On November 16, 2021, Prof. Sean Cooney, Global Chair of Peking University Law School, former Deputy Dean of Melbourne Law School gave an online academic lecture on "Digital Technologies and Work: Recent Developments". The lecture was hosted by Assistant Prof. Yan Tian of Peking University Law School. More than a hundred students participated offline through the classroom live broadcast equipment, while nearly a hundred teachers and students participated online through Tencent Meeting Platform, the response was enthusiastic.

Prof. Sean Cooney focused the first part of the lecture on the legal aspects of working from home. He pointed out that, although Australia's legal framework is good, some of the details are not provided for, which leads to difficulties in the application of the law. As for the Flexible Working Arrangement, if an employee requests a change of working arrangement because of some circumstances, the employer can only refuse the application because of a reasonable reason. Online work will face more social problems in the future: whether the majority of people working from home in the future will be women; how to deal with the large number of requests; whether to lose opportunities for offline consultation and cooperation; and whether to become socially segregated.

Prof. Sean Cooney focused the second part of the lecture on the legal aspects of the Vaccine Mandate. Overall, there have been unsuccessful cases in which non-vaccinated employees have complained of discrimination or unfair dismissal. The next thing to think about is, can an employer fire an employee when they are not vaccinated and work from home? That is a very difficult question.

In addition, Prof. Sean Cooney also answered some questions raised by Assistant Prof. Yan Tian of Peking University Law School and the students who attended the lecture.

In conclusion, Prof. Sean Cooney pointed out that our lives and policies have changed dramatically in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope you can look at what is happening in each country and discuss relevant current affairs, especially issues concerning labor, such as How should employees work under the impact of the pandemic? What can employers ask employees to do? How do you draw the line between home and work? What employment responsibilities do employers have, and so on. Australia has a good legal framework, but the details still need to be supplemented. We can't go back to the past, we can only think about how to solve problems in the future, and I'm sure that's a very interesting thing.

Introduction of the lecturer:

Prof. Sean Cooney is Global Chair of Peking University Law School, Professor and former Deputy Dean of Melbourne Law School. His research covers international law, comparative labor law and employment law with an emphasis on Asia. He has worked on new approaches to improving international labor standards. He has participated in projects on labor law reform in China, labor law enforcement in Australia and assessment of the impact of legal changes in the Asia-Pacific region. He has published numerous scholarly articles in US, Chinese and Australian law journals. He served as an expert in the Labor Law and Reform Unit of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva from 2014 to 2016, advising the Governments of China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Viet Nam, among others, and he still consults with the ILO. He has A Bachelor of Melbourne Law School, Ph.D. of Columbia University and used to be a lawyer in the field of labor law and administrative law.

Translated by: Pan Yu

Edited by: Zhu Yichun