal treatment of fixed-term, part-time and agency workers, identifying the employer, and transfers of undertakings. The chapter closes with an assessment.

Chapter 3: Terms of Employment and Working Conditions

Sources of contractual terms, written notification, construction, incorporation and variation of terms, payment of wages and salaries, working time, health and safety, the duties of obedience, co-operation and care, duties of fidelity, confidentiality and privacy, and income security through sick pay and lay-off.

Chapter 4: Discipline and Termination of Employment

Dismissal legislation and its aims, wrongful dismissal, the statutory concept of dismissal, fairness of dismissal, remedies for unfair dismissal and economic dismissals.

Chapter 5: Equality in Employment

The origins, rationales and impact of equality law, discrimination and prohibited conduct, protected characteristics, the scope of protection, enforcement, positive action, equal pay, protection of pregnancy, maternity and family time, and disability discrimination.

Chapter 6: Collective Organisation and Freedom of Association

The rationale and role of collective organisation, international standards, legal policy, basic definitions, protection of trade union membership and activities against employers, facilities for representatives, union membership and deductions from pay, and an assessment of the changing role of trade unions.

Chapter 7: Collective Bargaining, Trade Union Recognition, and Statutory Information and Consultation Rights

Collective bargaining and the law, statutory rights of information and consultation, and employee involvement at transnational level.

Chapter 8: Trade Unions and Their Members

The contract of membership, statutory rights, rights relating to union membership and discipline, trade union elections and expenditure for political purposes.

Chapter 9: Industrial Action

The rationale and international standards, legal policy, liability in tort, the liability of trade unions, the scope of statutory immunity, ballots and notice, remedies, industrial action and EU law, picketing, essential services, and the effect on contractual rights, individual employment rights and the rights of union members.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Relationship and terms

• Employment relationship: how the law identifies dependent labour and the employer.
• Contractual terms and working conditions: sources of terms, wages, working time and duties of the employee.

Chapters 4–5: Dismissal and equality

• Unfair dismissal: the statutory framework and remedies.
• Equality law: protected characteristics, enforcement and equal pay.

Chapters 6–9: Collective labour law

• Freedom of association and recognition: collective organisation and bargaining.
• Industrial action: the immunities, ballots and remedies that structure strikes.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Wide coverage with a clear split. Individual and collective law are given equal weight, and Chapters 2 to 9 each end with an assessment, which supports critical essays.
• Context as well as rules. The publisher says the book explains the role of legal and extra-legal sources, including collective bargaining, international standards and human rights, and places law in its social, economic and policy context.
• Detailed chapter contents. Sections within each chapter are listed in the contents, so a reader can find a topic such as transfers of undertakings or picketing quickly.
• Authority. The publisher notes that the work is cited as authoritative in the higher appellate courts of several jurisdictions.

Limitations

• Length and density. At more than 1,000 pages the book is a substantial reference, not a quick introduction.
• British focus. The book analyses British labour law; EU law, transnational employee involvement and international standards appear as influences rather than as comparative coverage of other national systems.
• Rapidly changing law. Brexit, digitisation of work and the Covid-19 crisis are noted as live developments, so legislation and case law after 2021 should be checked.

Where It Fits in the Course

Deakin and Morris is the full-scale UK labour law text of the course. Taylor and Emir's Employment Law: An Introduction is an accessible introduction to the rights and obligations of employers and employees, and Davies's Perspectives on Labour Law is a compact introduction that integrates historical, economic and human rights perspectives; either is a suitable first read. Collins, Ewing and McColgan's Labour Law in the Law in Context series is another undergraduate textbook and a useful second view.

Smith and Wood's Employment Law gives a detailed account of the individual and collective law with close reference to statute and case law, while Freedland and Kountouris's The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations is a research monograph arguing that the contract of employment is too narrow a frame; it is a good companion to Chapter 2.

How to Use This Book

The book is for law students taking a full labour or employment law course, and for postgraduates and practitioners who need a detailed, authoritative account.

A practical plan: read Chapter 1 for history and institutions, then Chapter 2 on the employment relationship, since everything depends on who counts as an employee. Take Chapters 3 to 5 for the individual law, and Chapters 6 to 9 for the collective law. Read the closing assessment of each chapter to prepare critical essays. For a course on individual rights only, Chapters 1 to 5 are the core; for a course on collective law, Chapters 1 and 6 to 9. Check recent legislation and cases for updates after 2021.