| Abstract [eng] |
The Law Applicable to Employment Relationships under the Rome I Regulation: Regulation, Practice and Problems Different working and/or social security conditions, the establishment of multinational companies and secured freedom of movement for workers within the European Union are leading to an increase in the number of labour contracts with a foreign (international) element. Since the substantive labour laws of different EU Member States remain significantly dissimilar, it is especially important to determine the law applicable to any employment contract related to more than one country. Even though the general rules of private international law at EU level are laid down in Rome I Regulation, in practice there are still problematic issues related to its application and interpretation; said issues are dealt in this paper. The most important of these are: the scope and content of the freedom of choice of the parties; the possibility of selection of law for purely national individual employment contracts; the connection between different conflict-of-law rules and examples of their practical application; the law applicable to the individual employment contracts of mobile workers (e.g. crew members, pilots and sailors); the importance and applicability of special criteria such as principles of individual base and aircraft/ship flag to individual employment contracts of crew members and sailors; the delimitation of the legal provisions limiting freedom of choice, etc. The protection of the employee as a weaker party and the aim of the Rome I Regulation to apply the law that is most closely connected to the contract lead to the conclusion that the fundamental principle of Rome I Regulation (freedom of choice) in relation to individual employment contracts has limited practical importance. In most cases, the law chosen by the parties will be replaced by the objectively determined applicable law or by the overriding mandatory provisions and/or public policy of law of the forum. |
