CLARS Seminar: Carolyn Sutherland and Amanda Selvarajah
Labour law dispute resolution systems in many Southeast Asian countries are based on Western models. Research on the practical application of these formal systems is primarily focused on the failure of the law ‘on the books’ to operate as intended. In this seminar, we widen our view to explore how disputants shape dispute outcomes by adopting informal practices (such as protests, social media campaigns and consumer boycotts) and by co-ordinating with politicians, civil society actors, and religious leaders to shift the economic and political forces underpinning disputes.
Our study illustrates the interaction of formal and informal mechanisms by focusing on two case studies of disputes arising from labour-hire arrangements in the Philippines. We sidestep questions about how the formal dispute resolution system should operate and instead explore how the participants in a dispute build legitimacy to support their cause. This allows us to explore the reality of dispute resolution practices without overlaying expectations about how participants should conduct themselves or assuming that these practices need to comply with formal rules to be effective.
Event Details
Resolving labour disputes in the Philippines: harnessing formal and informal mechanisms
When: Tuesday 26 May 2026
Time: 10:30am - 12pm AEST
Campus: Monash University Law Chambers
555 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
If you missed a recent event, the sessions are made available to watch on the CLARS Video Portal.
This Monash Law faculty seminar is presented in partnership with the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS).
Speakers
Carolyn Sutherland
Professor Carolyn Sutherland is a member of the Labour, Equality and Human Rights (LEAH) Research Group in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash Business School. She was previously the Head of the Department of Business Law and Taxation and the inaugural Director of LEAH. Carolyn's current research focuses on labour dispute resolution. She recently led an ARC Discovery project (2019-2025) which investigated the formal and informal regulation of labour disputes in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. This seminar presents some of the findings from that project.
Amanda Selvarajah
Dr Amanda Selvarajah is a socio-legal scholar at the Department of Business Law and Taxation and a member of the Labour Equality and Human Rights (LEAH) Research Group at Monash University. Her research uses doctrinal and empirical methods with a focus on issues of access to justice and gender equality, particularly in the fields of labour law and taxation in the Asia Pacific region.