Certainty, rules and standards in the employment contract

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to investigate the scope and possible shortcomings of the academic discussion on certainty about employment contracts. The method used involves reviewing the scholarly debate on certainty, rules and standards in comparative law. Certainty is one of the main regulatory challenges of law. If the law recognizes the autonomy and moral agency of citizens, laws must be written in clear language so that people can adjust their behavior to the norm. This requirement for certainty is one of the triumphs of modernity and the Enlightenment. However, the requirement for certainty must address more complicated issues, such as the choice between rules or standards or power asymmetries between the parties, as in the employment contract. The main result of this work highlights the shortcomings of the academic discussion on certainty in power relations between private parties, particularly at the crossroads of certainty in employment contracts. Rather than determining the necessary level of certainty, the question becomes: certainty for whom?