Rights and principles: the contribution of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to social policy - is the right to paid leave a general principle of Union law that can be invoked against a private employer?

Authors

  • Fátima Pacheco ISCAP

Keywords:

European Union; fundamental social rights; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; horizontal invocability of the Directives.

Abstract

This paper intends to leave a small note about the changing times that the CJEU is trying to print: has the time come for fundamental social rights, to leave the world of shadows? Did the Luxembourg court understand that if the Directives that implement them do not have a direct horizontal effect, the effectiveness of those rights may be compromised in the context of the disputes that the internal courts are called upon to settle? While it is true that without the effectiveness of these rights, it is not possible to build a true common code for Europeans, this brief statement aims to respond to this concern, which is to discover whether social rights can finally enjoy an equal status vis-à-vis other fundamental rights. To this end, there will be a short journey through the most impactful jurisprudence of the CJEU in the social domain.

References

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BEREIJO, Álvaro Rodriguez, «La Carta de Derechos Fundamentales de la Unión Europea y la protección de los derechos humanos», in Unión Europea y derechos fundamentales en perspetiva constitucional, coordenação Natividad Fernández Sola, 2004, pp. 11-36.

DWORKIN, apud QUEIROZ, Cristina - Direitos Fundamentais – Teoria Geral, Coimbra: Coimbra Editora, 2002, p. 131.

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MARTINS, Ana Maria Guerra - «Les valeurs communes et la place de la Charte en Europe», in Estudos de Direito Público – Direito da União Europeia, Direito Internacional Público, Direito Constitucional, 2003, Vol. I, pp. 63-95, Coimbra: Livraria Almedina

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Published

2020-12-28

How to Cite

Pacheco, F. (2020). Rights and principles: the contribution of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to social policy - is the right to paid leave a general principle of Union law that can be invoked against a private employer? . Revista Jurídica Portucalense, (28), 145–155. Retrieved from https://revistas.rcaap.pt/juridica/article/view/21245