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L’expansion de l’organisation de la production des biens et services sous forme de réseau, découlant de la recherche de flexibilité face à une concurrence économique accrue, soulève des enjeux importants pour les relations industrielles. Notre thèse s’intéresse au processus de précarisation des emplois dans les segments externalisés des réseaux de production. Elle se base sur trois études de cas portant sur les réseaux de services publics et privés d’aide à domicile au Québec. Les études en droit critique ont montré que le droit du travail, fondé sur le modèle de l’entreprise intégrée et de la relation d’emploi bipartite, ne parvient pas à identifier comme employeurs certaines organisations dont l’action a pourtant un effet déterminant sur les conditions de travail dans les réseaux. Notre thèse visait donc à mettre en lumière la réalité empirique des relations de pouvoir qui traversent les réseaux et leurs effets et ce à partir d’un modèle analytique transdisciplinaire intégrant les dimensions juridiques et sociologiques. Les résultats nous amènent d’abord à constater que l’employeur juridique des travailleuses employées par les prestataires privés intégrés aux réseaux – une majorité de femmes – est le plus souvent une agence de location de personnel, une entreprise d’économie sociale ou même l’usager-ère des services d’aide à domicile. Cet employeur est rarement identifié aux organismes publics, donc sous l’égide de l’État, qui exercent un pouvoir prépondérant dans ces réseaux. Le décalage entre la régulation juridique du travail et la réalité empirique du pouvoir intra-réseau entraîne une précarisation de la protection sociale et des conditions de travail de ces travailleuses. Ainsi, la faible protection de leurs droits de représentation et de négociation collectives facilite l’imposition de la « disponibilité permanente juste-à-temps », combinant les logiques du lean et du travail domestique, ainsi qu’une déqualification sexuée et racialisée de leurs emplois par rapport à la situation dans le secteur public. Notre étude montre néanmoins que certaines pratiques innovatrices d’action collective réticulaire ont pu influencer la dynamique de pouvoir, en particulier celles portées par des associations locales de personnes handicapées recourant aux services et par un syndicat de travailleuses d’agence. / The increasing trend towards organizing the production of goods and services into networks as a result of the quest for flexibility in the face of fierce economic competition raises critical issues for industrial relations. Our thesis examines the precarization of jobs in the externalized segments of production networks. It is based on three case studies focusing on the networks of public and private homecare services in Quebec. Critical law studies have shown that labour law, based on the model of the integrated firm and the binary employment relationship, fails to identify as employers some organizations whose action nevertheless has a decisive impact on working conditions in these networks. Our thesis thus aimed to shed light on the empirical reality of the power relations prevailing throughout the networks and their effects, using an interdisciplinary analytical model that integrates the legal and sociological dimensions. Results indicate that the legal employer of workers – most of them women – employed by private service providers integrated into the networks is most often an employment agency, a social economy enterprise or the individual using the homecare services. This employer is rarely identified as being among the public organizations which, under the aegis of state, exercise predominant power over these networks. The gap between the legal regulation of labour and the empirical reality of intra-network power leads to a precarization of the social protection and working conditions of these women workers. Thus, the weak protection of their rights to collective representation and collective bargaining facilitates the imposition of “just-in-time permanent availability”, combining lean management logic with domestic work logic, and leads to a gendered and racialized deskilling of their jobs compared to the situation prevailing in the public sector. Our study nevertheless shows that some innovative practices involving reticular collective action – in particular practices implemented by local associations of disabled persons using the services and by a union of female agency workers – have had an influence on these power dynamics.

By means of comparative analysis the features of regulation of probationary period in a contract of employment in the law of Lithuania and the members of the EU are revealed. The problem of evaluation of the results of probationary period as well as the right to dispute the dismissal due to the negative outcome of probationary period are considered. The author also discusses some law cases of the Supreme Court of Lithuania to reveal the problems, related to probation clause.

