Human rights as foundations for labour law

The aim of this chapter is to map out how different theories of human rights might be used as philosophical justifications for labour law. Although labour rights are included in many constitutions and international human rights documents there remains controversy over their status and philosophical justification as human rights. These ongoing doubts illustrate a normative gap that currently exists between the practice and philosophy of labour rights as human rights. This chapter provides an overview of contemporary theories of human rights, and uses these to explore the legitimacy of aligning labour rights and human rights as a matter of theory.