Zero-hour contracts and labour law: An antithetical association?

Abstract

As an introduction to the special issue, this article provides a common definition of the phenomenon studied, i.e. zero-hour contracts, and sets out the research goals pursued through the successive contributions that compose it. Zero-hour contracts are long-term relationships where the employer does not commit to providing a minimum number of working hours to the worker. Legal scholars often state that zero-hour contracts are antithetical to the decommodification of work pursued by labour law. The special issue intends to explore this hypothesis through a legal doctrinal approach to European, international, and national labour law. First, it seeks to refine this hypothesis by examining, through three national case-studies, if (and how) national labour laws were designed to prevent zero-hour contracts and similar on-demand work arrangements. Second, taking the hypothesis seriously, it investigates whether there might be legal arguments in national labour laws and in European and international social law to oppose or to better protect zero-hour workers.