Reflections on the Intersection between Labour Law and Corporate Law

Academic scholars in Australia and internationally have been observing the intersection and potential merger of corporate law and labour law for some time. The fields have had varying degrees of impact on each other in the areas of corporate governance and labour management. How labour is managed also impacts on shareholder value. International and domestic scholarship has observed that the pursuit of shareholder primacy has been linked to diminished outcomes for labour. The paper will focus on the relevance to corporate law from a labour lawyer’s perspective. It will outline the Australian labour law system as principally governed by the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) and discuss the changing redefinition of labour law. It will then examine certain aspects of corporate governance that have an influence on labour law.