Prof Michael Doherty has published a new piece, in a collections edited by Prof. Claudia Schubert, Professor for Civil Law, Labor Law, Corporate Law, and Comparative Law at Universität Hamburg. Prof Doherty contributed a chapter on Ireland to the collection, Economically-dependent Workers as Part of a Decent Economy: International, European and Comparative Perspectives (Beck/ Hart/ Nomos). The edited collection argues that while labour law focuses on employment contracts, and the legal analysis of the working world is based on the distinction between employees and self-employed, a significant number of European countries provide specific legal protection for so-called economically-dependent workers. The book examines the law applicable to such workers, who are personally independent, but nonetheless require social protection. This development begun long before digitalisation started blurring the boundaries of typical employment relationships. However, recent developments have resulted in demands for the extension of labour laws to platform workers putting the topic back on the agenda.
Prof Doherty is Head of Maynooth University Department of Law and lectures courses to all first year law students on Introduction to Law, as well as Employment Law to LLB students.