I CONFLITTI DI LEGGE E DI GIURISDIZIONE IN MATERIA DI RAPPORTI DI LAVORO

The topic of my dissertation concerns employment contracts in European private international law. I shall focus my attention on the conflict of laws and jurisdiction issues, concentrating upon the interaction among the existing set of uniform procedural rules provided by the European Union, in order to understand what their possible impact on cross-border employment contracts may be. As a preliminary study to my analysis, the thesis considers the question of characterization of the notion “employment contracts”, in an attempt to determine the scope of application of such uniform rules. The thesis first analyses the rules on international jurisdiction set forth in the Brussels I Regulation with respect to employment contracts, with a view on the recent Proposal for the review of such Regulation (Brussels I-bis). It then proceeds to examine the conflicts-of-law rules, concerning the same matter, as provided by the Rome I Regulation, paying due attention to the possible impact of the application of the Recitals of such Regulation and of the collective agreement, provided by the applicable substantive law, on the contract’s governing law. Lastly, the outcome will therefore be considered in light of favour laboratoris principle, in order to understand whether due protection is ensured to the weaker party of an employment contract.