Janice Bellace
- Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics
Contact Information
- Primary Email:
bellace@wharton.upenn.edu - Office Phone:
(215) 898-6820 - Office Phone:
215-898-6820
- office Address:
Jon M. Huntsman Hall - Suite 600
3730 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Research Interests: Business and human rights, international labor standards, labor clauses in free trade agreements,, corporate codes of conduct, freedom of association, international human rights, American and European labor and employment law
Links: CV, Personal Website
Overview
Janice Bellace was appointed to the faculty of the Wharton School as an assistant professor of legal studies in 1979. Currently, she is Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, and Professor of Management. Since January 2016, she has been the Director of the Tanoto Initiative by which the School, supported by a generous gift from the Tanoto Foundation, seeks through research and teaching to engage faculty and students in business and economic developments in Indonesia and ASEAN. Prior to this, for twelve years she was the Director of the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, Penn’s flagship undergraduate joint degrees program in which students pursue an integrated curriculum leading to the awarding of two degrees (the B.S. Econ from the Wharton School and the B.A. from Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences).
Janice’s research in in the area of labor and employment law and employment relations, with a focus on how international human rights concepts shape regulation and corporate behavior. During her career at Wharton, she has taught the introductory foundation course in business law, and courses in the area of labor and employment law, negotiations, labor relations, human resources management and international human rights.
Currently Janice is Judge and Vice President of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal. A specialist in international employment law, Janice was a member of the oldest UN supervisory body, the Committee of Experts at the International Labour Organization in Geneva from 1995 – 2010.
Janice has diverse interests in the international arena. In 1999, Janice took a leave of absence from Penn to become the founding president of Singapore Management University, from which she stepped down in 2001 and then served as a trustee. Currently, she serves on the international advisory board of universities in Italy and Turkey. Janice was awarded the Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2017.
Active in many professional organizations, Janice served as president of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association from 2009-2012, and as president of the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law from 2018-2021. She is a Fellow of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (of the United States), of which she was president 2016-2017.
For ten years she was co-general editor of the Comparative Labor Law Journal, and continues to serve on the editorial boards of several journals. She is a former Secretary of the Section on Labor and Employment Law of the American Bar Association.
Janice served as Wharton’s deputy dean, the School’s chief academic officer from 1994-1999. Prior to that, Janice headed Wharton’s number one ranked undergraduate school. More recently, Janice served as Deputy Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, overseeing the faculty, and all graduate and undergraduate programs. She also served as chair of the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics from 2008-2012.
Janice received her undergraduate degree and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. A recipient of a Thouron Award for British-American Exchange, she received her master’s from the London School of Economics. She was awarded a honorary Doctorate of Science in Economics by Sydney University in 2017.
Research
(2016), Back to the Future: Freedom of Association, the Right to Strike and National Law, King’s Law Journal (UK), 27(1), 24-45.
(2015), Pushback on the Right to Strike: The Thickening of Soft Law, in Research Handbook on Transnational Labour Law, Adelle Blackett and Anne Trebilcock, eds. (Elgar), 181-193.
(2014), American Unions and the Economy: The Unheard Voice of a Shrinking Sector, Singapore Economic Review, 59(4), 1-20.
(2014), Human Rights at Work: The Need for Definitional Coherence in the Global Governance System, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 30(2), 175-198.
(2014), Hoisted on Their Own Petard? Business and Human Rights, Journal of Industrial Relations (Australia),56(3), 443-458.
(2014), The ILO and the Right to Strike, International Labour Review, 153(1), 29-70.
Janice Bellace, “The 1998 ILO Declaration: Impacting Corporate Labor Behavior by Responding to Globalization”. In, edited by, (2022)
Abstract: In June 1998 the Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) unanimously[i] approved a Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This was recognized as a momentous occasion for it was only the second time in the ILO’s long history that a declaration had been proclaimed, with the first such being the famous 1944 Declaration of Philadelphia near the end of World War II which charted a human rights and economic justice course for the ILO. The 1998 Declaration did not announce new principles. Rather it shone a spotlight on the enduring values of the tripartite ILO and renewed the commitment of the 174 member states to upholding those principles. What was not perceived in June 1998, and what could not have been anticipated at that time, was that the exact articulation of the four fundamental principles would have an impact far outside the walls of the ILO such that twenty years later these principles would be accepted without question as the authoritative statement of workers’ human rights and thus would be inserted into free trade agreements, company codes of conduct, and the guidelines of other multilateral organizations. The US Mexico Canada trade agreement also uses these four principles and regarding dispute resolution procedures, innovates with a rapid response mechanism utilized to scrutinize the conduct of the respondent company. This has implications for companies overseeing global supply chains as it should result in changes with regard to their labor practices.
