Employment Law and Policy Research Group

Employment law is increasingly recognised as one of the most dynamic areas of commercial law. European and domestic statutory outputs have reached dramatic levels in the last decade with the result that this complex area now involves a vast range of particular areas of expertise. Policy development has taken place through a variety of channels and interest groups.

The Employment Law and Policy Research Group draws on existing strengths in employment law research among staff at Kingston University. The aim of the group is to provide a focus for discussion and dissemination of legal and policy developments, forging links between practitioners and academics and undertaking socio-legal and doctrinal research in all areas of employment and equality law. The Employment Law and Policy Group also provides a focal point for research students with an interest in employment law.

Research team and interests

Professor Michael Wynn

Michael Wynn has written extensively on all aspects of the employment relationship. His particular interests are in temporary agency working and flexible labour markets and in aspects of collective labour law including trade union recognition and freedom of association. Recent and on-going projects include:

Trade Union Recognition and Union Exclusion: an Empirical Study into Union Busting in the Airline Industry.
Freedom of Association and Worker Voice: a comparative analysis of trade union victimisation in selected common law jurisdictions including the UK and Australia.
Flexicurity Agendas and the European Agency Worker Directive.

Professor Gwyneth Pitt

Gwyneth Pitt specialises in employment law and equality law and she has published widely in these fields. Current and recent projects include:

Protection from discrimination on grounds of religion or belief
Convergence and divergence in contract law and employment law
Legal enforceability of collective agreements.

Current project titles

Temporary agency working
Gangmasters
Religion and belief in the workplace
Legal aspects of collective bargaining

Activities

GELP hosts annual conferences on topical aspects of employment and labour law. The conferences are held in early May and take place at the Business School at the Kingston Hill campus of the University. These conferences focus particularly on the changing political and economic environment in which systems of labour law operate, examining the impact of global changes in the economic on labour structures and governance and attract papers on all aspects of UK labour law including trade union law, equality law, human rights and international aspects.

Recent selected publications

M Wynn (2014) 'Power Politics and Precariousness - The Regulation of Temporary Agency Work in the European Union' Temporary Work, Agencies and Unfree Labour: Insecurity in the New World of Work, Routledge 48-69 (ISBN 9780415536509).
M Wynn (2013) 'Austerity and the crisis in Employment Rights' Access to justice in employment disputes: surveying the terrain, The Institute of Employment Rights 4-5 (ISBN 9781906703189).
M Wynn (2011) 'The Agency Worker Regulations: a very British version of flexicurity' Contemporary Issues in Law (11)1:54-68 (ISSN 1357-0374).
M Wynn (2011) 'Classifying Employment Relationships - More Sliding Doors or a Better Regulatory Framework?' with P Leighton 40 Industrial Law Journal 5-44 (ISSN 0305-9332)
M Wynn (2009) 'Agency Workers, Employment Rights and the Ebb and Flow of Freedom of Contract' with P Leighton 72(1) Modern Law Review 91-102 (ISSN 0026-7961)
M Wynn (2009) 'Regulating Rogues: Employment Agencies, Gangmasters and sections 15-18 Employment Act 2008' 38 Industrial Law Journal 64-72 (ISSN 0305-9332)
G Pitt (2012) 'Crisis or stasis in the contract of employment?', 12 Contemporary Issues in Law 193-206
G Pitt (2011) 'Employment Law, Sweet & Maxwell,8th ed, (502 pp)
G Pitt (2011) 'Are occupational requirements genuinely necessary?', 11(1) Contemporary Issues in Law 1-18
G Pitt (2011) 'Keeping the Faith: trends and tensions in religion or belief discrimination', 40(4) Industrial Law Journal 384-404