DFG Research Project on the Topic: "The right to adequate remuneration for solo-entrepreneurs”

In April 2022, the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG” (German Research Foundation) approved funding for a German-Austrian research project in the D-A-CH Lead Agency Process on the topic “The right to adequate remuneration for solo-entrepreneurs”. The project leaders are Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Monika Schlachter and Dr. Thomas Klein (both working at the IAAEU), in cooperation with Dr. Karin Lukas from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights in Vienna.

The project aims to take a closer look at the situation of the solo-entrepreneurs, who, due to their weak negotiating position, are unable to negotiate appropriate terms of contract with their contractual partners in order to protect themselves from labour exploitation and to achieve an adequate standard of living. For this purpose, international and European human rights law standards, in relation to the rights of solo-entrepreneurs and their implementation in Austrian and German law, will be analysed, and possible tensions between international obligations and EU Law will be highlighted. The project focuses on four objectives:

1. Identifying the international and European human rights obligations of states to protect the solo-entrepreneurs and possible approaches to prevent their exploitation
2. Analyzing the implementation of international human rights obligations to protect the solo-entrepreneurs at national level in Austria and Germany
3. Assessing the implementation of international human rights obligations in line with EU Law
4. Developing targeted legal recommendations to improve the situation of solo-entrepreneurs in accordance with international human rights and EU law

The project is scheduled to last two years and is expected to start in March 2023.

The IAAEU Secures a Third-Party Funded Project from the DFG

The Directors of the IAAEU, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Monika Schlachter and Prof. Dr. Laszlo Goerke, together with Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf were able to secure a third-party funded project from the German Research Foundation (DFG) (DFG) in August 2017. The project deals with crowdsourcing as a new form of labour organisation and studies specifically the regulatory requirements and welfare effects of crowdsourcing. The research project is scheduled to run for 3 years with a funding of €460,000. These resources will be used primarily to fund three research positions with the duties of investigating economic and legal aspects of crowdfunding. The economic portion of the research project will be lead in large by Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf, who, beginning on the 1st of October 2017, will be assuming a professorship at the University of Bremen.

ANR-DFG-Project - The causes and consequences of spatial differences in labour market outcomes across cities in France and Germany

Together with researchers from the Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim (ZEW), from the University of Münster and the Aix-Marseille School of Economics, Dr. Marco de Pinto (IAAEU & Trier University) was able to obtain third-party funding for the above named project. This project explores the causes and effects of the disparities between local labour markets in France and in Germany. On the one hand, the project will investigate why there are significant regional differences respective wage, firm productivity, labour or even cost of living. On the other hand, the reallocation of labour within specific regions will also be analysed, specifically as it is increasingly influenced by international integration. The findings have the potential to show which economic policy reactions will be of greatest benefit for the sometimes considerably different local labour markets. The analysis will take place within a theoretically founded empirical research framework based on French and German administrative microdata (DADs and LIAB). The research project is funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche). Funding of up to 300,000€ over 36 months has been allocated for this project.

Reorganisation of the Workplace, Demographic Change and Health

The workplace is in the grips of a profound shift which is changing the demands on workers concerning their flexibility, mobility and resilience. Through the implementation of information and communication technologies, the organisational procedures and job allocation of many businesses are being restructured. The consequences of shifting technological, organisational and personnel political circumstances for employees has been the subject of comparatively little research. Within the framework of a cooperative research project betweenn Prof. Dr. Conny Antoni, Prof. Dr. Laszlo Goerke, Prof. Dr. Uwe Jirjahn and Prof. Dr. Normann Lorenz, the effects of a changing workplace on the health of employees will be analysed. Trier University is promoting this research project as part of the Research Initiative of the Rhineland-Palatinate in 2016. The grant is for 30,000€ over the course of one year (2016).

Third-party Funded Project: Practical Experiences with the Exemption Provisions in § 2a through § 2c of the Asset Investment Law (Vermögensanlagengesetz), which were introduced on the 3rd of July 2015 through the Retail Investor Protection Law (Kleinanlegerschutzgesetz)

Together with Dr. Christa Hainz (ifo Institute) and Prof. Dr. Lars Klöhn (HU Berlin), Jun.-Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf (IAAEU and University of Trier) will examine the ramifications of the Retail Investor Protection Law, which was passed in July 2015. The goal of the Federal Ministry of Finance funded project is to conduct an empirical study using quistionnaires, structured expert interviews as well as internal and external databanks. In order to support the founders of start-ups with financing their business ideas, the law makers developed provisions to exempt start-ups from generally applicable disclosure requirements. On the one hand, this is meant to reduce the cost intensive burden on start-ups but should, on the other hand, protect the rights of the investors to be adequately informed over the investment risks. Although the project will not be completed until October of 2016, a number of papers on the topic have already been published. Armin Schwienbacher and Lars Hornuf reported on the topic "Should Securities Regulation Promote Equity Crowdfunding?" in the journal Small Business Economics. Furthermore, Lars Klöhn, Lars Hornuf und Tobias Schilling analyzed the contents, development and practical importance of crowd-investing contracts in the Zeitschrift für Bankrecht und Bankwirtschaft. Furthermore, Lars Hornuf und Matthias Schmitt published a report on crowd-investment failures (2016) in the CESifo DICE Report vor.

