Informal And Atypical Work Patterns -The Role Of The State

• Published date: 05 April 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Insurance, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Retirement, Superannuation & Pensions, Employee Benefits & Compensation, Insurance Laws and Products, Government Measures
• Law Firm: lus Laboris
• Author: Mr Chris Engels (Claeys & Engels), Greg McGinnis (Mathews Dinsdale), Colin Leckey (Lewis Silkin LLP), Burkard G'epfert (Kliemt) and José Carlos Wahle (Veirano Advogados)

What is probably the largest governmental effort to shore up the economy since the Second World War has been taking place across the world now in response to COVID-19.

And perhaps the greatest saving grace is that interest rates are so low that large-scale borrowing is possible, at least for the larger economies. It is certainly the case that in most countries the hyper-protective approach that is being taken by governments is widely accepted as entirely necessary to protect both businesses and workers.

But the protections provided to employees under general employment law are also important in underpinning both the health of the workforce and, in wider terms, the stability of the business environment. These factors typically include elements such as a national minimum wage, maximum hours of work, rest and breaks, adequate health and safety protections, guards against discrimination, protection against dismissal and state unemployment benefits, along with the possibility to unionise.

In the UK, employment protections are relatively strong, with well-developed anti-discrimination laws, although the trade unions are generally weak in the private sector. In Belgium, state protection against work insecurity is also strong, having all the usual elements, including a minimum wage, working hours laws, well-developed health and safety laws and strong collective bargaining practice.

In Canada, the government supports workers by means of a range of policies and tools, with an emphasis on income support programs and skills training. Recently, the federal government has introduced stricter rules for federally regulated employers around the use of part-time, temporary, casual or seasonal work. These changes include a presumption of employee status that puts the burden on the employer to prove that a worker is not an employee.

In addition to a well-developed social system (e.g. health insurance, nursing care insurance, unemployment insurance, pension insurance and accident insurance), in Germany, there is a multitude of protective regulation under labour law - and the rules are of a high standard.

Brazil also has the traditional mechanisms, of minimum wage, social security and unemployment insurance, plus it has active unions - and, most notably, the Public Attorney's Office, Labour Branch, the MPT (Ministério Público do Trabalho) - which has been very vociferous against any form of insecure work. The MPT tends to be praised for defending fundamental rights in...