Le salarié était destiné à devenir un citoyen dans l’entreprise. Titulaire de droits fondamentaux opposables aux pouvoirs étatiques dans la cité, il semblait normal qu’il puisse aussi les exercer devant la puissance patronale. Ces garanties sont en effet intrinsèques à tout être humain, universelles et inaliénables. Sous l’effet hiérarchique des instruments prééminents qui les consacrent, les droits et libertés se sont introduits au sein de la relation d’emploi. La nullité des normes du droit du travail qui sont incompatibles sera déclarée. La hiérarchisation des sources en droit du travail le réclame. Ces droits et libertés sont formulés en termes généraux et abstraits, ce qui augure mal de leur usage immédiat dans le monde du travail. L’activité interprétative du juge apparaît indispensable. Dans sa quête du sens des libertés dans le travail, la méthode contextuelle qu’il privilégie débouche sur une aporie. Elle l’incite à prendre en considération l’ensemble du contexte normatif de la relation d’emploi. Les sources propres au droit du travail dictent ainsi le contenu des droits de la personne et posent des conditions à leur exercice en milieu de travail. Elles justifient également de nombreuses restrictions, voire suppressions, apportées par l’employeur. Les mutations subies par la liberté d’expression et le droit à la vie privée des salariés confirment l’effet réducteur de la relation d’emploi sur les protections offertes par la Charte québécoise. Cette façon de juger renverse la pyramide des normes juridiques. Le noyau intangible de ces garanties est affaibli, car les libertés du travailleur ne possèdent plus la même signification que celles des autres citoyens. Des violations se multiplient sous le regard complice du juge, du fait que les intérêts purement privés de l’entreprise, axés sur la productivité et le profit, reçoivent une légitimité avérée. Le rapport de force et les pouvoirs de la figure patronale se fortifient par l’entremise du contentieux des droits fondamentaux en emploi. Le contrôle exercé par l’autorité patronale s’étend parfois jusque dans la vie personnelle du travailleur et compromet la jouissance des libertés hors du travail. Salarié dans l’entreprise, l’individu le demeure désormais dans la cité. S’impose alors la recherche d’un cadre d’analyse plus respectueux de la cohérence du système juridique et favorisant l’épanouissement des droits et libertés du travailleur. Les statuts de salarié et de personne humaine pourront enfin être réconciliés. / Citizenship in the workplace was destined to become a reality. As a holder of fundamental rights against state powers in society, it seemed normal that the employee could also oppose them to employers’ powers, as these guarantees are inherent to all human beings, universal and inalienable. Statutes granting a preponderance to human rights and freedoms have definitively contributed to their introduction into the employment relationship. Therefore, provisions of labour legislation or workplace rules that are inconsistent with human rights will be declared null and void. The hierarchy of sources of labour law requires it. Rights and freedoms are stated in abstract and general terms, which makes it difficult to apply them instantly in the labour sphere. Judicial interpretation appears necessary to clarify what individual freedoms mean in the workplace. However, a contextual interpretation leads to aporia. This approach encourages the decision-maker to consider the whole normative context of the employment relationship. Specific sources of labour law dictate the content of human rights and set conditions to their exercise by the salaried person. They also justify many restrictions, or even deletions, imposed by the employer. The significant changes in the scope of workers’ freedom of speech and right to privacy confirm that the employment relationship has a reductive effect on the protections offered by the Quebec Charter. This kind of reasoning inverts the hierarchical structure of the legal system. The core of human rights and freedoms is weakened. It no longer has the same meaning for workers as for other citizens. Moreover, the unchallenged legitimacy of business interests, motivated by the increase of productivity and profit, multiplies violations of the workers’ fundamental rights. The employer’s prerogatives and management rights are strengthened through the human rights case law in the field of employment. In some instances, the employer’s control can extend into the employee’s personal life and thus compromise the enjoyment of freedom beyond work. The employee status now follows the individual into his civil life. The search for an analytical framework that is more respectful of the coherence of the legal system and which fully ensures the protection and the development of human rights and freedoms at work is essential. The status of worker and of human being will finally be reconciled.

The use of temporary employment services as a means to achieve flexibility in die labour market led to various complications due to a lack of proper regulation. The atypical formation of the triangular employment relationship, limited rights and less favourable employment conditions of the temporary employees, multiple authority figures and their liabilities under various circumstances and the impact thereof on such employee’ collective bargaining rights caused legal uncertainty in the absence of sufficient legislation to govern it. Temporary employment agencies developed certain methods in order to evade the restrictive labour legislation and employer duties imposed on them, namely by making use of automatic termination clauses (resolutive conditions) and by categorising the temporary employee as an independent contractor. Last mentioned would effectively exclude the temporary employee from labour legislation and the protection it provides. In reaction to abovementioned problems, trade unions have been objecting to the use of temporary employment agencies and went as far as demanding the total ban thereof. This raised the question in the South African Government whether said agencies should indeed be banned. The other option is a less restrictive approach and entails the attempt to regulate these agencies by amending the current labour legislation in order to accommodate temporary employment services. In light of the fact that various proposals to amend the current South African labour legislation (especially with regard to temporary employment services) have been published in the Government Gazette, it can be deduced that the social partners ultimately chose to regulate temporary employment agencies rather than ban them altogether. From an early stage the International Labour Organisation (ILO) provided rules and regulations for the management of employment agencies in general by way of conventions and recommendations. In 1997, in order to give effect to the labour standards identified by it, the ILO brought the Private Employment Agencies Convention into existence. This document could be applied to all temporary employment agencies on an international level. This document provides for administrative regulations, the duties of the agency and the client as well as the rights of the temporary employees concerned. The ILO recommends that all of its member states incorporate the principles contained within this document in their own legislation. Temporary employment services are also used in other legal systems. For purposes of this study, the English law (United Kingdom (UK)) and the Namibian law will be scrutinised. Similar issues to those recognised in the South African law have been identified in these countries. However, each has approached said problems in different ways. The Namibian