Employment Law Coursework

This coursework discusses the law on wrongful dismissal and its relevance to specific situations. It also explores the effectiveness of British Equal Pay legislation in dismantling pay inequality between men and women.

Employment Law Coursework
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
Advise Sophie and Eeshan on how the law on wrongful dismissal may be relevant to their
situations......................................................................................................................................3
PART B...........................................................................................................................................6
British Equal Pay legislation is an effective instrument to dismantle pay inequality between
men and women...........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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PART A
Advise Sophie and Eeshan on how the law on wrongful dismissal may be relevant to their
situations
Wrongful dismissal occurs when there is a breach of a contract by the company. It is not
the similar to unfair dismissal, however it is related to employment contract in order to verify if
the employer has breached it1. The most common breach under this law is where the employer
dismissed the employee without any notice or with less than the minimum notice period either
through statute or what was stated in the contract. As per the employment contract, Advance
notice of termination is required in order to bring a wrongful dismissal claim. In this, the
employee must establish that they were dismissed due to breach of the employment contract or
with less than the statutory minimum notice period.
It has been analysed from case study that Sophie works with Hitch and Ami for 11
months only under employment contract with firm. Within contract there are certain rights which
is prescribed. This includes to become member of health club and receives performance bonus
The contract also have a disciplinary procedure as well. Nevertheless, Sophie's Manger shouted
at her and said she is no longer competent for job and as a result, she did not return to work 2.
Due to irregularities, she receives a letter stating that absence of his work is considered as
resignation, along with this, no bonus is given to her. So, it is considered as wrongful dismissal
act. This is because she is having an employment contract with firm. Thus, there are several
T&C mentioned which needs to be adhered by Sophie as well as company. Further, without
considering any rules, company terminated her without giving any prior notice. In contract, it is
also mentioned disciplinary procedure to be followed whereas firm has not followed. The
wrongful dismissal of Hitch and Ami is because they have not given any notice to Sophie before
terminating her.
Therefore, it is stated that this act is clear wrongful dismissal of Sophie. She has not
received any notice from company side regarding resignation3. So, it is wrongful dismissal in
which employee is forced to leave or quit his/her job not because they want to, but because of the
1 Buchanan, Dennis D. "Defining Wrongful Dismissal: The Alberta Schism." Alta. L.
Rev. 57 (2019): 95.
2 Li, Chenyang. "You Can't Fire Me: The Problems with Wrongful Dismissal Damages in
Canada." WJ Legal Stud. 7 (2017): 1.
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employer’s actions. The resignation is a result of shouting of Nick on Sophie during a meeting
without any valid reason. This reflects that there is no authentic reason provided by the firm
regarding termination of Sophie. Along with it, employer did not follow a fair process in
dismissal as well. Therefore, Sophie can make claim against the firm under employment act
within 3 months 4. The employer is required to pay for damages up to £25000 as compensation to
employee as defined within contract, and also Sophie will be given net loss offered due to
wrongful dismissal.
So, the law of wrongful dismissal is suitable on Sophie due to immediate action taken by
a firm (termination) without giving prior information and reasons. Instead of this action, firm
might have sent notice that her misconduct of behaviour within working place is not tolerated.
Hence, without giving any prior notice, absence was considered as resignation. Here, legal action
can be taken against Hitch and Ami by Sophie. Along with that, it is found that Sophie is entitled
to get compensation. This is related to her performance related bonus, as it is clearly mentioned
in her employment contract. The company has breach contract and not followed the terms and
conditions 5. Moreover, in contract it is mentioned the disciplinary procedure that means to
follow a specific procedure for termination or in case of resign. Hence, it is reflected that the
case is related to wrongful dismissal of Sophie from her job and breaching of employment
contract. It is type of wrongful dismissal in which Nick has terminated without cause and refused
to pay performance bonus. So, it clearly shows breach of contract performed by company for
which it has to pay defined amount in the form of compensate.
