Managing the Employment Relationship

This essay analyzes the legal issues surrounding HR practices in Cambridge Technical Services, a leading IT firm in the UK. It examines the legality of the manager's actions regarding religious dress, minimum wage compliance, and maternity/paternity leave policies. The essay also explores relevant discrimination laws and potential remedies for employees who have been discriminated against. This content is available on Desklib, a website that provides past papers and solved assignments for students.

Managing the Employment Relationship

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 1...................................................................................................................................1
Evaluate the legal issues of the manager’s actions from the employer & employee perspective
.....................................................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................2
Explaining amendments needed for CTS to legally comply with National Minimum Wage of
2018.............................................................................................................................................2
QUESTION 3...................................................................................................................................3
Explaining amendments needed for CTS to legally comply with current employment
legislation....................................................................................................................................3
QUESTION 4...................................................................................................................................5
Explain relevant legalisation applies and any possible remedies................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
For all Human Resources managers it is very much important that they are having
knowledge about legal rules and legislations that company must be comply with. As there would
be any time when issue is arising and this could be based on any time like employment relations,
contract laws and labour contract law as well. Developing a good relationship with the
employees can help an organization to enhance their performance effectively. This report
discusses the advice on several urgent HR issues in Cambridge Technical Services which is one
of the leading IT firms in UK having 200 staff. This report will also explain about the various
employment legislation which is very important for the Cambridge Technical Services to
implement in their organization in order to resolve any issues effectively. In the last secttion of
this report discrimination law will be discussed.
QUESTION 1
Evaluate the legal issues of the manager’s actions from the employer & employee perspective
As in the case it is stated that HR manager of Cambridge Technical Services Company
Sam Pax refrain Sally Miles from wearing religious cross to office which is found to be offensive
from view point of colleague. But certainly as per the Employment Law states to all employees
are having specified rights that are common in all workplace regardless of their religion, sex,
race and any other consideration (Religious dress in the workplace, 2018). All the law
specifically prohibit any kind of discrimination in any kind of workplace against workers so the
employer is having no right to ban or refrain employees from articles of religious significant like
that of cross.
In one of the case of Eweida and others v UK (ECHR) 2013 it was witnessed that Nadia
Eweida was not allowed to wear a cross at work by her employer British Airways which is
against the human rights as well (Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom, 2018). While in
case of Shirley Chaplin whose case was joined with that of Eweida was not allowed to wear
cross at work because of the health and safety act and law. As she was nurse in one of the
nursing home and this was completely different from the former case as the chain and cross
would cause injury or infection by any wound of patients if it swung freely and this was danger
of contamination. This case the public dispute between BA and one of their employee’s on right
of wearing religious necklace that too outside her cloths at time of working (UK Government
Accept Wearing of Crucifix in Workplace as Lawful, 2018). For this Eweida was compensated
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for her damages of €2,000 and above charges of €30,000 by ECHR at time when government of
UK was not able to protect her rights. Moreover by other employees who were wearing hijab or
turban at workplace could be having any sort of negative impact on brand image of company.
This is as per the Article 9 of European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which
provides the right to freedom of expression and religious following or manifests the belief of
religion. It primarily includes all sort of freedom to express religion, change it, teach, practice,
and belief in worship as well. While it would also include certain restriction like that necessary
within democratic society and in accordance with law (Greene and Kirton, 2015). Not allowing
wearing cross would only be possible at time when it is linked with safety and health of
employee or others related to workplace. Like in the case of Sally Miles where she is refrained
by HR for wearing cross on her necklace at workplace is due to that is being offensive to other
employees was not correct. Into this case HR did not instruct Sally Miles that wearing cross is
not correct as per health and safety (So Can Employees Wear a Cross at Work or Not, 2018).
This is clear breach of employee’s human right to freedom of religion in Christian cross case.
According to this Cambridge Technical Services company was also not having any policy
regarding employee for not wearing any sort of jewellery so they could not refrain Sally Miles
for wearing cross as well (Greene and Kirton, 2015).
As in the following judgemental case of Eweida where she was denied to wear cross was
for having negative impact on brand image of BA which was then considered by court as invalid.
So HR of Cambridge Technical Services is also not having any sort of right for refraining any
employee by wearing and worshipping any religion into workplace (Can You Ask an Employee
to Not Wear a Religious Cross to Work, 2018). For this manager could be sued by employee and
taken to court for compensation for damages as it was done in other cases.
QUESTION 2
Explaining amendments needed for CTS to legally comply with National Minimum Wage of
2018
In the present case where CTS is very keen to comply with the current wage legislation
and has proposed the pay structure for cleaners will be as follows:
 Under 25 years will be paid £6.40 for men and £6.75 for women.
