les réformes du marché du travail en Europe depuis la crise

Transcription

1 PROF JEREMIAS PRASSL Magdalen College University of Oxford les réformes du marché du travail en Europe depuis la crise Le Royaume-Uni Paris, 2 VI 2015

2 Overview 1. Background The, May 2010 May Labour Law Reforms Unfair Dismissal Tribunal Reforms Employee Shareholders Zero-Hours Contracts 3. Future Outlook Queen s Speech, 27 May Assessing the Changes Empirical Challenges Unintended Consequences Page 2

3 I Background Financial Market Rescue 2008 Nationalisation and Recapitalisation Economic Downturn and Recession GDP drop, specially relative to other EU MS Unemployment 8.1 % [ONS, October 2011] - highest in 17 years 21.3% for year olds Parliamentary Elections May 2010 Spend or cut a way out? Liberal Democratic Conservative Page 3

4 I Background Austerity Budgets 2010 Spending Review: 192bn cuts Deficit reduction through austerity and GDP growth Employment Law Reforms Focus on Statutory changes Only comparatively late in the day No clear plan Though cf the leaked Beecroft report: some people would be dismissed simply because their employer did not like them. Whilst this is sad [ ] it is a price worth paying for all the benefits that would result from the change. Page 4

5 II. Labour Law Reforms A. Changes to Unfair Dismissal law B. Employment Tribunal Reforms C. The New Employee Shareholder Status D. Regulating Zero-Hours Contracts NB: patchwork reforms, little regulatory innovation Page 5

6 II.A Unfair Dismissal The System in the UK Protection only available to Employees (core group of workers) Ordinary UD vs. Protected Grounds Temporal Thresholds 2012: Qualification Threshold Raised From 1 Year to 2 Years Highest in the EU Impact: at least 3m workers in the 2 nd year of employment (!) Page 6

7 II.A Unfair Dismissal Damages Statutorily limited Cannot use Common Law to outflank them (Johnson v Unisys) 2013: caps (maximum amounts) signifcantly lowered The lower of 74,200 or 52 weeks salary but NB: median award in reality ca. 4,500 Page 7

8 II.B Employment Tribunal Reforms Traditional UK Approach Comparatively Late Donovan Commission Specialised Tribunals» away from mainstream Common Law courts Industrial Expertise July 2013: Fees to be paid by Claimants Launch Fees (from 150) Hearing Fees (from 950) >>> claim volume drops by > 70% in first year ( ) Page 8

9 II.B Employment Tribunal Reforms Composition Removal (de facto) of the Industrial Jury No more lay members on either side in Unfair Dismissal cases Lack of Industrial Relations Expertise Procedural Changes Compulsory role for Arbitration, Conciliation and Advisory Service Time Delay Financial Implications Page 9

10 II.C Employee Shareholders 2012: a radical change to employment law (G Osborne) Shares for Rights Significant political controversy The New Status: Shareholders Minimum value 2000 Can be freely shaped by Employer Tax-exemptions Page 10

11 II.C Employee Shareholders or workers without rights: Loss of ordinary unfair dismissal protection and redundancy pay Weakening of incidental rights The right to request flexible working The right to request to undertake study or training Employee shareholders are furthermore subject to longer notice periods before returning from maternity, paternity or adoption leave (up from six or eight weeks notice to sixteen weeks) And note (limited) procedural protection Page 11

12 II.C Employee Shareholders Problematic consequences Commodifying Employment Rights Unfair Dismissal Protection can now be bought off The problems with shares Can be designed to be non-dividend paying, non-voting Value decreases as risk of job loss increases Take-up? Slow: 350 companies as of Spring 2015 Main interest: tax avoidance for senior management Page 12

13 II.D Regulating Zero-Hours Contracts High-Profile issues since early 2013 ZHC = contract in which an employer does not guarantee the individual any work and the individual is not obliged to accept any work offered December 2013: government consultation Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, s 153 ban on exclusivity clauses Page 13

14 II.D Regulating Zero-Hours Contracts Focus on a Very Narrow Set of Problems Fewer than 10% of contracts Exclusivity unenforceable at Common Law Potentially Unintended Consequences: see eg last minute insertion of section 27A(4) to stop employers relying on the ZHC ban Legitimating Precarious Work: ZHC as a standard arrangement, where employees bear risks of insecurity of work & income The Universal Credit example Page 14

15 III Future Outlook 27 May 2015: Queen s Speech [New Government s Legislative Programme] New Strike laws: 50% turnout + in health, education, transport, : 40% of all those entitled to vote Criminalisation of Illegal MIgrant Workers Wages to be seized as proceeds of crime Significant Benefit Cuts Emergency Budget, 8 July 2015 Repeal of Human Rights Act 1998; EU Membership Referendum, Page 15

16 IV. Assessing the Reforms 2 Broader Concerns A. Assessing the empirical impact of the reforms B. Flawed Reforms, Unintended Consequences Page 16

17 IV.A Measuring Impact At first glance, positive: There are more people in work than ever before (31.1 million) and the employment rate is now the highest on record at 73.5 per cent. Unemployment is continuing to fall with the UK unemployment level currently at 1.83 million and the unemployment rate (5.5 per cent) the lowest it has been for almost seven years. D Cameron, 27 May 2015 Unemployment Rate Source: ONS 2015 Page 17

18 IV.A Measuring Impact But no fall in underemployment i.e. workers want more hours and better-paid jobs! Source: ONS Labour Force Statistics Methodological challenges in measuring a fragmented workforce Who counts as working? Initial statistics showed few, and happy ZHC workers Continuing upward revisions Page 18

19 IV.B Unintended Consequences Goal: Deficit Reduction Cutting Government Expenditure Deregulating the Labour Market to Stimulate GDP Growth Reducing Expenditure? OBR: Negative Tax Impact of Employee Shareholder Status ( 1bn) Unfair Dismissal Changes: Increased Welfare Bill? Jacob Hacker (Yale): the cost of shifting risk from Employers to the State» (in-)direct subsidies for low-paid work Page 19

20 IV.B Unintended Consequences Stimulating the Economy? OECD: UK is already one of the most lightly-regulated labour markets in the world Link between Unfair Dismissal Protection and Job Creation?» Ewing & Hendy: mythical status Confederation of British Industry: employers main concern is with change, rather than existing levels of protection The weak spending power of low-paid, precarious workers who have a high marginal propensity to spend Page 20

21 PROF JEREMIAS PRASSL Magdalen College University of Oxford SOURCES & FURTHER MATERIALS J Prassl et al, Zero Hours Contracts Working Paper J Prassl, '"All in it Together?" Labour Markets in Crisis' (2014) 1 Hungarian Labour Law E-Journal 23 J Prassl, 'Les seuils sociaux en Europe: Royaume-Uni' (2015) Revue de Droit du Travail 215 J Prassl, 'Employee Shareholder Status? (2013) 42 Industrial Law Journal 307 J Prassl, The Concept of the Employer Oxford University Press (2015)