Objectives
The Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law was established in the Faculty of Law in 1994. Its broad aims are to consolidate the teaching of, and research into, labour and employment law at the University of Melbourne, to contribute to the development of labour and employment law teaching and research throughout Australia, and to engage with labour and employment law scholars throughout the world. Centre Members are responsible for teaching labour and employment law subjects in the undergraduate and graduate programmes in the Faculty of Law, with the graduate programme leading to both Masters Degrees and Graduate Diplomas specialising in labour and employment law.
Centre Members are engaged in research in diverse aspects of the broad field of labour and employment law and labour market regulation. Areas of particular interest and expertise include the regulation of individual work relationships, discrimination in the labour market, the operation of courts and other dispute resolution institutions, the regulation of occupational health and safety, collective labour relations, comparative labour law, international labour standards, and unemployment law and policy. The Centre is engaged in ongoing research on the constitution and regulation of labour markets, both in Australia and abroad, with work being done on labour law in the Asia-Pacific region, Southern Africa, and Europe. The Centre also has a number of academic associates and research and teaching associates, both from within the Faculty of Melbourne Law School and from around Australia and the world.
The Centre’s work is guided by an Advisory Board, whose members represent the legal profession, academia and key stakeholders in Australian labour relations law.
The Centre is fortunate to receive financial support from a number of law firms in Melbourne that act as its sponsors. The Centre publishes Working Papers and Monographs. To learn more about Centre publications, click here.
The Centre's objectives are as follows:
- To undertake and encourage research on comparative labour law, with particular reference to the labour law systems of the South East and East Asian and Pacific regions, Southern Africa, Europe and North America.
- To undertake and encourage research into the most socially desirable and efficient means of regulating labour relations with particular regard to the role of specialist labour courts and tribunals, and the function of labour unions.
- To undertake and encourage research on the development of fair and equitable individual employment rights and the participation of employees in decision making at the place of work.
- To undertake and encourage research on the development of labour law as a discipline, including the development of empirical, feminist and socio-legal approaches to the study of labour law.
- To undertake and encourage research on the development of labour law as a discipline with particular regard to developing an understanding of the role of law in regulating all aspects of the labour market and with specific regard to issues raised by gender-based labour market segmentation and the focus of occupational health and safety within the labour law discipline.
- To undertake and promote the teaching of labour law, both within the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economics and Commerce (in particular the Department of Management) and develop and to promote innovative teaching methods and teaching materials in labour law.
- To undertake publication in the form of working papers, journal articles, books and monographs, and in the form of seminar programmes and conferences in order to disseminate the results of research undertaken under the auspices of the Centre, or in other programmes associated with the Centre.
- To establish and foster links with similar bodies, internationally and nationally, and provide a reference point in Australia for scholars in labour law.
- To establish and develop close links with the legal profession and industrial relations practitioners