Brexit and the legacy of Europeanisation of UK legislation. Can the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 succeed in de-Europeanising employment law in the UK?
Location:
Moot Court Room
Old College
Date/time
Tue 18 March 2025
17:30-19:30
About the event
The legacy of EU law for employment law in the UK is not to be underestimated. It’s trite to say that such important employment rights as working time have been shaped by EU legislation and the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union was crucial for understanding the scope of those rights. Brexit put those rights in danger and it is necessary to find mechanisms of securing continuity of protection of EU-derived employment rights. EU-UK Withdrawal Act 2018 (WA) provided for some continuity and legal certainty saving much of the employment legislation that was under the threat by introducing the concept of retained EU law and retained EU case law. But the latest attempt to further undermined the legacy of EU law came in the shape of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REULA). From the very start there was uncertainty how UK courts would deal with the interpretation of EU derived rights within the parameters set out in the WA. LJ Green suggested with regard to the possible departure of the UK courts from the EU authority that ‘as time moves on, and the case law of the CJEU evolves, then the differences between the current state of EU law and that which the Court is to take account of might become more accentuated. At that stage the analysis might become more complex.’ REULA makes this even more complicated by removing the essential EU mechanisms and principles of interpretation of UK legislation containing EU derived rights. As it was shown in the case Agnew that was decided by the Supreme Court, this can represent a challenge for the UK courts when they consider claims about the breach of EU-derived employment rights. Is employment law in danger of de-Europeanisation in a sense of departure from EU derived rights and guarantees? This paper will critically discuss the possible development in this area taking account of the recent developments in the legislation and domestic case law.
About the speaker
Dr Oxana Golynker, University of Leicester, CELI