Not as simple as it seems: The ILO and the personal scope of international labour standards

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This article examines the personal scope of the international labour standards of the ILO. It argues that they do not set out a universal definition of the terms “employee” or “employment relationship”. Instead, when the standards use such terms, their scope should be determined on a case‐by‐case basis and by referring to the travaux préparatoires and the opinions of the ILO supervisory bodies. This article closely analyses both the application of ILO fundamental Conventions by the supervisory bodies and the most recent ILO debates concerning the personal scope of international labour standards.