Enforcement of Employment Rights by EU-8 Migrant Workers in Employment Tribunals

Abstract

As migrant workers, EU-8 nationals enjoy a right to equal treatment with nationals in respect of their terms and conditions of employment. While some employers have tried to meet their legal obligations towards EU-8 nationals, others have taken advantage of these workers and have denied them their employment rights under UK law. In this paper we explore how EU-8 migrants make use of Employment Tribunals to enforce their employment rights. How many cases do they bring before Employment Tribunals, and what are they about? Are claims brought alone or with support, and if so, from whom? How are EU-8 workers treated once they are before a Tribunal and how successful are their claims? If there is evidence that EU-8 migrants are successfully bringing claims to enforce their employment rights, then fears about undercutting and exploitation of vulnerable workers are perhaps less serious than they would first appear. If they are not, then concerns about (mis)treatment are justified and prompt the further question as to how their rights could be better protected in practice, particularly given the introduction of fees for accessing Employment Tribunals.

Conceptualising the Agency of Migrant Women Workers: Resilience, Reworking and Resistance

“…Barriers to unionisation include labour turnover, management resistance as well as a highly stratified, temporary and precarious workforce, which are exacerbated for migrant workers in the industry (Cam, 2014). This has led to calls upon trade unions to respond better to the transnationalisation and precarisation of employment (Alberti, 2014; Barnard, 2014). Over the last three decades, the move towards individualisation of workplace disputes through employment tribunals has also not served migrant workers well (Anitha and Pearson, 2018), as these mechanisms are underutilised by migrant workers who fear losing jobs and lack trade union support (Barnard, 2014).…”

Humanising migrant women’s work

“…Hence, EU8 citizens largely work in a precarious labour market with poor working conditions, which disproportionately affect women (Currie, 2009). Yet, very few challenge exploitative employment practices due to the cost, time and dismissal risk, which tribunals entail (Barnard, 2014). This prevalence of exploitation and harassment in tourism's low-paid and un-unionised workplaces are well established (Guerrier & Adib, 2000;Hoel & Einarsen, 2003), but few studies examine the intersection of gender, ethno-nationality and migration.…”

EU equality law after a decade of austerity

“…611, 615). Strategic litigation on sex equality Treaty provisions during the 1970s and 1980s resulted in recognition of the principles of equal pay for work of equal value, indirect discrimination, and their horizontal effect (Barnard, 2012a;Bell, 2014, p. 144;Schiek, 2007, pp. 352-259), thereby endowing equal treatment with a far more substantive and transformative dimension than that originally conceived by the Treaty.…”

“…18 The question of whether soft responses are appropriate for an area like equality law is particularly crucial. On the one hand, hard law can be a fairly "blunt instrument" for bringing about social change (Barnard, 2012a), which is necessary for achieving substantive equality goals in practice. Thus, softer modes of regulation that promote best practices, mutual learning, and emphasize awareness raising and attitudinal change -whether in national policies or among the population -may, in fact, be more appropriate.…”