Government banned the conducting and provision of these services by way of legislation in 2007. The constitutionality of the ban has however been questioned by the Supreme Court of Namibia, after which it had been found to infringe upon the fundamental freedom to carry on any business, trade or occupation. The ban was struck down as unconstitutional. The Namibian Government has since promulgated new legislation in which it removed the ban and replaced it with numerous amendments providing for the regulation of temporary employment services. Since 1973 the UK has been promulgating various instruments for the thorough regulation of temporary employment agencies. These instruments provide for the management of temporary employment agencies and the rights of the employees involved. The relevant legislative instruments have been updated regularly with the purpose of ensuring that the needs of all the parties concerned are met. The UK, as a member state of the European Union (EU), (which has also been providing for the regulation of temporary employment services in various directives), promulgated legislation specifically with the aim to give effect to the principles in the mentioned directives. By way of doctrines and the creation of a third category ―worker‖ the UK has been attempting to prevent any loopholes in their legal system with regard to temporary employment services and the rights of the employees involved. The aim of this study is to investigate all the important complications experienced with temporary employment agencies in order to indicate the impact the atypical circumstances have on the rights of the temporary employees. The degree to which, if at all, the South African law complies with the preferred labour standards identified by the ILO will be pointed out. A comparative study will be conducted, first by ascertaining in detail how the comparable issues in the UK and Namibian law are dealt with, and second by identifying which aspects in these legal systems could be of value to the South African law. Finally the potential effectiveness of the proposed amendments to the South African labour legislation will be analysed, during which recommendations for the unresolved issues will be provided. The recommendations are mainly aimed at achieving sufficient rights and legal certainty for the temporary employees associated with temporary employment agencies. / Thesis (PhD (Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The use of temporary employment services as a means to achieve flexibility in die labour market led to various complications due to a lack of proper regulation. The atypical formation of the triangular employment relationship, limited rights and less favourable employment conditions of the temporary employees, multiple authority figures and their liabilities under various circumstances and the impact thereof on such employee’ collective bargaining rights caused legal uncertainty in the absence of sufficient legislation to govern it. Temporary employment agencies developed certain methods in order to evade the restrictive labour legislation and employer duties imposed on them, namely by making use of automatic termination clauses (resolutive conditions) and by categorising the temporary employee as an independent contractor. Last mentioned would effectively exclude the temporary employee from labour legislation and the protection it provides. In reaction to abovementioned problems, trade unions have been objecting to the use of temporary employment agencies and went as far as demanding the total ban thereof. This raised the question in the South African Government whether said agencies should indeed be banned. The other option is a less restrictive approach and entails the attempt to regulate these agencies by amending the current labour legislation in order to accommodate temporary employment services. In light of the fact that various proposals to amend the current South African labour legislation (especially with regard to temporary employment services) have been published in the Government Gazette, it can be deduced that the social partners ultimately chose to regulate temporary employment agencies rather than ban them altogether. From an early stage the International Labour Organisation (ILO) provided rules and regulations for the management of employment agencies in general by way of conventions and recommendations. In 1997, in order to give effect to the labour standards identified by it, the ILO brought the Private Employment Agencies Convention into existence. This document could be applied to all temporary employment agencies on an international level. This document provides for administrative regulations, the duties of the agency and the client as well as the rights of the temporary employees concerned. The ILO recommends that all of its member states incorporate the principles contained within this document in their own legislation. Temporary employment services are also used in other legal systems. For purposes of this study, the English law (United Kingdom (UK)) and the Namibian law will be scrutinised. Similar issues to those recognised in the South African law have been identified in these countries. However, each has approached said problems in different ways. The Namibian Government banned the conducting and provision of these services by way of legislation in 2007. The constitutionality of the ban has however been questioned by the Supreme Court of Namibia, after which it had been found to infringe upon the fundamental freedom to carry on any business, trade or occupation. The ban was struck down as unconstitutional. The Namibian Government has since promulgated new legislation in which it removed the ban and replaced it with numerous amendments providing for the regulation of temporary employment services. Since 1973 the UK has been promulgating various instruments for the thorough regulation of temporary employment agencies. These instruments provide for the management of temporary employment agencies and the rights of the employees involved. The relevant legislative instruments have been updated regularly with the purpose of ensuring that the needs of all the parties concerned are met. The UK, as a member state of the European Union (EU), (which has also been providing for the regulation of temporary employment services in various directives), promulgated legislation specifically with the aim to give effect to the principles in the mentioned directives. By way of doctrines and the creation of a third category ―worker‖ the UK has been attempting to prevent any loopholes in their legal system with regard to temporary employment services and the rights of the employees involved. The aim of this study is to investigate all the important complications experienced with temporary employment agencies in order to indicate the impact the atypical circumstances have on the rights of the temporary employees. The degree to which, if at all, the South African law complies with the preferred labour standards identified by the ILO will be pointed out. A comparative study will be conducted, first by ascertaining in detail how the comparable issues in the UK and Namibian law are dealt with, and second by identifying which aspects in these legal systems could be of value to the South African law. Finally the potential effectiveness of the proposed amendments to the South African labour legislation will be analysed, during which recommendations for the unresolved issues will be provided. The recommendations are mainly aimed at achieving sufficient rights and legal certainty for the temporary employees associated with temporary employment agencies. / Thesis (PhD (Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.