Protecting Workers’ Equal Rights during Crisis and Recovery

Abstract

Abstract This chapter analyses the scope, potential, and early impacts of constitutional protections for equal rights, social protection, and minimum labour standards in safeguarding workers’ health and livelihoods during Covid-19. Across countries, both the pandemic itself and many policies enacted in response (eg economic shutdowns) disproportionately affected marginalized workers due to underlying disparities in terms and conditions of work, social protection coverage, and living conditions. While the right to health has clear relevance during a pandemic, protections for equality and fundamental economic rights also matter to workers’ overall well-being, particularly when policy responses focus narrowly on preventing disease spread through closures without adequately addressing social determinants of health like workplace safety and income. This chapter: (1) draws on a unique global dataset to analyse the extent to which constitutions protect equal rights, decent work, and social insurance in 193 countries; (2) reviews early examples of how these constitutional protections provided tools to support both health and economic needs and uphold foundational equality amidst a crisis; and (3) identifies gaps likely to leave workers vulnerable if unaddressed. It finds that explicit constitutional protections for almost all aspects of equal rights, decent work, and social insurance have become more common over time; moreover, courts from wide-ranging countries have cited these protections in decisions addressing workers’ rights and households’ material needs amidst Covid-19. Nevertheless, most countries lack constitutional provisions specifically addressing safe working conditions or income protection during illness and unemployment—areas that matter to equality both during pandemics and more typical years.