 Over 25 years will be paid £6.50 but must have worked 5 years with the organisation.
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But as per the National Minimum Wages April 2018 Cambridge Technical Services is
not legally complying with standard wage rates and they are not undertaking the legal
requirements as per the latest changes done (Shields and et.al., 2015). The changes which was
done on April 2018 it was stated that minimum pay for workers below the age of 25 years
whether men or women as both are treated on equal bases must be 7.38 per hour. According to
this law, organization has to do required changes in order to upgrade their regulation as per the
National Minimum Wages April 2018 in order to have effective income management in the firm.
And for those who are at age of 25 years it should be 7.83 per hour which is higher than
compared to that laid by CTS Company. According to this law, it is mandatory for Cambridge
Technical Services to improvise their wages system with respect to the latest rules. Under the
amendment made within the act on 1st April 2016 National Living Wage was introduced which
stated that for increasing the standard of living for worker class people for over 25 years, it is
required to have some minimum wage (Shields and et.al., 2015). By implementing all these
current rate in the organization it will help them in maintaining their overall performance
effectively and can enhance their revenue as well by making their employees happy and satisfied
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
But this is only restricted whenever worker is travelling to or from work, is absent for any
time and must be required to awake will all be excluded. This can have a huge impact on their
working performance as well. So it is essential for them to imply all the legislations carefully in
the firm. It becomes very essential for Cambridge Technical Services to compile their wages
with the current rate as mentioned in the National Minimum Wages April 2018. This law has
also provided with the facility like, any employee who is unsure whether they are being paid as
per the NMW can use the online calculator which is provided on the official website of this law
by United Kingdom government (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
QUESTION 3
Explaining amendments needed for CTS to legally comply with current employment legislation
In the present case, there were three major changes done by the HR manager Sam Pax of
Cambridge Technical Services, that is, he has reduced the maternity leaves to one month, there
will be no paternity leave, all the leaves taken will be recognized as annual leave and trade union
representatives attending trade union meetings will need to take time off as annual leave. All
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these amendments will have a huge impact on their employees (Rosenbloom, 2014). In
employment legislation, according to Maternity pay and leave rule, it is mentioned in the laws
that it is compulsory to give Statutory Maternity Leave of 52 weeks to that particular individual
or women (Maternity pay and leave, 2018). This statutory maternity leave includes ordinary
maternity leave of 26 weeks and addition maternity leave of 26 weeks, respectively. As per the
given case, Sam Pax has reduced it to one month only which is not legal as per the UK law. This
action will have a huge impact on their business as well (Maternity pay and leave, 2018).
This will affect their working performance of their female staff a lot. Same with the
paternity leaves which Sam has canceled in the organization and will be considered them under
annual leave. As per the paternity leave and pay, individual or employee is eligible to take
minimum of 1 or 2 weeks paid paternity leave (Paternity pay and leave, 2018). All the
employment rights will be protected during that paternity leaves which can include, pay rises,
build up holiday, etc. Both these leaves, i.e., maternity and paternity leaves should be provided in
the organization as per the employment legislation. Do not following the rules and regulation
effectively by Sam can lead him get a negative response from his employees with respect to such
changes in the organization (Rosenbloom, 2014).
Similarly, Sam Pax has also changed the rules for trade union representatives as well in
which they have to take off to attend the trade union meeting and this leave will be considered as
an annual leave for them (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw, 2015). As per employment legislation,
employees or staff members who are representatives of a recognized independent trade union for
their organization, respectively, has the right to get their amount of paid time off work to enable
them to carry out duties which is concerned with collective bargaining and related issues (Trade
union leave, 2018). Employment Relations Act has provided individual employees with the right
to be accompanied by their local trade union representative when involved in disciplinary
procedures or grievances. As per The rights of trade union reps in United Kingdom, there are
various factors which has to be considered very carefully by Sam Pax in order to have a good
working environment in the organization. All the union trade employees are liable to have paid
time off during their working time (Trade union leave, 2018).
All these three factors can have a huge negative impact on Cambridge Technical Services
as all the changes which was taken by Sam Pax are nit according to the employment legislation.
For the organization to deal with such situation it is recommended that they have to change their
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laws which is mentioned in the employment legislation as this will assist them in enhancing their
overall performance (Siebert and Martin, 2016). This will also aid in making a good relationship
with their employees which will help in improving their work performance effectively and can
assist in generating a good revenue for the organization as well. Providing them all their legal
rights effectively can help them in addressing all the issues which is related to the employment
legislation respectively. Managing all this will assist in enhancing the performance in respective
industry (Wellin, 2016).
