Fragmenting Work and Fragmenting Organizations: The Contract of Employment and the Scope of Labour Regulation

Abstract

This article diagnoses the conceptual and normative crisis of the scope of labour protection as resulting from the conception of employment as a personal and bilateral contract between an employee and a unitary employer that is characterized by the employee's subordination. It argues that the related fragmentation of organizations and fragmentation of work reveals the extent of the problem with this legal conceptualization of employment. The article offers an approach to reconceptualizing the scope of labour protection that is based on an understanding of personal work arrangements and enterprises as activities. It justifies this approach in terms of the goals of labour regulation-responding to market failure, protecting human rights, strengthening social solidarity, and promoting countervailing power.