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'The Regulatory Paradigm in Australian Labour Law'

Presented by Dr Andrew Frazer

Abstract:

Labour law as an academic sub-discipline has been changing in response to developments in the labour market and work relationships. In Australia, work on the ‘labour law and labour market regulation’ project led by scholars at the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, University of Melbourne, has adopted the perspective of law as a form of regulation. This approach draws on the field of regulation studies, a multidisciplinary academic community concerned with strategies for the governance of public domains in increasingly complex circumstances. The adoption of a regulatory approach to law represents a significant departure in legal scholarship, since the idea of regulation requires consideration of the social environment and impact of law, and these dimensions have not been a particular concern of traditional legal research.

This paper will examine the labour law and labour market regulation project and the potential which this work has for developing a new paradigm of labour law, one founded in the social operation of law. It will explore some of the foundations of the regulatory perspective (legal pluralism, institutionalism) in order to identify how the emergent new paradigm in labour law might be developed, and the potential directions (and limits) for future work in labour law.

Short Biography:

Dr Andrew Frazer is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Wollongong, where he teaches and researches in employment law, labour regulation and anti-discrimination law. Much of his research has involved the history of industrial tribunals in Australia under compulsory arbitration, and the changes in legal thinking resulting from the movement towards enterprise bargaining. His recent work has examined regulatory analysis in labour law, and the prospects for a sociology of labour law. Other current research projects include: precarious work and the vulnerability of older workers, and employee perceptions of fidelity.

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

For further information contact:

Dr Nadirsyah Hosen
Lecturer
Faculty of Law
University of Wollongong
NSW Australia
Email: hosen@uow.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 4221 4192
Fax: +61 2 4221 3188