QUESTION 4
Explain relevant legalisation applies and any possible remedies
In the given case scenario, Alex Wong was an employee working in an organization. In
2009 when there were promotion going on, she was not promoted because she was a Chinese as
told by the HR manager of the company (Popli and Rizvi, 2015). At that time she had not taken
any action against the company buy now she wants to file a complaint against them which is
legal as per the discrimination law of United Kingdom (UK). According to this law, it s illegal
for any organization to perform such activities with their employees (Discrimination: your
rights, 2018). This law protects against any discrimination which happening at workplace. There
are various types of discrimination which can happen in the organization, such as, on the basis
of, age, gender, race which includes, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion,
disability, etc.
As per the law, in this case, Alex was discriminated on the basis of her race as she was
Chinese. This was totally an illegal action that was taken by the HR manager of the organization,
and she can complaint against them for this action. For this she can directly complaint to the
concerned person who is responsible for handling such situation or she can ask someone for her
help, such as, she can choose alternative dispute resolution (Discrimination: your rights, 2018).
The best way which she can opt is that can make a claim in the court against the organization.
This will help her to deal with this situation effectively.
In other case, Josephine Jones who was 20 years old in 2015 and was not short listed for
management training on the reason like, she was too young and she can not handle such huge
responsibilities in the organization. In this case, she was discriminated in the organization on the
basis of age (Bailey and et.al., 2017). As she was 20 years old at that time and was not minor as
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well. On the basis of this law, it was totally illegal action which they have taken against
Josephine. Without giving her a single chance it is not legal or correct for the organization to
take such actions which can have a huge impact on their organization (Discrimination: your
rights, 2018). To resolve such issues, she can talk to her employer first in order to try to sort out
the problem informally without going to court. If this not happens then she can opt for the
claiming in the court against the organization. In this way she can resolve the issue which was
related to her discrimination in the organization on the basis of her without knowing or
understanding her capabilities.
Both the cases were same and both the employees, Alex and Josephine were
discriminated in the workplace on the basis of their nationality and age respectively, which is
illegal as per the United Kingdom law of discrimination. Company has to carefully consider all
these issues in order to make a good employment relationship in the organization (Balaji, 2014).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded it is very important to manage the employment
relationship effectively in order to perform well in the industry. This assessment has also
explained about various legal issues of the manager’s actions from the employer & employee
perspective which is very important for an organization in order to maintain the management of
their firm effectively. It has also discussed about various employment legislation, such as,
maternity and paternity leave, etc. which can affect performance of the organization. In the last
section of this report various laws, for example, discrimination act is discussed in this which is
very essential in order to have effective employment relationship.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bailey, C. and et,al,. 2017. The meaning, antecedents and outcomes of employee engagement: A
narrative synthesis. International Journal of Management Reviews. 19(1). pp.31-53.
Balaji, M. S., 2014. Managing customer citizenship behavior: A relationship perspective.
Journal of strategic marketing. 22(3). pp.222-239.
Greene, A. M. and Kirton, G., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach.
Routledge.
Popli, S. and Rizvi, I. A., 2015. Exploring the relationship between service orientation, employee
engagement and perceived leadership style: a study of managers in the private service
sector organizations in India. Journal of Services Marketing. 29(1). pp.59-70.
Rosenbloom, D. H., 2014. Federal service and the constitution: The development of the public
employment relationship. Georgetown University Press.
Shields, J. and et,al,. 2015. Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts, practices,
strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Siebert, S. and Martin, G., 2016. Managing people and organizations in changing contexts.
Routledge.
Taylor, T., Doherty, A. and McGraw, P., 2015. Managing people in sport organizations: A
strategic human resource management perspective. Routledge.
Wellin, M., 2016. Managing the psychological contract: Using the personal deal to increase
business performance. Routledge.
Online
Can You Ask an Employee to Not Wear a Religious Cross to Work. 2018. [Online]. Accessed
through: <https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/can-ask-employee-not-wear-religious-cross-
work-17121.html>.
Discrimination: your rights. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights>
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Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://strasbourgobservers.com/category/cases/eweida-and-others-v-the-united-kingdom/
>.
Maternity pay and leave. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through: <https://www.gov.uk/maternity-
pay-leave/leave>
Paternity pay and leave. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through: <https://www.gov.uk/paternity-pay-
leave>
Religious dress in the workplace. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/religious-dress-workplace-five-key-employment-
cases-uk/>.
So Can Employees Wear a Cross at Work or Not. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://www.masonbullock.co.uk/cross-at-work/>.
Trade union leave. 2018. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://www.bma.org.uk/advice/employment/leave/trade-union-leave>
UK Government Accept Wearing of Crucifix in Workplace as Lawful. 2018. [Online]. Accessed
through: <http://www.ncregister.com/blog/kturley/uk-government-accept-wearing-of-
crucifix-in-workplace-as-lawful>.
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