Book review: Principled Labor Law. U.S. Labor Law through a Latin American Method
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262720945401 |
| Published date | 01 September 2020 |
| Author | Marco Biasi |
| Date | 01 September 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Sergio Gamonal C. and C´
esar F. Rosado Marz´
an, Principled Labor Law. U.S. Labor Law through a Latin
American Method, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, 186 pages, ISBN 978-0-1900-5266-9
(hardcover).
Reviewed by: Marco Biasi, The University of Milan, Milan, Italy
DOI: 10.1177/1388262720945401
In Principled Labour Law. U.S. Labour Law through a Latin American Method, Gamonal and
Rosado Marz´an offer an insightful reflection on the protective function of labour law. Their main
target is to fill the regulatory gap in US labour law through the transplantation of the principle of
protection, a core feature of the Latin American Method and the reason of existence of labour law.
1. The introduction
In the introduction, Gamonal and Rosado Marz´an lay out the purpose of their book, which is to
offer a Latin American ‘‘principled method’’, based on labour law’s traditional precepts, ‘‘as a
tool to defend and reconstruct labour law in the United States and elsewhere where labour law
jurisprudence appears to be in tatters’’ (p. 5). They identify US labour law as the prototype of
under-protective labour policy, in view of the low union rates, the lack of di smissal and strike
protection, along with the extensive use of arbitration in labour matters. Nevertheless, the
authors acknowledge that Latin America is often considered a region where labour rights are
ineffective. Yet, they argue that protective labour jurisprudence can hardly be the scapegoat for
institutional deficiencies in this field.
The book is thus designed to be a guide for judges and other adjudicators to apply the law by
means of principles. Gamonal and Rosad o Marz´an build upon four interrelated an d mutually
reinforcing principles: protection, primacy of the reality, nonwaiver, and the continuity of the
employment relationship.
In their opinion,the principle of protectionis the (one and only) reason for the existence of labour
law as it shields employees from the negative consequences of the individual freedom of contract.
Accordingly,they reject not only ‘‘economicism’’, butalso moderate positions thatclaim labour laws
should also take intoaccount other potentially conflicting interests. More specifically, Gamonal and
Rosado Marz´an wonder ‘‘if the law already provides a presumption favouring workers, why com-
plicate it with multiple other goals?’’ (p. 22).
At first, the authors stress the importance of the principle of primacy of reality in order to fill the
gaps in ambiguous and vague rules (standards). In particular, they contend that the preference of
facts over legal texts, documents and agreements is paramount in worker classification cases in
order to bypass the contractual window-dressing designed by the employers. The non-waiver refers
to the indispensability of labour rights by the employees who, according to the principle of
protection, should not be allowe d to contract out their statutory saf eguards. The principle of
continuity traces a link between the rules in matter of termination of the employment contract
and the exercise of worker rights.
The authors maintain that the lack of protection against dismissal (e.g. in the employment-at-
will doctrine) deters employees from claiming their rights and thus impairs their position vis-`a-vis
their employer. At the same time, they observe that precarious employment might be countered
Book reviews 345
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