The diverse needs and preferences of workers in modern firms present intractable challenges for the law and policy of employment protection. It would be unduly simplistic to assume that workers automatically prioritize job security, or that employers would invariably benefit from the ability to dismiss workers at will. No single prescriptive foundation or goal for legislation regulating dismissals can achieve just or efficient outcomes for both parties, particularly in the context of dismissals for economic reasons. In this context the case for job security is supported by the lack of any ‘fault’ on the part of the employees, but the employer is typically under financial constraints which make restructuring imperative. This article considers the extent to which greater reliance on worker voice through employee participation in decision-making during corporate restructuring would allow diverse and context-specific interpretations of flexibility and job security to be effectively implemented. The aim is to identify a balance between flexibility and security which is economically sustainable as well as socially desirable.

This article assesses the effects of reincorporation on codetermination, focusing on the scope for escaping codetermination by restructuring under the European Company (SE). This is usually associated with the prospect of corporate flight from codetermined jurisdictions. The article presents an alternative possibility, arguing that because the self-regulatory framework of employee participation in the SE encourages diversity and experimentation, it does not inevitably erode the institution of codetermination. Viewed within a framework of reflexive harmonization, the effects on codetermination are better understood as part of an open-ended process of evolution in the ownership and control structures of the firm. This points to the potential for codetermination to become more, rather than less, integrated as part of the ownership landscape of European firms.

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The aim of this paper is to reassess the place of labour law in the wider area of employment relations research and to argue the case for labour law's importance to social scientists. We give an analytical account of the principal institutional features of labour law as a form of legal regulation, from an interdisciplinary perspective which takes into account both the internal workings of the labour law system and the social and economic context within which it has evolved. We analyze, in the manner of an internal or 'immanent' critique, the categories which are generally used within labour law discourse to describe the social and economic relations of employment; account for their emergence and evolution in historical terms; consider the origins of their diversity across different national systems; and look at future prospects for convergence or divergence.

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