The Right to Choose Applicable Law in Individual Employment Relationship According to Regulation “Rome I” Cover Image

TAIKYTINOS TEISĖS PASIRINKIMO DARBO TEISINIUOSE SANTYKIUOSE GALIMYBĖS PAGAL „ROMA I“ REGLAMENTĄ
The Right to Choose Applicable Law in Individual Employment Relationship According to Regulation “Rome I”

Author(s): Augustina Martinėlytė, Justinas Usonis
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
Published by: Mykolas Romeris University
Keywords: employment law; choice-of-law rules for employment contracts; Regulation Rome I; party autonomy

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, the right to choose law applicable to individual employment contracts under Regulation Rome I that replaced the 1980 Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations is discussed. The short evolution of the European choice-of-law rules for employment contracts and principle of parties’autonomy is revealed. The Regulation Rome I implementation practices as well as expression of such choice and cases of limitations are analysed in the paper, as well. The following questions that arise from provisions on the law applicable to the employment contracts and a wide scope of application of Rome I Regulation are discussed: 1) Do the parties to the employment contract may choose applicable law of any State?; 2) Is it necessary to have a connection between the contract and the State whose law the parties have chosen to apply?; 3) Is there a need of foreign element in the relationship when choosing other State’s law and should it be seen as a foreign element in terms of the Rome I Regulation?; 4) Is the choice of the parties limited to only State law or may it include non-state provisions as well? Practical situations arising from the abovementioned questions are presented in the paper, too. After analysing individual national laws, case law and doctrine, two types of the interpretation of the principle of autonomy are presented: 1) the first type (which is used in Lithuania and many other European countries), where the parties are completely free and may choose the applicable law, irrespective of the fact that contractual relationship

  • Issue Year: 21/2014
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 645-666
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: Lithuanian