1. Labour Law Reforms and Social Dialogue 1 February 2017, Turin
Angelika Muller
Governance and Tripartism Department
International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland

2. Outline Labour Law and Social Dialogue Group exercises
Main topics of reforms
ILO standards
Comparative trends
Group exercises

3. Labour Law Reforms Worldwide
ILO technical assistance for labour law reforms
comments on draft legislation
through tripartite social dialogue (+ judiciary, academics)
adapted to the country’s economic context
in respect of national legal traditions
Reasons for labour law reforms
Modernization
Conformity with ILO standards
Flexibility + Security = Flexicurity ?

4. Labour Law: Flexibility vs. Rigidity
Employment Protection Legislation (EPL)
Topical issue worldwide
Controversy in policy and academic debate
Increasing request for cross-countries comparisons
EPLex Database - hiring/firing legal rules
Probationary period
Fixed-term contracts
Fair and prohibited grounds for dismissals
Procedures for individual and collective dismissals (notice period, severance pay)
Compensation for unfair dismissals

5. International Indicators for Reforming Employment Protection Legislation (EPL)
ILO standards
ILO Convention No. 158 and Recommendation No. 166 on termination of employment
World Bank: Doing Business
Difficulty of Hiring and Redundancy Index removed from the annex in 2009

7. Fixed-term contracts (FTCs)
Adequate safeguards against abusive recourse to FTCs
Convention 158 and Recommendation 166
Reasons of conclusion of FTCs (not for permanent work)
Limited duration of FTCs
Limited number of renewals of FTCs
Comparative labour law
Frequent limitation to 3-5 years
Case law on reasonable expectation of renewal of FTCs
FTCs are one of the forms of precarious employment.
Women and men are victims of such unstable employment relationship
No limitation of FTCs in Nigeria
In South Africa - No limitation of FTCs, bur reasonable expectation to be renewed.
Malawi – no FTCs for permanent and normal activity
Zambia – no distinction between FTC and CDI, but spme specific rules for contracts of FTC.

9. Dismissals for Economic Reasons
Procedures in Convention 158 & Recommendation 166
Consultation with workers’ representatives
Notification to the competent public authority (not authorisation)
Definition of collective dismissals
specified number or percentage of the workforce
In South Africa – definition of collective dismissals for entreprises with more than 50 employees. Only consultation with workers’ representatives.
Malawi – no legal definition. The case law established the 2 procedures.
Zambia – 2 procedures applies for all individual dismissals for economic reasons
Nigeria
No definition of collective dismissals
- Only information for trade unions

11. Comparative Review of Regulation of Collective Dismissals
Selection criteria for redundancies
In law and collective agreements (54% out of 110 countries)
Controversy on criterion « Last In - First Out »
Increase of case law (age and sex discrimination)

12. Group Work
Tripartite social dialogue on labour law reform and employment policies

13. Conclusion Labour Law Reforms
harmonisation instead of deregulation
through tripartite social dialogue
Goals for the ILO and tripartite social partners
Rule of law,
awareness of law,
access to justice…
… for economic prosperity and social justice for all