We have received the following call for papers from Professor Loïc Lerouge, Directeur de recherche au CNRS / Research Director at CNRS, Centre de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale
Centre for Comparative Labour and Social Security Law, COMPTRASEC UMR5114 CNRS-University of Bordeaux - email: loic.lerouge@u-bordeaux.fr

Comparative Labour and Social Security Law Journal - Call for papers
National labour law and social security systems through the lens of the COVID health crisis. Adaptations or fundamental changes?
https://comptrasec.u-bordeaux.fr/en/comparative-labour-and-social-securi...

Argumentation

For several months now, the world has been going through a health, economic and social crisis unprecedented since the Second World War. The society in its whole built since then has
been shaken by the emergence of a new Coronavirus, now called COVID-19. Its novelty and contaminating power, combined with the heavy burden of care provided to those who are
severely susceptible to it, compels States to adopt exceptional measures to protect their populations and limit the devastation caused by the spread of the pandemic. These policies have
an impact on labour law and social protection law, which are undergoing adaptations – some temporary, others perhaps more permanent – to deal with the emergency of the moment.
The Comparative Labour and Social Security Law Journal (RDCTSS), which goal is “to contribute to the development and diffusion of analyses and discussions on labour law and
social security, systems of professional relationships across the world and public policies on employment and risks, aims to collect and put into perspective the analyses of researchers
from all continents on the transformations of social law caused by the COVID-19 crisis in their country or geographical area. Given the emergency of the situation, a number of legal journals
have already embarked an immediate description of the measures taken by governments. The objectives and the ambition of the RDCTSS publication project are quite different. In essence,
the aim is to provide an in-depth analysis of the impact of the global health crisis on different national laws, through various common issues. The challenge is to ask ourselves, through
international comparison, how the social systems that have been challenged by the health crisis and have revealed their limits are likely to be rethought through the prism of law. Many
questions can be raised: what kind of arrangements or re-arrangements have been made in the balance between fundamental freedoms (freedom of enterprise, freedom of work, freedom of
movement) and personal health and safety? In other words, what kind of pressure have been put on labour law – the need to maintain economic activity vs. protection against public health
risks – and how does the law’s resistance to emergency measures taken by public authorities or company management manifest itself? This last aspect invites us to analyse the legal approaches
and policies that intervene to resolve these conflicts of logic. How and to what extent does social protection law help to cushion the shock and possibly resolve the tensions mentioned?
What legal innovations are emerging on this occasion? What are the limits?

Framework of the call
In order to facilitate and guide the comparison, it is suggested that the contributors to this publication situate their work of description and analysis of national law with reference to the
following themes:
Theme 1: Working conditions: health and safety, work and rest time, work-life balance, salary, notion of “essential workers”;
Theme 2: Company, decision-making power and fundamental rights of employees: who are the players? What regulations?
Theme 3: Devices made to support the autonomy of individuals, different forms of social solidarity in the face of risks, precariousness, situations of exclusion, evolution of the Welfare State.

Contributors will be able to draw inspiration from one or more of these themes and will try to answer the general questions – or some of them – raised in the argumentation. Because the
comparative approach is at the heart of this issue, it is possible (but not mandatory), at the author’s initiative, to form a collaboration with a second author from another country.
Format of expected contributions.

The expected contributions will be in French, English or Spanish with a maximum volume of 40,000 characters including spaces.

In addition, manuscripts must be accompanied by the following items:
- 5 keywords to identify the content of the article;
- An abstract of 400 characters each;
- The institution to which the manuscript belongs, the title and the postal and electronic address of the author(s);
- The title of the article;
- Bibliographical indication of the author (two publications of your choice).

Deadline for paper proposals (500 words abstract + title): 1 February 2021.
Response to authors: March/April 2021
Deadline for submission of papers: 1 June 2021.

Nota Bene:
The RDTCSS journal publishes original texts submitted to an anonymous evaluation by two experts.

The Editorial Committee of this special issue of the Comparative Labour and Social Security Law Journal