PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEES IN CROSS-BORDER PROCEEDINGS:

JURISDICTION RULES OVER INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND POSTING OF WORKERS

Abstract

The need for substantial rules of labour law that serve to protect the employees against the superior employers is widely recognised and has been governed since the emergence of the labour law as a specific area of private law. The idea that the rules of private international law can also serve as a governing tool for achieving certain policies, including the social policies, was accepted subsequently. Today there are international, European and national rules that govern the conflict of law rules and at the same time are strength the position of employers as weaker parties in the proceedings. At the EU level, in order to facilitate the employee’s access to justice, the Brussels I bis Regulation provides for the alternative criteria of jurisdiction in favour of employees. Those rules are one-sided and not available when the employer initiates the proceedings. The Regulation provides for the agreements on jurisdiction with the restrictions in favour of workers. In case of posted workers, the Posted Workers Directive provides the additional possibility to initiate the proceedings before the court of the state to which the employee is posted. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the current legislative changes at the EU level are in the interest of workers and to check whether there are legal situations in which workers' rights remain unprotected in cross-border proceedings.

Key words: free movement of workers, individual employment contracts, posting of workers, international jurisdiction, Brussels I bis Regulation, Posted Workers Directive