In second case, it has been found that Eeshan who is employed by Hitch and Ami took
leave to visit his home country. So, he was also having a contract with company which was
getting expired on 1 November, Thus, Nick told him that if he did not come on 1 November than
3 Ismail, Suharne. "UNFAIR DISMISSAL OR UNLAWFUL TERMINATION: A
REVIEW OF SECTION 20, INDUSTRIAL RELATION ACT 1967." Journal of Law and
Governance 1, no. 1 (2018): 15-24.
4 Collins, Philippa. "Putting human rights to work: the protection of the human rights of
workers through the law of dismissal." PhD diss., University of Oxford, 2018.
5 Kolawole, Ibukun Olorunisola, and Olumuyiwa Ogunseye. "Termination of Contract of
Employment with Statutory Flavour and the Remedy of Re-Instatement: Curtailing Summary
and Unlawful Dismissal." JL Pol'y & Globalization 75 (2018): 94.
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his contract is considered over. But he got ill during his holidays and was not able to come to
office after 1st November. For that he submitted a sick note for his absence. The manager
terminated his contract without giving any notice to him 6. Thus, in this case it is considered as
wrongful dismissal. This is because there is a contract of Eeshan with company. So, it is
mandatory for a company to follow terms and conditions of contract. Furthermore, as contract
was going to over on 1st November, but he fell ill.
Therefore, it clearly shows dismissal is wrong as there is breach of contract by company.
It is because the firm has not given notice to him regarding termination. Besides that, even when
Eeshan has sent sick note to Nick regarding his illness which was not considered by a firm.
Hence, without reading sick letter the manager said to Eeshan that his contract was terminated.
So, it clearly shows that there is breach of contract in it. As per employment contract, employers
has to send a prior notice to employee regarding their dismissal or termination. Also, it is
required to follow a proper procedure in it as well. Hence, this situation is also related to
wrongful dismissal by Hitch and Ami 7. So, here company have to sent notice of 1 month or
period of 15 days to Eeshan after his arriving or else, renew contract. Eeshan will be given net
loss offered due to wrongful dismissal. There may also be some other damages paid if it is
mentioned in contract. Here, it is a type of wrongful dismissal in which Nick has terminated
Eeshan for not coming to work on 1st November and failing to pay compensation. He can claim
against company for wrongful dismissal as he is having a proof of illness. Also, there is no notice
given by firm to him before terminating. Furthermore, when contract was over it is duty of firm
to send a notice to Eeshan before termination. However, this situation is complex as contract was
over and not renewed. But still breach of contract has occurred as no prior notice was sent, also
the sick letter was ignored by organization as well.
Thus, it can be identified that in both cases there is wrongful dismissal which has been
done by company. In both cases, there is a breach of employment contract with employees. The
terms and conditions of contract are not followed. Here, no employee was given prior notice
6 Higgins, Paul, David Mark, Giuseppe Carabetta, and Israel Folau. "No agreement: Israel
Folau's wrongful dismissal gates is headed for the courts as mediation failed today." (2019).
7 van Vonderen, Jessica, David Mark, Giuseppe Carabetta, and Israel Folau. "No
agreement: Folau's wrongful dismissal case against Rugby Australia is headed for the courts after
failed mediation talks." (2019).
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before terminating them. As employee and employer are bounded by employment contract, so
they must complied with their defined roles and duties. Besides, they have to adhere some terms
and conditions mentioned in contract as well8. So, these all conditions were not followed by
organization and this led to breach of contract. In first case there was no valid justification for
terminating of Sophie, as manager shouted at her without any reason. There was no misconduct
of behaviour done. Similarly, in second case Nick terminated Eeshan in spite he has given sick
letter as a proof of his illness to Hitch and Ami. Unfortunately, the letter was not seen by
manager and ignored completely which leads to breach of law.
PART B
British Equal Pay legislation is an effective instrument to dismantle pay inequality between men
and women.
