Staff profile

Deirdre McCann is a Professor at Durham Law School. Her research is in the field of labour law and policy at the domestic and international levels. It has a particular focus on the influence of flexibility discourses on labour market regulation, precarious work, the measurement and comparison of labour law regimes and the influence of state norms in low-income settings. Her publications include Regulating Flexible Work (Oxford University Press 2008).

A former official of the International Labour Office in Geneva, Professor McCann has substantial experience in advising international policy actors, governments, and civil society organisations on labour law and policy. In recent years she has acted as an independent expert to the European Commission on the revision of the EU Working Time Directive and International Labour Organization on the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No 189).

Professor McCann is a founder and Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee of the international research Network on Regulating for DecentWork [http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/rdw], a global interdisciplinary network of researchers and policy-makers that promotes innovative approaches to labour market regulation. She is on the editorial Board of the Industrial Law Journal and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Labour Law Research Network[http://www.ilo.org/public/english/iira/study/labourmarket.htm].

Professor McCann supervises PhD students in the fields of domestic, international and comparative labour law and policy, including in the areas of discrimination and human rights. She welcomes expressions of interest from prospective PhD and MJur students.

 

Research Interests

• Labour Law (UK, EU, international)
• Non-standard work
• Working conditions
• Measurement of labour regulation
• Legal regulation in low-income settings

 

Research Projects

Decent Work for Domestic Workers

Model Law on Working Time in Domestic Work

 

Selected Publications

Books: authored

Regulating Flexible Work 2008 Oxford University Press

Books: edited

Regulating for Decent Work: New Directions in Labour Market Regulation 2011 Palgrave/International Labour Organization (with Sangheon Lee)

Journal papers: academic

New Frontiers of Regulation: Domestic Work, Working Conditions and the Holistic Assessment of Non-Standard Work Norms 2012 Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal

Edited works: contributions

Decent Working Hours as a Human Right: Intersections in the Regulation of Working Time 2010. In Colin Fenwick & Tonia Novitz (eds.) Legal Protection of Workers' Human Rights: Regulatory Changes and Challenges Hart

Measuring Labour Market Institutions: Conceptual and Methodological Questions on ‘Working Hours Rigidity’ 2008. In Janine Berg & David Kucera, (eds.) In Defence of Labour Market Institutions: Cultivating Justice in the Developing World Palgrave/ILO (with Sangheon Lee)

Working Time Capability: Towards Realizing Individual Choice 2006. In Jean-Yves Boulin, Michel Lallement, Jon C. Messenger & François Michon Decent Working Time: New Trends, New Issues ILO (with Sangheon Lee)

Official reports

The Legal Regulation of Working Time in Domestic Work 2010 International Labour Organization (with Jillian Murray)

• Labour Law (UK, EU, International)
• Non-Standard Work
• Working Conditions
• Measurement of labour regulation
• Legal regulation in low-income settings

• Durham European Law Institute
• Human Rights Centre
• Institute of Commercial and Corporate Law

• 2017: RF160078: Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work: Global Dialogue/Local Innovation, ESRC, £113,085.45, 2017-01-02 - 2018-01-01
• 2015: Creative Uncertainty?: Labour Market Regulation in a World of Doubt(£34842.00 from The Leverhulme Trust)

Authored book

• McCann, D. (2008). Regulating Flexible Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lee, Sangheon, McCann, Deirdre & Messenger, John (2007). Working Time Around the World: Trends in Working Huors, Laws and Policies in a Global Comparative Perspective. Routledge/ILO.

Book review

• McCann, Deirdre (Published). Book Review of Judy Fudge and Rosemary Owens, Precarious Work, Women, and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms. International Labour Review 145: 214-245.

Chapter in book

• McCann, Deirdre (2019). Informalisation in International Labour Regulation Policy: Profiles of an Unravelling. In Re-imagining Labour Law for Development. Ashiagbor, Diamond Oxford: Hart Publishing. 77-98.
• McCann, Deirdre (2015). Labour Law on the Plateau: Towards Regulatory Policy for Endogenous Norms. In The Autonomy of Labour Law. Bogg, Alan, Costello, Cathryn, Davies, Anne C.L. & Prassl, Jeremias Oxford: Hart. 397-421.
• Lee, Sangheon & McCann, Deirdre (2014). Regulatory Indeterminacy and Protection in Contemporary Labour Markets: Innovation in Research and Policy. In Creative Labour Regulation: Indeterminacy and Protection in an Uncertain World. McCann, Deirdre, Lee, Sangheon, Belser, Patrick, Fenwick, Colin, Howe, John & Luebker, Malte Palgrave/ILO. 3-32.
• McCann, D. (2010). Decent working hours as a human right: intersections in the regulation of working time. In Human Rights at Work: Perspectives on Law and Regulation. Fenwick, C. & Novitz, T. Oxford & Portland Oregon: Hart. 509-528.
• Lee, S. & McCann, D. (2008). Measuring Labour Market Institutions: Conceptual and Methodical Questions on "Working Hours Rigidity". In In defence of Labour Market Institutions: Cultivating Justice in the Developing World. Berg, J. & Kucera, D. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 32-63.
• McCann, Deirdre (2007). Regulating Working Conditions in East Asia and the Pacific. In Globalization, Flexibilization and Working Conditions in Asia and the Pacific. Eyraud, Francois & Lee, Sangheon Chandos. 81-112.
• Lee, Sangheon & McCann, Deirdre (2006). Working Time Capability: Towards Realizing Individual Choice. In Decent Working Time: New Trends, New Issues. Bouline, Jean-Yves, Lallement, Michael, Messenger, J.C. & Michon, Francois ILO. 65-91.
• McCann, Deirdre (2004). Regulating Working Time Needs and Preferences. In Working Time and Workers’ Preferences in Industrialized Countries. Messenger, Jon C. Routledge. 10-28.