Janice Bellace, The Right to Strike in International Law (Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2020)
Abstract: The Right to Strike in International Law is the only complete and exhaustive analysis on this subject. Based on deep legal research, it finds that there is simply no credible basis for the claim that the right to strike does not enjoy the protection of international law. The authors demonstrate through an exhaustive analysis that it has attained the status of customary international law. Authors: Jeffrey Vogt, Janice Bellace, KD Ewing, Lord Hendy, Klaus Lorcher, Tonia Novitz
Janice Bellace (Ed.), Labour, Business and Human Rights Law (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019)
Abstract: This book, with Janice Bellace and Beryl ter Haar as editors, traces the evolution of efforts to regulate the behavior of companies, from soft law to hard law. In 24 chapters it examines how notions of fundamental rights, often expressed in national constitutions, have evolved into acceptance that business should respect human rights, including the human rights of persons at work, and how this has affected the CSR stance of companies. It also surveys the role of the ILO, particularly since 1998 when the ILO adopted its Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and proclaimed openly for the first time that the ILO dealt with human rights, and considers the impact of the 2011 UN Human Rights Council's acknowledgment that fundamental labor rights are human rights.
Janice Bellace (2018), The Changing Face of Capital: the Withering of the Employment Relationship in the Employment Age, , Game changers in labour law : shaping the future of work (100), pp. 11-25.
Janice Bellace (2018), ILO Convention No. 87 and the Right to Strike in an Era of Global Trade, Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal, 39 (3), pp. 101-137.
Janice Bellace (2011), Achieving Social Justice: the Nexus between the ILO’s Fundamental Rights and Decent Work, Employee Rights and Responsibilities Journal, 15:1 pp. 101-124.
Janice Bellace (2010), Commentary: Innovation and Tradition in Industrial Relations, Journal of Industrial Relations (Australia), 52:5, pp. 631-638.
Janice Bellace (2010), Imaging the Future: The Information Age Workforce, Japanese Journal of Labour Studies.
Janice Bellace (2002), The Future of Employee Representation in American Labor Law, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law, (Fall 2002).
Janice Bellace (2001), The ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 17.3 (Autumn 2001).
Teaching
LGST 224, International Human Rights Law and Globalization, spring 2016
LGST 899, Sustainable Development in ASEAN (Global Modular Course), May 2016
All Courses
LGST2240 - Human Rts&Globalization
The 2000 UN Global Compact has confirmed the role of TNCs as central actors in the UN system of international human rights law, but whether their role should be voluntary or legally mandated remains in dispute. This course introduces students to how globalization has led to projects for expanding international human rights law to capture the operations of TNCs and why this development is opposed in many quarters. Competing perspectives on the pros and cons of imposing human rights responsibilities on TNCs and on the respective roles that businesses and governments should play will be examined. The Positions of various governments, businesses, international institutions, academics, and NGOs will be considered, and a number of illustrative case studies will be analyzed.
LGST5240 - Human Rts&Globalization
The 2000 UN GLobal Compact has confirmed the role of TNCs as central actors in the UN system of international human rights law, but whether their role should be voluntary or legally mandated remains in dispute. This course introduces students to how globaliztion has led to projects for expanding international human rights law to capture the operations of TNCs and why this development is opposed in many quarters. Competing perspectives on the pros and cons of imposing human rights responsibilities on TNCs and on the respective roles that businesses and governments should play will be examined. The positions of various governments, businesses, international institutions, academics, and NGOs will be considered, and a number of illustrative case studies will be analyzed.
OIDD8970 - Global Modular Course
Global Modular Course (GMC) - MBA
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- Could Iceland’s Equal Pay Law Work in the U.S.?, Knowledge at Wharton - 1/11/2018
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Activity
Latest Research
In the News
Is Workplace Loyalty Gone for Good?The modern workplace has become increasingly transactional, a marked transformation from the post-war era when employees stayed put until they retired with a party, a gold watch, and a nice pension. …Read More
Knowledge at Wharton - 5/31/2022Wharton Magazine
How Can Firms Prevent Sexual Harassment?While the #MeToo movement has sparked a cultural awakening, addressing the problem of abusive behavior in the workplace is still a complex challenge.
Wharton Magazine - 04/10/2018