Industrial Relations Journal

Running head: EMPLOYMENT LAW
EMPLOYMENT LAW
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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EMPLOYMENT LAW
Issue:
The United Kingdom has left the European Union on 31st of January 2020 at
Greenwich mean time 11 PM. The separation of UK from EU took place after signing of a
treaty between the two namely the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic
Energy Community, in other words, The Brexit withdrawal agreement, which has been
signed on 24th of January 20201. However, it has been declared that till the transition period
of the withdrawal agreement that is on 31st of December 2020, UK will continue to enjoy the
benefits which they used to get as a member of the EU. Therefore, according to the provision
of the agreement, UK will be one of the beneficiaries of the EU regulations and continues to
be a party in the single market and customs union of the EU during the entire transition
period. Simultaneously, it is been mentioned that the negotiation regarding the trade term will
continue to exist between UK and EU in the transition period so that it can continue its trade
on their individual term after the transition period is over2. It is to be mentioned that,
changing scenarios of trade practice is definitely going to be impacted the job market of the
UK. The issue in this regard is to see what will be the impact of the Withdrawal Agreement
or Brexit over the UK and whether such impact will be affected in a negative way or positive
way depending upon the different form of Brexit the nature of which is based upon the terms
agreed between the parties. In addition to this, another issue needs to look after is that what
will be the employment condition under a different form of Brexit, who will be the affected
parties3. Furthermore, the issue is what will be the legal propositions regarding employment if
no Future Relations Treaty is ended4. The most important issue to be discussed is what will
1 Clarke, Harold D., et al. Brexit. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
2 Dhingra, Swati, et al. "The impact of Brexit on foreign investment in the UK." BREXIT 2016 24.2 (2016).
3 Wadsworth, Jonathan, et al. "Brexit and the Impact of Immigration on the UK." CEP Brexit Analysis 5 (2016):
34-53.
4 Tetlow, Gemma, and Alex Stojanovic. "Understanding the economic impact of Brexit." Institute for
government (2018): 2-76.

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EMPLOYMENT LAW
be the preferential form of Brexit that will enhance the growth of the employment sector
post-Brexit and will promote a fair work structure.
Rule
In this case, the rules relating to Article 50 of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and
Article 128 of TFEU have been discussed. In addition to this, rules and regulations of
withdrawal agreement regarding employment rights and protection of the worker under the
existing law and the proposed changes in the rules and regulations that the rule makers must
ensure in the post-Brexit employment law have been thoroughly discussed here.
Analysis:
The transition period placed the UK in a temporary profitable position where it will
continue to enjoy the benefits of trade rule envisaged by EU till the expiry of the transition
period, This time gap between the adaptation and implementation of Brexit has been mutually
agreed by the UK and EU in order to have some time for the acceptance and start of an
entirely new connection between them5. However, the shortcoming is that, after the expiry of
the transition period in December 2020, UK cannot have the admittance to the benefits
offered to them by virtue of the EU membership in relation to trade and another aspect6.
The association between the UK and EU will be expected to be better as envisaged in
Article 50 of the Withdrawal Agreement and Article 218 of the TFEU7. Article 50 authorizes
a member of the EU to leave the EU. However, Article 218 offers an enhanced relationship
regarding trade with the EU by the mean of international agreements8. On the other hand,
there exists a political implication of the provision of Article 50 clause, which states that the
5 Jay, Simon, Philip Davies, and Melissa Reid. "Brexit: Implications for employers." Employee Relations Law
Journal 42.3 (2016): 69-82.
6 Ford, Michael. "The Impact of Brexit on UK Labour Law." Int'l J. Comp. Lab. L. & Indus. Rel. 32 (2016): 473.
7 Eeckhout, Piet, and Eleni Frantziou. "Brexit and Article 50 TEU: a constitutionalist reading." Available at
SSRN 2889254 (2016).
8 van der Mei, Anne Pieter. "EU external relations and internal inter-institutional conflicts: the Battlefield of
article 218 TFEU." Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 23.6 (2016): 1051-1076.

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EMPLOYMENT LAW
deadline of two years of the withdrawal agreement has been made with a view to providing
benefit to the departing country by guaranteeing that it cannot be apprehended as hostage 9.
The EU is comprised of 29 WTO state as member, the count is 28member plus EU
itself. However, after the Brexit, these united rights and duties of these members will be
divided between EU-27 and UK. However, negotiation can be done by any of the other WTO
member whose has a interest of trade involved with these countries. These negotiations are
likely to be stretched long post- Brexit10.
The UK Government has issued a number of notices mentioning the current
employment rights the Government which states that in case of 'no-deal Brexit’ the worker
will be covered under the existing EU Law and will enjoy their employment rights covered
under the same rule without any hindrances11. However, there is an exception to this rule
which states that after the transition period is over, new requests to set up a European Work
Council or any other information and consultation process will not be entertained. However,
the impact of Brexit upon the already prevailing EWC will be determined according to the
EWC terms. In the case of those EWC, which are not governed by British Law, the situation
will be that none of the UK employees can have a representative in the EWC12. Furthermore,
the already posted UK delegates have to relocate to other area unless there is an exceptional
clause regarding the same agreed between the parties in the EWC agreement13. However,
those who are covered by the UK law will be required to assign to another EU country to
administer the EWC. It is important to select the alternative governing rule as it is going to
9 Lawless, Martina, and Edgar LW Morgenroth. "The product and sector level impact of a hard Brexit across the
EU." Contemporary social science 14.2 (2019): 189-207.
10 Busch, Berthold, and Jürgen Matthes. Brexit-the economic impact: A meta-analysis. No. 10/2016. IW-Report,
2016.
11 Teague, Paul, and Jimmy Donaghey. "Brexit: EU social policy and the UK employment model." Industrial
Relations Journal 49.5-6 (2018): 512-533.
12 Somai, Miklós, and Zsuzsánna Biedermann. "Brexit: Reasons and challenges." Acta Oeconomica 66.s1
(2016): 137-156.
13 Warhurst, Chris. "Accidental tourists: Brexit and its toxic employment underpinnings." Socio-Economic
Review 14.4 (2016): 819-825.