Business Freedoms and Employment Rights in the European Union

Abstract In this article, I explore the substance and operation of Article 16 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which recognises ‘the freedom to conduct a business’, in order to determine the extent to which the constitutionalisation of commercial interests as fundamental rights could pose a threat to the Union’s worker-protectiveacquis. Having surveyed three important Directives which regulate employees’ rights in transfers of undertakings, collective redundancies, and the organisation of working time, I argue that future challenges based on Article 16 CFR are unlikely to succeed: even in situations where the Directives limit employers’ economic freedoms, such interference is justified and proportionate.