Equal pay for men and women is considered the biggest issue for workplaces. Business
owners still weigh women low as compared to men, even though there are many laws defined
that encourage companies to pay equally. As, British Equal pay legislation is designed in order to
pay equal amount to men and women at workplace so that it helps to increase the sense of morale
among them. Through this, female employees feel comfortable at the working place and also
believes that company values their talent and skills. Study also shows that more than three out of
four UK companies pay more to their male staff as compared to female9. Apart from this, nine
out of 17 sectors in UK, men earn around 10% more than women. This reflects that there is a
huge gap between men and women pay and that is why, to dismantle inequalities government
pass a law of Equal Pay, 1970 that helps to offer equal opportunities as per their talent.
8 Gardner, Georgie. "Chemo row: Meantime, St Vincent's Hospital has reached what it's
called" an amicable resolution" with Dr John Grygiel over the oncologist's claim of wrongful
dismissal." (2017).
9 Davies, Sharyn Graham, Judy McGregor, Judith Pringle, and Lynne Giddings.
"Rationalizing pay inequity: women engineers, pervasive patriarchy and the neoliberal
chimera." Journal of gender Studies 27, no. 6 (2018): 623-636.
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In accordance with the above image, it is reflected that gender pay gap in UK has been
decline slowly over time such that full time employees fell from 7.4% from 7.0% whereas all
employees (full time workers in all sector) fell to 15.5% from 17.4% in 2019. This number
indicates that there is a huge impact upon implementing such laws over inequalities and even
many companies also offer better opportunities to both men and women that helps to meet own
defined aim10. Also, in the terms of gender pay gap, the largest fall in 2020 is among managers,
directors and senior officials due to pandemic and companies required employees who manage
their work, and they are ready to pay good without considering their gender.
10 Gender pay gap. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkin
ghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2020>.
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Additionally, it is also reflected that after implementing the Equal Pay Act, it is
mandatory for companies to provide equal pay for all employees so that it will help to reduce the
risk of facing an equal pay-claim. If such laws are not implemented then it damaged employee
relations and decreases the morale of employees as well. That is why, it is necessary for
organizations to adhere with defined laws that helps to improve productivity and avoid expensive
legal fees that decline the financial performance of a company. In UK, there are many cases
happened in terms of not complying with equal pay act and this also damaged the brand image of
a firm in negative manner. Therefore, it is essential for a firm to treat equally in terms of pay11.
However, without adhering defined law, there are companies who pay different amount to those
who have different designations due to their talent and competencies. This reflected that by
complying with prescribed laws of equal pay, companies improve their business operations and
also provide equal opportunities to employees as well. Thus, majority of the company uses this
act in order to attract new employees towards it so that they offer better possibility to them.
As per the law, companies are prohibited if they perform any unfavourable treatment
between men and women in terms of pay as well as conditions of employment. The quoted act is
proposed by Labour government and also based upon Equal Pay Act, 1963 of US. The biggest
benefit of complying such legislation is that it helps to improve employee morale and also
improve company's retention rate as well. For example, if a firm have a talented female worker,
then it is the responsibility of manager to pay them same rate as its male employees in order to
compete with competitors. In addition to this, Equal Pay Act is now become a part of Equality
Act 2010 in order to tackle discrimination and inequality at workplace. Even after
implementation of such law, there are on an average 29000 equal pay claims each year in
England and Wales which reflects that companies are still not paying attention and this in turn
shows the ineffectiveness of equal pay legislation12.
In accordance with the statistics presented by government, it is analysed that there are
many reasons of paying women less than men which includes part - time pay penalty, occupation
11 Costa Dias, Monica, Robert Joyce, and Francesca Parodi. "The gender pay gap in the UK:
children and experience in work." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 36, no. 4 (2020):
855-881.
12 Meara, Katie, Francesco Pastore, and Allan Webster. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a
matching study." Journal of Population Economics 33, no. 1 (2020): 271-305.
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segregation, caring responsibilities etc. This shows that in UK, there are many companies who
do not prefer to pay equal or high to women because of their gender. However, government is
trying to solve the issue up to some extent in which company has to pay heavy penalty to
accused so that rates of discrimination will be lower down.
