Les ambivalences du droit du travail de nuit et du dimanche

Abstract

The Labour legislation is often regarded as ”protective” of the employees’ interests. Against this hegemonic view of labour law, some critical legal scholars have pointed out its ambivalence: while limiting the employers’ use of their workforce , the labour code makes exploitation legal and legitimate. This essay advocates that this ambivalence is essential for understanding the history of labour law. Through the study of changes to legal rest standards at night and on Sundays, it demonstrates that the numerous exemptions are constitutive of the rules of law on this issue. In that respect, these exceptions are witnessing this ambivalence, even if their growth since the 1980s also challenges the general rule.

Keywords

• Labor Code
• law
• exemption
• Sunday work
• night work