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Davies, A. C. L.; Bogg, Alan; Costello, Cathryn --- "The role of the Court of Justice in labour law" [2016] ELECD 1415; in Bogg, Alan; Costello, Cathryn; Davies, C.L. A. (eds), "Research Handbook on EU Labour Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 114

Book Title: Research Handbook on EU Labour Law

Editor(s): Bogg, Alan; Costello, Cathryn; Davies, C.L. A.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783471119

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: The role of the Court of Justice in labour law

Author(s): Davies, A. C. L.; Bogg, Alan; Costello, Cathryn

Number of pages: 36

Abstract/Description:

In this chapter, we explore the role of the Court of Justice in the development of EU labour law. We begin by offering a historical overview of the Court’s case-law, divided into two loosely defined phases. In the first phase, which we characterise as a period of ‘expansion’, we trace developments from the Defrenne II ruling in 1976 to the late 1990s, looking at the Court’s role as a significant driver of European integration through its rulings in both equality law and labour law. The second phase begins with the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 and the proclamation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000, and brings the discussion to the present day. In this phase, we note ways in which EU labour law has been both ‘shrinking’ and ‘deepening’. The ‘deepening’ claim reflects the emergence of fundamental rights and a stronger Treaty basis for equality law as giving greater normative ‘backbone’ to at least some labour rights claims. But this has been accompanied by some ‘shrinking’ in the sense that the onward march of labour law in the Court’s jurisprudence has been slowed by competing employer claims based on internal market law and by broader economic considerations, particularly during the crisis.