EU Principles of Workers’ Participation in the Management of Businesses and the Employee Shareholder in Britain: Rules, Interpretation and Lacunae of a New Subcategory of the Contract of Employment

A new subcategory of employee status - the recently coined 'employee shareholder' - is presently in force in Britain effective from 1st September 2013. This paper discusses and analyses the main rules applicable to the employee shareholder. From amongst this select body of regulations, emphasis is placed on the procedures and technicalities of the contract, specifically in relation to the contentious mechanism whereby the previous contract of employment is converted into the new contract of employee shareholder. Additionally, possible contradictions arising from the recently enacted legislation are identified and the tenor of the legal framework, in light of these discrepancies, reflected on at length. Against the backdrop of this doctrinal analysis, the purpose of this contribution ultimately cogitates upon how, ontologically, the new category of employee complies with the 'state of the art' EU legislation which requires Member States to implement forms of participation of the workers in the management and capital of a company. In this respect, the only rational conclusion to be drawn is that Britain appears to be, both politically and legislatively, much closer to America than to the shores of the Old Continent.