This book offers a convincing account of the failures of the current approach adopted in the UK for the securing of more equitable arrangements on pay and provides valuable insights into approaches adopted in other parts of the world.

In an empirical study of the interaction between law, adjudication, and conflicts about behavior in the workplace, Lizzie Barmes analyses how labor and equality rights operate in practice in the UK. Arguing that individual employment rights have a Janus-faced quality, simultaneously challenging and sustaining existing distributions of power between management and employees, she calls for legal intervention at work to focus on resolving tensions between collective and individual concerns across the range of workplaces, and to stimulate the expression and reconciliation of different viewpoints...

This volume explores the societal goals behind labour laws - through an analysis of normative justifications and critiques - and examines what actions are needed to better advance these goals, by way of purposive interpretation and legal reform.