After completion of the course students are able to:

International and European Labor Law continuously gain importance due to the process of globalization of the economy and the ongoing integration of Europe. Moreover the recognition of  fundamental social rights at the international and European levels results in a growing influence of  international and European labor law on industrial relations and social policy of  States. As a result, national labor law will be increasingly shaped by international labor standards and more in particular by EU employment law.

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with the specific issues of international and European labour law, its instruments, and the way and forms in which  the standards are laid down in international legal sources, and how they are implemented  and will affect the national legal systems and labor markets.

A dispatch is given of the important international organizations (ILO, UN, EU, CoE) and their powers and competences to establish internationals labour standards to be implemented in national legislation and/or how they are  recognized in national case law.

Furthermore some substantive issues of international and European labour law are explored more in depth. Starting point are the fundamental social rights, as recognized in UN Treaties,  the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the European Social Charter and the EU Charter of fundamental rights, more specifically cross border freedom of work, including posting and the right to equal treatment in employment.

The course is devoted to providing an introduction and insight into the principles of international and European labor law, and comprises instruction and evaluation. Each topic will be explored from an international labor law and EU law perspective. Each week a topic will be dealt with in a lecture and a seminar. For the seminar, students are expected to prepare the seminar questions beforehand. They will be given the opportunity to increase their understanding through discussion of current themes and legal problems. To that end, they are expected to prepare for the sessions and to participate actively.

The first weeks are dedicated to international labor law; the following four weeks will be directed towards EU law.

Students participate in a moot court simulation that comprises the first four weeks of the course. They work in ‘teams’ to prepare a convincing legal argument and legal brief. The instructor provides feedback on their performance as the proceedings come to a close. During the actual moot court session arguments have to made orally; the court had to deliver its decision.
In short, the course combines traditional lectures with a high degree of active participation by the students with a view to developing their basic research skills, oral debating and discussion techniques and writing skills, as well as providing basic knowledge and and understanding of international and European labor law.

At the end of the course a written test will be conducted on the topics of the course.
 
Students are also required to write a paper and give a presentation on this paper. The topic of the paper is chosen in good cooperation with the student.