Farrington and Poesen on the Applicable Law in Claims for Damage Arising Out of Unsafe Working Conditions

Francesca Farrington (University of Aberdeen) and Michiel Poesen (University of Aberdeen) have made available on SSRN the Research Project Papers No 2024.13-05 on Applicable Law in Claims for Damage Arising Out of Unsafe Working Conditions: The Case of Begum v Maran. This publication is part of an ongoing series of outputs from the LSGL-funded project Global Value Chains and Transnational Private Law, co-directed by Michael Nietsch (EBS Law School) and Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (Edinburgh Law School).

The abstract of the paper reads as follows:

This article explores the issue of applicable law in cross-border negligence claims for damage arising out of unsafe working conditions. While there are special rules relating to environmental damage, no such equivalent exists for damage arising out of unsafe working conditions. Yet, such cases represent a significant subset of business and human rights claims. Through an analysis of the case of Begum v Maran¸ this article explores how the application of the lex damni under Article 4(1) Rome II allows transnational corporations to opt into a potentially more lenient liability regime by offshoring or outsourcing corporate activity. In response, the article suggests that in negligence claims for damage arising out of unsafe working conditions, the claimant should have a choice between the lex damni and the lex delicti.