Efficiency of international courts regarding employment law

What is it about?

International courts have become a crucial element of protecting employee rights in the last decades. The ‘unorthodox’ measures of the Hungarian Orbán government have provided a unique opportunity to test the effectiveness of international courts, since these national measures have been defying various legal principles in general, but in particular in the field of employment, since acquiring two-third parliamentary majority in 2010. The article analyses the most important such employment laws, their objectives, problematic legal nature and the answers from the Hungarian Constitutional Court (hereinafter CC), the European Court of Justice (hereinafter ECJ), and the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ECtHR). Are these national and international courts able to ensure effective protection against such policies when they adversely affect workers’ fundamental rights, and if so, on what legal basis? Conclusions regarding unorthodox employment laws, such as termination without cause, compulsory retirement of judges, a retroactive 98% tax on severance pay, and/or nationalization of private pension funds, might be useful to other countries with similar legislative tendencies. The article fosuses on the question, whether international courts are able to block and efficiently remedy such national measures and tendencies in employment law.

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that the efficiency of international courts is rather limited, particularly regarding the potential sanctions.

Perspectives