Large corporations, trade unions and labour law now function within a global economy, creating the need to develop effective international labour standards addressed both to governments and corporations, which are now expected to take greater responsibility for labour standards throughout their global operations. This chapter examines the international legal framework for labour law within which domestic law operates, and the more recent initiatives focused specifically on corporations, as well as questions of exploitation associated with growing labour mobility, before concluding with a discussion about the prospects for global labour law.

Chapter 1 introduces the main issues raised in Labour Law and its social and economic significance in regulating workplace relations. The chapter introduces the principal sources of labour law in the UK, which include statutes, the common law and European law and the difficulties in securing compliance by employers with those laws. It describes the system of employment tribunals and ordinary courts where disputes are resolved. Finally the chapter introduces some contemporary themes concerning precarious work, work/life balance and human rights at work.

Testing and assessment have a long history in Greece. External hiring in the Greek public sector is carried out by the Supreme Council for the Selection of Personnel, an independent human resource management (HRM) body that currently runs employee selection procedures with the use of employment tests. In the private sector, employee assessment methods are used to a much greater extent than in the public sector. Greece’s entry into the European Union in 1981, as well as the competition from foreign companies, have further challenged HRM practices and methods used in staffing. Hiring processes have been enhanced by the inclusion of additional selection stages, such as semi-structured interviews, group interviews, and initial screening via job boards to augment the level of standardization and reduce incidents of bias. Greece’s entry into the EU has also led to the gradual addition of new laws to the Greek constitution aimed at establishing and enhancing equal opportunities in work, employment, and education. However, there are no specific guidelines implemented by psychological or HRM associations that specifically address bias and fairness in employee recruitment and selection processes.

Trade unions play a critical role in labour law, in representing workers, negotiating terms and conditions of employment by collective bargaining, lobbying for stronger legislation to improve working conditions and enhance job security, and assisting in the enforcement of legal rights before courts and tribunals. Employers are often hostile to trade unions, and workers need legal protection from the consequences of such hostility. In this Chapter we consider the legislation designed to protect workers from exclusion, blacklisting, discrimination, and victimization because of their trade union membership and activities. We also examine the right not to be a trade union member, as well as the purpose and implications of such a right.T

This chapter explores bias and fairness in employment testing in Türkiye across governmental and private sectors. It distinguishes fairness – equal opportunity, transparency, and uniform outcomes – from bias, especially in relation to predictive validity. The chapter situates these issues within Türkiye’s cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic landscape, examining how historical and regional factors shape perceptions and practices. Key legal and regulatory frameworks, such as Turkish Labor Law and constitutional mandates, are reviewed to highlight protections for equal treatment. It also evaluates bias detection methods, including differential item functioning, sensitivity reviews, and predictive bias analyses, and discusses challenges from emerging technologies such as the use of artificial intelligence in personnel selection. The chapter underscores the need for strong validity evidence and proactive strategies to promote fair and equitable hiring in Türkiye.

The common law permits employers to fix the wages payable under the contract of employment and also upholds a broad principle of no work–no pay. Statute protects employees against deductions from their wages that are not authorised by the terms of their contract. Subject to the express terms of the contract, in some circumstances employers may be under a duty to provide work so that employees can earn a living. These rules embrace a principle of mutuality that protects the expectation of the employer that work will be performed and of the employee that work will be remunerated. The National Minimum Wage sets a floor on wages for all workers. The chapter describes the method of assessing whether the minimum wage is paid in various kinds of jobs. It concludes by assessing the various types of enforcement mechanisms, including HMRC inspectors, penalties and civil claims, and assesses the effectiveness of the law.

Nigeria’s diverse history and ethnic diversity have shaped the country’s current understanding of bias and fairness, including issues relating to employment. This chapter focuses on employment testing bias and fairness in Nigeria. When making employment decisions, it is a common occurrence, albeit not a legally permissible one, to have factors such as age, sex, political beliefs, religion, ethnicity, and disability taken into account. Nigeria’s discrimination laws cover all employers, third parties, and licensure. However, Nigerian discrimination adjudication has a narrow purview. For instance, there are no clear standards for validity evidence, no rules for demonstrating disparate impact, no shifting of the burden of proof, and no recognition of disproportionate impact. The limited use of professionally designed selection processes also means that bias-related concerns receive little attention. Information about the impact of the legal environment on industrial and organizational psychology is similarly lacking. Nonetheless, there are initiatives aimed at professionalizing psychology in the nation, which should increase the reliability and validity of selection procedures.

One of the key functions of trade unions is to engage with employers or groups of employers to regulate terms and conditions of employment by collective bargaining. In the United Kingdom, the state historically played a key role in promoting and sustaining collective bargaining procedures on a sector-wide basis. There has since been a decentralization of collective bargaining activity to enterprise level, a process encouraged by the state, giving employers more control and flexibility over working conditions. This chapter examines the statutory procedures that were introduced in 1999 to support trade unions seeking to establish collective bargaining arrangements at enterprise level, and considers the statutory rights which exist to support collective bargaining, whether secured by voluntary or statutory means. Addressing specifically employer union-avoidance techniques, the analysis concludes by assessing the marginal impact of the law in practice, and considers proposals for reform.

This chapter reviews issues pertaining to employment testing bias and fairness in Poland, which are discussed from the perspective of national legislative circumstances. In contrast to countries that are demographically more diverse in terms of national origin, and despite the existence of clear laws in this regard, Poland struggles with several problems connected with transparency and fairness in employment selection processes. In Poland, there is no single office that is responsible for regulating hiring procedures or controlling the development of standards for such. The general provisions on equal treatment formulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, as well as the more detailed provisions of the Polish Labor Code, which refers to European Union regulations, indicate that various institutions, including the Ombudsman, the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, and the labor courts, are responsible for compliance with anti-discrimination procedures. Labor law in Poland is considered one of the most protective of employees’ interests in Europe; it contains regulations aimed at counteracting discrimination arising from belonging to a minority group.