Staff profile

Natalie joined Durham Law School as Assistant Professor in Employment Law in September 2022 and was promoted to Associate Professor in July 2026. 

In the academic year 2026-27 Natalie is teaching on International Protection of Human Rights on the LLM, for which she is module lead, and on Employment and Tort Law on the LLB. She is also the PGR Development Coordinator for Durham Law School. 

Natalie welcomes inquiries for PhD / MJur supervision from prospective students in her areas of research interest.

Natalie’s research focuses on human rights and labour law, with a particular interest in domestic workers and other marginalised workers, and in issues of gender and migration. Her book, ‘Human Rights and the Protection of Domestic Workers in Labour and Migration Law’ is published by OUP in 2026. It explores legal protections for domestic workers across four case study countries, including empirical work completed in each: Chile and the UK, which were part of her PhD project, and India and South Africa, added in the later stages of research.

Natalie has been a co-investigator on a research project about the effects of immigration rules and labour policies on the rights of migrant agricultural and care workers in the UK, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council via the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre, and continues to engage in policy and impact work related to this issue. Natalie's other research projects include: the human rights implications of the ‘hostile environment’ for migrant women; the rights of platform / 'gig economy' workers; and addressing violence and harassment at work. 

Natalie received the Durham Law School Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award for 2025-2026. 

Natalie is on the Editorial Board of the journal Feminist Legal Studies, and is a co-editor of the UK Labour Law Blog. She is on the Research Committee for the Society of Legal Scholars, having previously been joint convenor for its Labour Law section from 2021 - 24. Natalie is also a trustee for the migrant domestic worker NGO Kalayaan and is on the Executive Committee of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights. 

Prior to joining Durham Law School, Natalie had taught at UCL, Queen Mary University of London, and the University of Exeter. Before entering academia, Natalie was a solicitor specialising in claims against the police and public authorities. She practised in this area for seven years post-qualification. 

Research interests

Labour law; human rights, including as relevant to the rights of marginalised workers such as domestic, care, and agricultural workers, platform work and the gig economy, rights of women and migrants, socio-economic rights, and positive duties; regional protection of human rights, particularly the Inter-American system.

Publications can be viewed at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jD6dU2IAAAAJ&hl=en

Authored book

• Human Rights and the Protection of Domestic Workers in Labour and Migration Law
  
  Sedacca, N. (2026). Human Rights and the Protection of Domestic Workers in Labour and Migration Law. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198985266.001.0001

Book review

• Pavlou, Vera, Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe: Law and the Construction of Vulnerability, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2021, 166pp, hb £76.50
  
  Sedacca, N. (2023). Pavlou, Vera, Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe: Law and the Construction of Vulnerability, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2021, 166pp, hb £76.50. The Modern Law Review, 86(1), 302-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12775

Chapter in book

• Migrants and Social Rights
  
  Sedacca, N. (in press). Migrants and Social Rights. In C. Binder, J. Hofbauer, F. Piovesan, & A. Úbeda de Torres (Eds.), Edward Elgar Research Handbook on International Law and Social Rights. Edward Elgar.
• Platform domestic and childcare work: centring labour rights in the formalisation debate
  
  Sedacca, N., & Atkinson, J. (2026). Platform domestic and childcare work: centring labour rights in the formalisation debate. In L. Poblete & E. Kocher (Eds.), Digital Intermediaries in Domestic and Care Work. Bloomsbury.
• Mass influx of people from Ukraine: social entitlements and access to the labour market: United Kingdom
  
  Sedacca, N. (2024). Mass influx of people from Ukraine: social entitlements and access to the labour market: United Kingdom. In I. Florczak & J. K. Adamski (Eds.), Mass influx of people from Ukraine: social entitlements and access to the labour market (pp. 413-426).
• Domestic Work and the Gig Economy
  
  Sedacca, N. (2022). Domestic Work and the Gig Economy. In V. De Stefano, I. Durri, C. Stylogiannis, & M. Wouters (Eds.), A Research Agenda for the Gig-Economy and Society (pp. 149-166). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800883512.00016

Journal Article

• #MeToo, ILO Convention 190, and Effective Regulation to Tackle Workplace Harassment: The Contribution of the Employment Rights Act 2025 to Remedying Gaps in Protection
  
  Sedacca, N. (2026). #MeToo, ILO Convention 190, and Effective Regulation to Tackle Workplace Harassment: The Contribution of the Employment Rights Act 2025 to Remedying Gaps in Protection. Industrial Law Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwag008
• Matchmakers: Placement Agencies and Digital Platforms in the UK Childcare Market
  
  Muldoon, J., Sedacca, N., & Apostolidis, P. (2025). Matchmakers: Placement Agencies and Digital Platforms in the UK Childcare Market. Work in the Global Economy, 5(1), 6-26. https://doi.org/10.1332/27324176Y2024D000000026
• Realising Decent Work for Platform Workers: a Human Rights Approach
  
  Atkinson, J., & Sedacca, N. (2025). Realising Decent Work for Platform Workers: a Human Rights Approach. Transnational Legal Theory, 16(4), 578-610. https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2025.2518897
• Migrant Work, Gender, and the Hostile Environment: A Human Rights Analysis
  