FinTech - Empirical market conditions in Germany

Together with Prof. Dr. Gregor Dorfleitner (Regensberg University), Jun. Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf (IAAEU and Economics, Trier University) acquired an externally funded project which is entitled "FinTech – Markt in Deutschland." The client for this project is the Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany. The project will start in January 2016 and will be completed by summer 2016. The aim of this research project is to define the term "FinTech" under consideration of the empirical market conditions in Germany and the international research literature. Furthermore, the project will try to identity the relevant Fintech institutions in Germany including their activities. Building on the entirety of that which will be defined, the research team will ascertain and analyze the market sizes and volumes. A special focus is placed on Crowdfunding, Crowdinvesting, Crowdlending, Robo Advice, Personal Financial Management and Social Trading. Finally the team will identify technological residues and barriers that hinder the development of the market. Finally, a market forecast for the next 5, 10 and 20 years will be created.

Forschungsstelle Mitbestimmungsrecht

The project is funded by the Hans Böckler Stiftung, Mitbestimmungs-, Forschung- und Studienförderungswerk des Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes, Düsseldorf.

DFG Research Project on the Topic: "The right to adequate remuneration for solo-entrepreneurs”

In April 2022, the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG” (German Research Foundation) approved funding for a German-Austrian research project in the D-A-CH Lead Agency Process on the topic “The right to adequate remuneration for solo-entrepreneurs”. The project leaders are Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Monika Schlachter and Dr. Thomas Klein (both working at the IAAEU), in cooperation with Dr. Karin Lukas from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights in Vienna. The project aims to take a closer look at the situation of the solo-entrepreneurs, who, due to their weak negotiating position, are unable to negotiate appropriate terms of contract with their contractual partners in order to protect themselves from labour exploitation and to achieve an adequate standard of living. For this purpose, international and European human rights law standards, in relation to the rights of solo-entrepreneurs and their implementation in Austrian and German law, will be analysed, and possible tensions between international obligations and EU Law will be highlighted. The project focuses on four objectives:

1. Identifying the international and European human rights obligations of states to protect the solo-entrepreneurs and possible approaches to prevent their exploitation
2. Analyzing the implementation of international human rights obligations to protect the solo-entrepreneurs at national level in Austria and Germany
3. Assessing the implementation of international human rights obligations in line with EU Law
4. Developing targeted legal recommendations to improve the situation of solo-entrepreneurs in accordance with international human rights and EU law

The project is scheduled to last two years and is expected to start in March 2023.

Project by the “Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung“ (Foundation for the Promotion of Science): Whistleblowing in Labour Law - The Whistleblower Protection Directive of the European Union, Need for Implementation in German Law under Consideration of Data Protection Aspects and Protection of Trade Secrets

The director of the legal working group of the IAAEU, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Monika Schlachter, received approval for a third-party funded project by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for the promotion of science in June 2020. The project deals with the protection of whistleblowers from the perspective of labour law, especially with the requirements of implementing the European directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law (Whistleblower Protection Directive). A particular focus is on the implications of data and trade secret protection. The project has a duration of 2 years and the funding amount is € 40,000. These funds will mainly be used to finance the position of a research assistant, who will particularly investigate the need for implementation in German law.

The IAAEU Secures a Third-Party Project: Crowdsourcing as a New Form of Labour Organisation

The directors of the IAAEU, Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Monika Schlachter and Prof. Dr. Laszlo Goerke, as well as Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf, were able to secure a third-party funded project from the "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" (German Research Foundation, DFG) in August 2017. The project deals with crowdsourcing as a new form of labour organisation and specifically focuses on the regulatory requirements and welfare effects of crowdsourcing. The research project is scheduled to run for 3 years and the funding amounts to approximately €460,000. These funds will be used primarily to finance three research associates who will examine the economic and legal aspects of crowdsourcing. The economic part of the research project is mainly supervised by Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf, who switched to a professorship at the University of Bremen on October 1st, 2017.

European Database Projects

Since 1997, the legal team of the IAAEU has been compiling a list of references from journal articles and judicial decisions on European labour law. This collection served as an important information system for comparative legal research.

Working Beyond the Legal Retirement Age

The funding for the research project was approved in 2014 by the "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" (German Research Foundation, DFG) for a period of 24 months. It dealt with the question of whether and how the rigid legal retirement age in German law could be replaced by flexible regulations in order to enable employment even after retirement age and thus be able to take better account of the requirements of demographic change. Here, the legal framework conditions in working time legislation, right of termination, right of limitation and right of discrimination were examined and analysed on the basis of national legal systems, following the example of the success Nordic countries had with this method. The results were presented in several publications and lectures. The project was supported by the "Elder Law" working group at Lund University and by Prof. Niklas Bruun, University of Helsinki.

Publications:

• M. Schlachter: Reasonable Accommodation for Continued Employment of Older Workers, in: Festskift till Ann Numhauser-Henning, Juristförlaget i Lund 2017, 737-749.
• M. Schlachter/A. Vaitkeviciute: Working Beyond The Legal Retirement Age: The Legal Situation in Finland, in: EuZA 2015, 283-30.

Labour Disputes in Public Services

The comparative legal research project was funded by the "German Israeli Foundation" and carried out in cooperation with the collaborator Prof. Mordehai Mironi from the University of Haifa. Due to international participation, it presented various possibilities of how a balance between the interests of the companies, those of the "general public" and the labour disputes of the employees could be implemented in practice. On the basis of international safeguards of labour disputes as a human right (ILO, UN, Council of Europe), the current conflicts in various countries were presented, a distinction concerning the companies of "public services" was made in all participating countries and the possibilities how to limit strikes were classified. The final goal was to prepare information on the actual use of limitations on labour disputes and the legal framework upon which those limitations are built and to do this in such a way that the governments who wish to discuss new avenues of regulation have access to the comparative research upon which they can base those discussions.

The results of the research project were published in the following monograph:

• M. Mironi/ M. Schlachter: Regulating Strikes in Essential Services - A Comparative "Law in Action" Perspective, Wolters Kluwer 2018.