International Employment Law

This subject is not offered in 2014.

Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.

The Melbourne Law Masters welcomes applications from students with disabilities. The inherent academic requirements for study in the Melbourne Law Masters are:

• The ability to attend a minimum of 75% of classes and actively engage in the analysis and critique of complex materials and debate;
• The ability to read, analyse and comprehend complex written legal materials and complex interdisciplinary materials;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate in writing a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and to critically evaluate these;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate orally a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
• The ability to work independently and as a part of a group;
• The ability to present orally and in writing legal analysis to a professional standard.

Students who feel their disability will inhibit them from meeting these inherent academic requirements are encouraged to contact the Disability Liaison Unit: www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

As labour and capital markets transcend domestic borders, the objectives of labour law can no longer be confined solely to actions within the nation State. This subject uses labour and employment issues as a backdrop for discussing and analysing the globalisation of business, labour, and its impacts on law and lawyering, particularly in East Asia. It deals with the evolving and increasingly important internationalisation of an area of law and providing growing job opportunities. There is coverage of law and how it works in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China. Comparative and competitive advantages are discussed. Throughout the subject will be an overlay of human resource management practices as they fit into employment laws.

Principal topics will include:

• The importance of the concept of globalisation in understanding national systems of labour regulation
• The composition, powers and functioning of international organisations that regulate labour internationally, including the International Labour Organization (ILO)
• The usefulness of a comparative approach to labour law
• The role of intergovernmental and corporate codes of conduct in securing international labour standards
• The relevance of different approaches, theories of international regulation and administration of labour laws, workers’ labour rights and benefits, the role of labour unions, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms
• Problems on comparative problem-solving of labour law issues
• The success of adopting a human rights approach to labour regulation in the face of changes to domestic and international labour law frameworks.

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamentals of international and comparative labour law
• Be able to evaluate debates about, and the role of, the key institutions in transnational labour regulation in an era of globalisation
• Demonstrate an appreciation of the usefulness of, and difficulties involved in, comparative labour law research
• Demonstrate a basic familiarity with the labour law frameworks of foreign countries and the context of those frameworks to the extent that they are examined in the subject.

• Take-home examination (100%) (4 – 7 July)
  or
• 10,000 word research paper (100%) (6 August) on a topic approved by the subject coordinator

Core subject materials will be provided free of charge to all students. Some subjects require further texts to be purchased. Details regarding any prescribed texts will be provided prior to the commencement of the subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.