Plugging the Gaps? Pregnancy, 'Worker' Status, and EU Migrants' Social Rights since St Prix

There were two main strands to the paper's arguments, which was organised around the theme of 'Britain in Europe, Europe in Britain' and at the inter-face of Migration and Labour Law. First, that in a context of high unemployment, wage stagnation, and labour market deregulation agendas in which we are seeing major changes in many areas of employment – the proliferation of ‘zero hours contracts’ and failure to implement agency workers’ requirements properly being just some examples hitting EU workers disproportionately hard – Europe’s values and expectations are not being met as well as they might be. Second, the problems of transposition and implementation are not just confined to the UK and other ‘bad member' states – some of the difficulties are integral to EU Law itself, including deficits that originate in Dir 2004/38 itself. The consequent needs for Lacuna-filling, as highlighted in the Supreme Court case of St Prix v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2012] UKSC 49, arguably arise from a combination of deficits in EU Law and at Member State level. After examining the context in which cases like St Prix have arisen, consideration is given to the continuing barriers surrounding the acquisition and retention of 'residence' as a gateway to basic employment and social rights for EU nationals like Jessy St Prix when they work in Britain. Issues around the implementation of 'equal treatment' requirements in the Citizens Directive are explored.