Lisa Rodgers (University of Leicester – School of Law) has posted Labour Law and Kantian Ideas of Legality and Citizenship on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This paper discusses the relevance of Kantian ideas of legality and citizenship to the study of labour law. It is argued that Kantian ideas of legality have infiltrated labour law to a certain extent, but that the influence of this system has remained marginal. The sticking point has been the association of these ideas with the equality of subjects of the law, and the irrelevance of need or welfare to legal questions. Neither of these assumptions accord with the basic normative foundation of labour law. However, it is argued in this paper that the Kantian idea of citizenship provides a much more relevant foundation for labour law. This idea starts from the position of inequality of bargaining power between the parties (employers and employees), and the need to consider the position of individual subjects. It also moves beyond traditional labour law theory by insisting that the law must be involved in promoting not only distribution but also autonomy for individual employees and workers.