Employment Law

Task 1

Critical Understanding of UK Employment Law

Employment law addresses the rights and duties of employees and employers of an organization. The employment law of the UK helps maintain strong relationship between employer and employee. Implementation of employment law helps in improving productivity and saving cost and stress of employment hearing claims. There are some basic labour laws of the UK which are described as under...

Employment contract

As per the employment law of the UK, the employer needs to follow the legal system of the country and they should develop an employment agreement between employee and employer. As per the Employment Rights Act of 1996, an employment agreement needs to cover basic information about employees and employees. Information includes the date of joining, job title and duties, amount of pay, place of employment, working hours, holidays, pension entitlements, grievance process, termination information probationary period, etc. Employment contract helps in maintaining legal and professional associations between employees and employers.

Wage and hour

According to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, every organization needs to provide a specific amount of wage for working hours and a minimum standard of wage has been decided by the UK government. As per this act, the minimum wage rate can fluctuate as per the age group. According to the UK government, the minimum wage rate for employees over 21 years is £6.19/hour. As per the law, employees can refuse to work more than 48 hours in a single week. It helps in deciding working hours and wages for each and every employee in the organization.

Holiday Entitlement

It is also one of the important sections of employment law and it includes information about the total number of holidays which are offered by organization to workers in a year. As per the Working Time Regulation of 1998, an employee in the UK is legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday time in a single year.

Discrimination Laws

As per the international employment law discrimination and harassment at the workplace are completely restricted at the workplace. Equality Act 2010 is one of the primary legislations for prohibiting discrimination and annoyance in the workplace in the UK. It includes different types of discrimination such as age, disability, gender, marriage, pregnancy and maternity, race and ethnicity, etc. Along with this, the employer of an organization is also restricted from discriminating against employees on the basis of religion, belief, sexual orientation, part-time job, fixed work term and trade union membership activities. The Equality Act helps maintain a discrimination-free environment at the workplace which helps in developing strong associations between different employees.

As per the employment law, trade unions need to apply these laws at the time of hiring, employment, training, promotion, compensation and termination processes. It helps in prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination in the workplace. Employment law of the UK also includes some other legislation such as the Equal Pay Act of 1970, the Race Relations Act of 1976 and Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. All these regulations help in maintaining a discrimination-free environment in the workplace.

Maternity and Paternity Leave

According o the labor law, employees of an organization are entitled to avail of twenty-six weeks leave as Ordinary Maternity Leave. During this duration, they can get maternity allowance Statutory Maternity Pay. As per this law, some employees can take longer periods of leave as additional maternity leave. As per the law, the employer has no right to dismiss employees due to pregnancy. After completing this leave employee are entitled to resume their normal job in the same terms and conditions. Therefore, it is one of the important sections of employment law which increases flexibility for female employees during their pregnancy period.

Terminations

Employment law also includes a termination contract and this contract will comprise all information about the termination date of employment and mutual understanding. Further, it also comprises dates about the death and retirement of workers, dismissal of employees due to redundancy, etc. Trade unions can also include some basic standards of work and if these requirements are not met by workers then the company can terminate that employee without any kind of notice. But, on the other hand, any employee who wants to discontinue their job then he/she needs to provide a notice before leaving the job.

Redundancies

UK redundancies are implemented by employers only when a company cannot afford to keep an employee. In this situation, the employer needs to terminate the employee from work. As per the law, in case of redundancy, the employer needs to send a statement which comprises the reason for termination or unemployment. According to the law, employers need to consult with employees 30 days before the dismissal (Employment Law and the UK's EU Referendum, 2015).

Task 2

Analyses of the way in which EU membership impacts on the development of employment law and related social policy in the UK

European Union (EU) includes 28 member states and the UK is also one of the important countries of the EU. Each member of the EU needs to follow the common laws and regulations. Membership with the EU helps in maintaining effective coordination between different countries about employment. Earlier, Most of the countries are facing very serious problems towards unemployment. But, for resolving this problem EU has developed some common rules and regulations for managing employment. These laws help improve the employment rate in the whole country. There are some UK employment laws that are affected by the EU; these laws are related to equality, family Friendly Laws, typical working, transfer of undertaking, collective consultation and working time.