Edited book

• McCann, Deirdre, Belser, Patrick, Fenwick, Colin, Howe, John, Lee, Sangheon & Luebker, Malte (2014). Creative Labour Regulation: Indeterminacy and Protection in an Uncertain World. Palgrave Macmillan/International Labour Organization.
• Lee, S. & McCann, D. (2011). The Impact of Labour Regulations: Measuring the Effectiveness of Legal Norms in a Developing Country. Regulating for Decent Work: New Directions in Labour Market Regulation. Palgrave Macmillan / International Labour Organization.
• Lee, Sangheon & McCann, Deirdre (2011). Regulating for Decent Work: New Directions in Labour Market Regulation. Palgrave/ILO.

Journal Article

• McCann, Deirdre & Cruz-Santiago, Arely (2022). Labour/Data Justice: A New Framework For Labour/Regulatory Datafication. Journal of Law and Society 49(4): 658-680.
• McCann, Deirdre & Fudge, Judy (2019). A Strategic Approach to Regulating Unacceptable Forms of Work. Journal of Law and Society 46(2): 271-301.
• McCann, Deirdre & Fudge, Judy (2017). Unacceptable Forms of Work: A Multidimensional Model. International Labour Review 156(2): 147-184.
• McCann, Deirdre (2016). Travel time as working time: Tyco, the unitary model and the route to casualization. Industrial Law Journal 45(2): 244-250.
• McCann, Deirdre (2014). Equality Through Precarious Work Regulation: Lessons from the Domestic Work Debates in Defence of the Standard Employment Relationship. International Journal of Law in Context 10(4): 507-521.
• McCann, D. & Murray, J. (2014). Prompting Formalisation Through Labour Market Regulation: A ‘Framed Flexibility’ Model for Domestic Work. Industrial Law Journal 43(3): 319-348.
• McCann, D. (2012). New Frontiers of Regulation: domestic work, working conditions and the holistic assessment of non-standard work norms. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal 34(1): 167-192.
• Lee, Sangheon, McCann, Deirdre & Torm, Nina (2008). The World Bank's Employing Workers' Index: Findings and Critiques - A Review of Recent Evidence. International Labour Review 147(4): 416-432.
• McCann, Deirdre (2007). Temporal Autonomy and the Protective Individualization of Working Time Law: The Case of Overtime Work. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work 17(3): 29.
• McCann, Deirdre (2005). The Role of Work/Family Discourse in Strengthening Traditional Working Time Laws: Some Lessons from the On-Call Work Debate. Law in Context 23(1): 127-147.
• Gallant, Michelle & McCann, Deirdre (2003). Review Essay on Lorna Turnbull, Double Jeopardy: Motherwork and the Law. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law / Revue Femmes et Droit 17(1).

Other (Print)

• McCann, Deirdre (2022). Submission to the UK Low Pay Commission Consultation 2021.
• McCann, Deirdre (2022). Submission to the World Bank Group Consultation for the Business Enabling Environment Project.
• McCann, Deirdre (2021). Submission to the UK Government Consultation on Measures to Extend the Ban on Exclusivity Clauses in Contracts of Employment.
• McCann, Deirdre (2021). Submission to the Low Pay Commission Consultation 2021.

Report

• Fudge, Judy & McCann, Deirdre (2015). Unacceptable Forms of Work A global and comparative study. Geneva, International Labour Organization.
• McCann, Deirdre & Murray, Jill (2010). The Legal Regulation of Working Time in Domestic Work. Geneva, International Labour Organization.
• Najati Ghosheh Jr., Sangheon Lee & Deirdre McCann (2006). Conditions of Work and Employment for Older Workers in Industrialized Countries: Understanding the Issues. Geneva, International Labour Organization.
• McCann, Deirdre (2005). Sexual Harassment at Work: National and International Responses. Geneva, International Labour Organization.