Employment law: IALS Library Guides

Guide last updated by Balqees Khan, September 2025.

This guide aims to give a brief introduction to the Library's holdings on Employment Law. Please consult Library Search for complete information on current titles and locations. If you require further assistance please contact us.

Monday-Friday 9:30-17:00
Tel (0)20 7862 5790
Email ials@sas.ac.uk

This Subject Guide only lists a selection of Library resources on Employment Law. To find additional resources you will need to search Library Search, which covers the complete holdings of the Library. It is possible to search for books, journals and series of law reports by author, title or keyword.

IALS Library is mainly open access and readers are able to browse the shelves in the main collection. There are two main exceptions to this:

• Older items (marked RES or Depository on the catalogue record) are kept in the closed basement.
• Key texts for LLM students are often kept in the Short Loan collection.

Please request these at the Library Enquiry Desk on the 2nd Floor.

For more information on understanding the catalogue record and further guidance on the location of materials please refer to our guide Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.

The Library classifies textbooks either by jurisdiction (GO13, GA2 etc.) or according to subject area, examples of which include Comparative Law (SB), Public International Law (SG) and Private International Law/ Conflict of Laws (SH).  All classmark sections have a FOL section for oversize volumes, which is located on the same floor of the Library.

When you are searching on Library Search for books, please note that only the current edition is held on the open shelves or in the Short Loan collection. IALS has a rich collection of previous editions held in the closed basement and these will display a Depository number on the catalogue. Please request previous editions from the Enquiries Desk on the 2nd floor.

Employment law material for Common Law countries is shelved at SJ250
EU Employment law material is shelved at GO1.A1.C.5
Comparative labour law material is shelved at SB60

The following list represents a selection of textbooks on employment law. Please follow the links to Library Search for further information and location. Titles are available in both print and electronic formats, unless indicated otherwise on the list below.

Adams, Z., et al.  Deakin and Morris' labour law.  7th ed. 2021 (print only)

Adams, Z.  The legal concept of work.  1st ed. 2022 OUP (online only)

Allen, R.  Employment law and human rights.  3rd ed. 2018 OUP (print only)

Barnard, C.  EU employment law.  4th ed. 2012 OUP (print only)

Blackstone’s Statutes on Employment law.  (ed. Kidner, R.) 32nd ed. 2023 OUP (print only)

Blanpain, R., et al.  Comparative labour law and industrial relations in industrialized market economies.  10th ed. 2010 Kluwer Law International (print only)

Butterworths employment law handbook.  (eds. Reade, D., et al) 31st ed. 2023 LexisNexis (print only)

Collins, H., et al.  Labour law.  2nd ed. 2019 CUP (print only)

Collins, H., et al.  Labour law: text and materials.  2nd ed. 2005 Hart (print only)

Collins, H., et al (eds).  Philosophical foundations of labour law.  1st ed. 2018 OUP

De Vos, M., et al.  The Cambridge handbook of technological disruption in labour and employment law.  1st ed. 2024 CUP (online only)

Emir, A.  Selwyn's law of employment.  22nd ed. 2022 OUP (print only)

Hardy, S.  European employment laws: a comparative guide.  3rd ed. 2016 Spirasmus Press (print only)

Marshall, S.  Living wage: regulatory solutions to informal and precarious work in global supply chains.  1st ed. 2019 OUP (online only)

Pitt, G., & Drew, S.  Pitt's employment law.  13th ed. 2024 Sweet & Maxwell (print only)

Smith, I., et al.  Smith & Wood’s employment law.  16th ed. 2023 OUP (print only)

Todoli-Signes, A.  Labour law and economic policy: How employment rights improve the economy.  1st ed. 2024 Hart (online only)

Vogt, J., et al.  The right to strike in international law.  1st ed. 2020 Hart (online only)

IALS Library holds a wide selection of current serial titles on employment law from many different jurisdictions. These are located on all floors of the Library. Titles are available in both print and electronic formats, unless indicated otherwise on the list below. For more detailed help, please refer to the guide on Finding journal articles. The following titles focus particularly on employment law but there may be relevant articles in less specialised journals.

ABA Journal of labor and employment law (USA) (previously Labor Lawyer)

Comparative labor law & policy journal (USA)

Employment law bulletin (UK) (online only)

Entscheidungen des Bundesarbeitsgerichts (GER) (print only)

Hofstra labor and employment law journal (USA) (online only) 

Industrial and labor relations review (USA)

Industrial law journal (UK)

Industrial law journal including the industrial law reports (SA)

International journal of comparative labour law and industrial relations (print only)

If you are interested in legislation or cases concerning employment law issues in specific countries you will need to consult the legislation or law reports for that jurisdiction.

Consult Library Search to find the general classmark for the country you require. Consult consolidations of legislation, digests or indexes to trace particular acts or cases.

Academic users may also use databases like Lexis/Westlaw to find UK, US, EU or international decisions. For further information please refer to Law Databases or ask at the Library Enquiry Desk.

You may also find it useful to refer to our guides on finding Legislation and Cases or check to see if we have a Jurisdiction Research Guide for the country you are interested in.

Eagle-i is an internet portal maintained and updated by IALS library staff. It allows you to search for quality web resources on employment law.

A valuable free source is BAILII, the British and Irish Legal information Institute which is based and maintained at IALS. It provides free access to full text UK judgments and legislation on a wide range of subjects including employment law and also links to other free World Law databases. Jurisdictions covered in these resources include Commonwealth countries eg. AustLII  (Australia) and CanLII (Canada), France, Germany, Italy, the USA and South Africa.

The following represent a sample of the available quality individual web resources on employment law.

ACAS – Independent UK body to resolve industrial disputes. Includes access to full text policy discussion papers.

Bundesarbeitsgericht (Federal Labour Court in Germany). Background information about the work of the court is available in English  and also in a simpler version of German (Leichtsprache).

International Labour Organization (ILO). Includes access to full text working papers.

NATLEX – database on national labour, social security and related human rights in different jurisdictions run by the ILO.

Researching international labour law  by Erica Friesen & Brianna Storms (GlobaLex guide) Jan/Feb 2023.