EU introduces laws for maintaining anti-discrimination in the workplace. It has a positive impact on the Employment law of the UK. In this aspect, European law underpinned discrimination laws regarding sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, belief, culture religion age, etc. Earlier, UK employment law has not introduce any kind of regulations about maternity. However, European Law includes laws about maternity pay and leave, paternal leave and time off for domestic emergencies. As per the EU law, all members of the European Union need to implement this regulation in their employment law. So, UK employment law also includes this regulation in its rules and regulations. EU has established a rule that every organization needs to develop an employment contract for part-time, Fixed and agency work. So, EU membership has also affected the working agreement conditions of UK employment law. After being a member of the EU, the working time regulations of the UK have also been affected. All these impacts have a positive impact on employment law which will be positive for employers as well as employees of the organization. All these rules and regulations help improve the relationship between employee and employer which leads increment in the total rate of employment.

There are some similarities between the employment laws of the EU and the UK which do not have any impact on employment regulations. Along with this, there are some European laws which are similar to UK rules and regulations. These include dismissal, Whistleblowing, minimum wages and industrial relations, etc. Overall EU members affect the employment law of the UK in positive as well as negative manner which can affect different organizations of the UK also.

Task 3

Evaluation of the rules and principles that govern the contract between employer and employee

The contract between employee and employer is known as an employment contract. Such types of agreements set out employment conditions, rights responsibilities and duties of employees towards the organization. There are some basic rules and principles of employment contracts which are also called employment terms. All these terms are described as under...

• Employers and employees must have to stick to the contract until the end which means they have to follow all rules and regulations until the terms are changed.
• Employment contracts must be in written format including different information about employee and employer. This statement needs to comprise all information about the name of the employee and employer, date of employment, location, payment and salary with working hours and job description. It is helpful for maintaining clear and professional relationships between employees and employers of the organization.
• Rules of employment contract include that both employer and employee must mutually agree on a similar statement.
• In the employment contract, there are some conditions which have not been discussed between employer and employee but these terms can be covered as implied terms. For example, the employer needs to provide a safe and secure working environment to employees, etc.
• Along with this, there are some terms which have already been mentioned in the written document and these terms are known as expressed terms.
• The employment contract also includes information about grounds of termination during the job.
• Organisations can hire a third party or person to make a valid contract between an employee and an employer.

All these rules and principles help in developing a valid and legal agreement between employee and employer. Along with this, it allows for a high level of transparency regarding details of the employment. Employees and employers can also develop contracts about desires a certain wage rates. Along with this, it is also beneficial for future if any kinds of disputes between employees and employers in future. Overall employment contract helps in maintaining a positive relationship between the employee and the employer of an organization. , on the other hand, a contract between an employee and employer is associated with some disadvantages also which can harm the relationship between employee and employer. Employment agreements can limit and limit the flexibility of employer and employee. In some cases, employment contracts bind employees from changing employment for certain time period. This condition can de-motivate employees because they can't switch jobs before completing a specific time period. In contrast, it is beneficial for employers and employees as well as for maintaining strong relationships with each other. Therefore, all the above discussed rules and principles help in a government legal contract or agreement between the employee and employer of an organization.

Conclusion

The current research report has concluded that the government of the UK has introduced employment law for maintaining legal agreements between employees and employers of an organization. It is beneficial for maintaining strong relationships between employees and employers. Employment law includes some basic rules and regulations about employment contracts, wages and working hours, holiday entitlement, discrimination laws, maternity and paternity leave, terminations and redundancies. As per this law, the employer needs to ensure the inclusion of all required information in the employment contract. Along with this, research has also found that a contract between an employee and employer is known as an employment contract. This contract needs to comprise all information about the name of the employee and employer, date of employment, location, payment and salary with working hours and job description. The report has also described that EU membership has positive impacts on the employment law of the UK by which the government of the UK can make favourable changes in different rules and regulations for the whole country (Employment Law in the United Kingdom, 2013).

References

• Blum, A. B., 2007. Contracts: Examples & Explanations. Aspen Publishers Online.
• Edwards, S. J., Edwards, L. L. and Wells, K. P., 2008. Tort Law for Legal Assistants. Cengage Learning publication.
• Gillies, P., 2004. Business Law. Federation Press.
• Goldman, A., 2013. Business law: Principles and Practices. Cengage.
• Holland, A. J. and Burnett, S., 2014. Employment Law Legal Practice Course Guide Series.
• Jefferson, M., 2008. Trade Union Law and Collective Employment Rights (2nd edition)", International Journal of Law and Management.

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