There are some top cases where company pay less to women and that is why, individual
claim upon them. For example, Allonby v Accrington and Rossendale College is a European
Union law case in which, part-time lecturers at college did not have their contracts renewed. So
they are rehired through an agency where company said that they are self-employed independent
contractors as per new agreements13. As a result, teacher denied and claim for unfair dismissal
and sex discrimination as majority of them are females. So as per the judgement provided by the
court stated that Allbony did not claim equal pay regarding her reduction in wages and, nor she
can claim because of members of an occupational pension schemes of teacher using a male
comparator who is employed as a full time lecturer at college. Therefore, EAT is also failed to
consider whether it is a case of dismissal or discriminatory. So, there are many cases where
women feel discriminated or pay less than compared to men and that is why, such law is
designed in order to protect them from any mischiefs.
Another example, is Glasgow City Council v Marshall in which equality clause imposed
under the Equal Pay Act 1970 which is operated in the absence of evidence of sex
discrimination. In this case, seven women instructors claimed that they were employed to work
with male teachers, but they are not paid equally. Therefore, The House of Lords' Decision
reflected that company is liable to pay penalty because there were discrimination between men
and women on the basis of pay, even they both work for same designation14. That is why, to
breach the law and paid less to women in comparison with male, employers has to pay penalty.
Apart from this, in the context of equal pay act, 1970 there are many top companies who
also faces issues such that BBC recently has a problem because Newswatch presenter Samira
13 Le Barbanchon, Thomas, Roland Rathelot, and Alexandra Roulet. "Gender differences in
job search: Trading off commute against wage." The Quarterly Journal of Economics136,
no. 1 (2021): 381-426.
14 Gutiérrez, Diana, and Andrea Castaño. "Gender Equality in the Workplace: Key Driver of
Well-Being, Business Performance and Sustainability." In Aligning Perspectives in
Gender Mainstreaming, pp. 95-116. Springer, Cham, 2021.
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Ahmed successfully argued that Jermy was paid more than six times to her salary for similar
work to male employee of his company. On the other side, one of the radio presenter Sarah
Montague also confirmed that she won around 4 lac British pounds in order to settlement after
being unequally over pay15. This reflected that company still not adhering with Equal Pay Act
and this in turn cause negative impact upon the business performance.
As per the above graph, the gender pay gap is higher in London, South East and negative
in Northern Ireland as per the data presented in 2019. Not only this, there are different sectors
where individuals face issue with regard to their salaries. Such that for full time workers, pay gap
is actually larger in private sectors as compared to public. Nevertheless, there is no gender pay
gap for part-time worker in private sector. From 1960, the rate of inequality is declined because
most of the companies are adhered with Equal Pay Act16. Also, to minimize the issue of gender
pay gap, government specified minimum amount for men as well as women so that entities must
offer the same, otherwise individuals may also claim upon them. Thus, it is clearly reflected that
15 What is equal pay and how can you find out iof you are getting it?. 2020. [Online].
Available through: <https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50168817>.
16 Albanese, Andrea, and Bart Cockx. "Permanent wage cost subsidies for older workers. An
effective tool for employment retention and postponing early retirement?." Labour
Economics 58 (2019): 145-166.
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with the help of equal pay, company is able to meet their defined aim because it provides better
opportunities to all employees and that is why, company perform better in order to stay ahead in
competition.
On the critically note, it has been identified that there are some companies where women
actually paid lower because there are more men in senior roles than women and also their
working hours are large as compared to other. Thus, company have to pay higher because they
are more talented as compared to others, also if they put their extra efforts then they want return
against it17. That is why, women are paid less if they are not talented enough with their chosen
organization. Furthermore, it is also analysed that the act helps to receive a Royal assent in UK
which means employers were prohibited from paying women less than men for a same job.
Therefore, it will help to create positive working environment within business so that all
employees will work together in order to derive the best outcomes as well. Hence, it can be
stated that Equal Pay legislation is considered the best tool to minimize the inequalities between
men and women so that they help company's owner to generate the best outcomes.
17 Treleaven, Christina, and Sylvia Fuller. "BB see: Transparency legislation and public
discussions of wage inequality." Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de
sociologie (2021).
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