Work and employment from human rights perspective 1300-OG-WEFH-FS

The problem of ensuring a proper respect to human rights in employment relations has a long history in practice and in scholar literature. Broadly speaking, it includes a right to a descend work, a right to perform form which one freely chooses, a right to be free from the servitude, a right to be adequately remunerated for the work done, a right to work in a place where health and safety rules are obeyed, a right to rest, a right to associate in the unions etc. Certainly, in a course of a development of human rights some other aspects came to the light. This includes an increasing importance of the non-discrimination rule (and a need to secure positive discrimination in some cases, if needed), and the need to recognize a vulnerability of persons belonging to some peculiar groups (e.g. minors, pregnant women, disabled persons), rights related to religion (e.g. a right to wear religious symbols at work), as well as the right to self-expression, including by wearing own clothes. In times of an increasing migration an issue of employing foreign workers appeared at the front-pages of the news. In all of these aspects one has to ask himself where the responsibilities of the employer – national authorities – and the employee meet and who should be primarily responsible for meeting the requirements, which are provided for by the law. Is the situation the same in case of all categories of workers and in all of the above-mentioned themes? Can some rights of persons who are employed in the army or in public administration be contested or limit? Certainly, an issue of monitoring of employment and work-related activities and with the availability of the individual complain mechanism should also be considered.
However, some additional phenomena appear. They are seemingly on the margins of the employment activities. These concern in particular the trafficking of human beings (both in national and international context) and the illegal employment of illegally residing migrants. These aspects, unquestionably, deserve a special attention during the lecture.
Examples from national and international courts will help to present the above-described themes in a practical way. They will also contribute to the awareness raising actions taken under the auspice of this lecture. It should be stressed that students will be welcomed to actively participate in the meetings.