A critical analysis of European employment representation in the context of a common European business law

Abstract

This dissertation will discuss employment representation as a part of European Business Law. As of today, employment representation can be seen as an important part of European Business Law, however due to the various domestic structures and understandings of the concept of employment representation and involvement, it can also appear as a patchwork of law and not ultimately as a harmonized part of EU law. Therefore, this dissertation shall provide a critical analysis of the status quo of employment representation in the EU law while outlining the historic development of employment representation in EU law and examining the most important provisions in this context. In addition to that, the weight of the implementation of the European Enterprise, the so-called Societas Europaea (SE), shall be shortly described along with other forms of European Companies. In this context, the question shall be assessed whether there is a common ground of employment representation on EU level. In addition to that, the so-called EU Company Law Package will be briefly introduced and its impact on employee representation rights will be examined. A special focus shall be set on German Employment Representation Law, given the important role Germany played as founding member and still largest member of the EU. As a comparison to German Employment Representation Law, this dissertation will also introduce UK’s Employment Representation Law. As an additional part, the question shall be briefly discussed whether the ‘Brexit’ is likely to change the general European perception of employment representation, given that the UK had mentionable influence on the shaping of European Business Law and employment representation in particular. This dissertation will finish with a conclusion of the critical aspects and the results received from its analysis.