  Sedacca, N. (2024). Migrant Work, Gender, and the Hostile Environment: A Human Rights Analysis. Industrial Law Journal, 53(1), 63-93. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwad034
• Domestic Workers, the ‘Family Worker’ Exemption from Minimum Wage, and Gendered Devaluation of Women’s Work
  
  Sedacca, N. (2022). Domestic Workers, the ‘Family Worker’ Exemption from Minimum Wage, and Gendered Devaluation of Women’s Work. Industrial Law Journal, 51(4), 771–801. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwac005
• Rationale and recommendations on decolonising the pedagogy and curriculum of the Law School at the University of Exeter
  
  Ohana, N., Barazi, T., Barrett, D., Bedeau, J., Bhuckory, P., Bosch, G., Braham, J., Coombs, C., Gola, S., Jaber, N., Hailemariam, H., Lambert, Z., Lawrence, R., Loder, L., Marshall, E., Matt, T., Nousia, K., Ozsoy, E. C., Phiri, T., … Walsh, K. (2022). Rationale and recommendations on decolonising the pedagogy and curriculum of the Law School at the University of Exeter. The Law Teacher, 56(4), 536-551. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2022.2140512
• Reflecting on Crisis
  
  Manoussaki-Adamopoulou, I., Sedacca, N., Benchekroun, R., Knight, A., & Saavedra, A. (2022). Reflecting on Crisis. Migration and Society, 5(1), 124-135. https://doi.org/10.3167/arms.2022.050111
• The ‘turn’ to Criminal Justice in Human Rights Law: An Analysis in the Context of the 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement
  
  Sedacca, N. (2019). The ‘turn’ to Criminal Justice in Human Rights Law: An Analysis in the Context of the 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement. Human Rights Law Review, 19(2), 315-345. https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngz011
• Migrant domestic workers and the right to a private and family life
  
  Sedacca, N. (2019). Migrant domestic workers and the right to a private and family life. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights., 37(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/0924051919884754
• Abortion in Latin America in International Perspective: Limitations and Potentials of the Use of Human Rights Law to Challenge Restrictions
  
  Sedacca, N. (2017). Abortion in Latin America in International Perspective: Limitations and Potentials of the Use of Human Rights Law to Challenge Restrictions. Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, 32, 109-136. https://doi.org/10.15779/z38125q90z

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• New immigration raids, the hostile environment, and migrant women’s human rights
  
  Sedacca, N. (2025, March 25). New immigration raids, the hostile environment, and migrant women’s human rights. Human Rights and Democracy Forum - University of Exeter [Blog post].
• The family worker exemption revisited: a sustained campaign against the devaluation of domestic work
  
  Sedacca, N. (2023, November 17). The family worker exemption revisited: a sustained campaign against the devaluation of domestic work. UK Labour Law [Blog Post].
• Trapped in Cycles of Exploitation: The UK Overseas Domestic Worker Visa 10 Years On (UK Labour Law Blog)
  
  Mantouvalou, V., & Sedacca, N. (2022). Trapped in Cycles of Exploitation: The UK Overseas Domestic Worker Visa 10 Years On (UK Labour Law Blog).
• A crucial and long-needed step against the devaluation of domestic work: ‘family worker’ exemption dis-applied in Puthenveettil v Alexander & Ors (UK Labour Law Blog)
  
  Sedacca, N. (2021). A crucial and long-needed step against the devaluation of domestic work: ‘family worker’ exemption dis-applied in Puthenveettil v Alexander & Ors (UK Labour Law Blog).
• The Human Rights of Domestic Workers: Mahlangu v Ministry of Labour and the Transformative Nature of the South African Constitution (UK Labour Law Blog)
  
  Mantouvalou, V., & Sedacca, N. (2020). The Human Rights of Domestic Workers: Mahlangu v Ministry of Labour and the Transformative Nature of the South African Constitution (UK Labour Law Blog).
• International Domestic Workers’ Day 2019: the rights of domestic workers in the UK need far-reaching and urgent reform (Focus on Labour Exploitation Blog)
  
  Sedacca, N. (2019). International Domestic Workers’ Day 2019: the rights of domestic workers in the UK need far-reaching and urgent reform (Focus on Labour Exploitation Blog).

Report

• UK agriculture and care visas: worker exploitation and obstacles to redress
  
  Thiemann, I., Alexandris Polomarkakis, K., Sedacca, N., Dias-Abey, M., Jiang, J., Boswell, C., Fisher, O., Cueva, S., Miranda, P., Francisca Silitonga, N., Hayashi, M., & Priyatna, E. (2024). UK agriculture and care visas: worker exploitation and obstacles to redress. Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre.
• Dignity, Not Destitution: the Impact of Differential Rights to Work for Migrant Domestic Workers
  
  Sedacca, N., & Sharp, A. (2019). Dignity, Not Destitution: the Impact of Differential Rights to Work for Migrant Domestic Workers.