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Anything goes? Exploring the limits of employment law in UK hospitality and catering

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  • Gregoris Ioannou
  • Ruth Dukes

Abstract

Through a case study of the UK hospitality and catering sector, this article explores the limits of employment law as a means of protecting workers from ill or unfair treatment. Finding microbreaches of the law to be common practice in the sector—akin to industry norms or ‘custom and practice’—it considers the routinisation of these microbreaches as an instance of conflict between formal legal rules and social norms. The conflict is problematic because it means that workers are less likely to perceive breach of their legal rights as an injustice worthy of challenge. The industry norms observed have been formed under the influence of an asymmetrical distribution of information and power, including organisational control over the labour process. If employment law is to be made effective, a realignment of legal rules with social norms is needed and, at the same time, the correction of this asymmetry.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregoris Ioannou & Ruth Dukes, 2021. "Anything goes? Exploring the limits of employment law in UK hospitality and catering," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 255-269, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:52:y:2021:i:3:p:255-269
    DOI: 10.1111/irj.12329
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Orestis Papadopoulos & Dave Lyddon, 2020. "Deregulation and institutional conversion in the Greek hotel industry: an employment relations model in transition," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1-2), pages 92-109, March.
    2. Anna Pollert, 2007. "Britain’s Flexible Labour Force: New Barriers to Individual Employment Rights," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Bengt Furåker & Kristina Håkansson & Jan Ch. Karlsson (ed.), Flexibility and Stability in Working Life, chapter 4, pages 42-62, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Simms, Melanie & Eversberg, Dennis & Dupuy, Camille & Hipp, Lena, 2018. "Organizing Young Workers Under Precarious Conditions: What Hinders or Facilitates Union Success," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 45(4), pages 420-450.
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    Cited by:

    1. Orestis Papadopoulos & Gregoris Ioannou, 2023. "Working in hospitality and catering in Greece and the UK: Do trade union membership and collective bargaining still matter?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(2), pages 105-122, June.
    2. Orestis Papadopoulos & Marti Lopez‐Andreu & Mandi Jamalian, 2021. "Violation and lack of awareness of employment rights in the United Kingdom's hotel industry: Isolation, fragmentation and barriers to labour enforcement," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 315-330, July.
    3. Piotr Zientara & Joanna Adamska‐Mieruszewska & Monika Bąk, 2021. "Hotel employees' views on fairness, well‐being and collective representation in times of the coronavirus crisis: Evidence from Poland," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 458-475, September.
    4. Peter Hamilton & Oonagh Harness & Martyn Griffin, 2022. "Life during furlough: Challenges to dignity from a changed employment status," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(6), pages 523-544, November.

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