Employment contract assignment : Business law
Added on 2020-01-07
11 Pages3455 Words251 Views
BUSINESS LAW
TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3(I) Employment Contract.................................................................................................................3Sources of the terms of employment contract.............................................................................3Common Law duties of the employee........................................................................................4Common Law duties of the employer.........................................................................................4(II) The Equality Act, 2010..............................................................................................................5Scope and structure.....................................................................................................................5Different types of discrimination ...............................................................................................6Actions employers must take to ensure compliance with the Act..............................................7(III) European Union (EU) Law......................................................................................................7Main sources of EU Law.............................................................................................................7Impact of Directives on the function of businesses in UK..........................................................8CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTIONBusiness law of the nation plays a significant part in influencing the business activities inthe market. The British market is governed by a combination of the national legislation and theEuropean Union Law. The whole framework of the business law in the country is working forcreation of appropriate conditions for the business entities to function smoothly and thrive in themarket (Miller, 2016).The present report seeks to analyze the business law in respect to the employmentcontracts and the corresponding liabilities of the people associated with it. The report shallfurther demonstrate the influence of EU law on the British market.(I) Employment ContractSources of the terms of employment contractThe relationship of an employer and employee in UK is always bound by a contract ofemployment. The terms of the contract can be either implied or expressed in nature and arederived from the following sources:Common Law: It formulates one of the major sources of the terms of a employment contract.Particularly, the Law of Contract formulates to be legal basis of their relationship. As per thelaw, it is not mandatory for a contract to be written and the parties to the contract have the libertyto incorporate terms as per their convenience (Richardson and Mazey, 2015). However, there arecertain statutes, which shall be applicable on the contract. For instance, Employment Rights Act1996 shall be applicable regardless of the applicability of Contract law. Further, the Law of Tortsshall also govern the relationship particularly becoming the source of implied terms in additionto express terms, which the employer might have incorporated. National Statutes: The nation has witnessed a dramatic growth in legislation by the Britishparliament for governing the employment related rights and duties. Hence, all the statutesformulate to be the source of the terms of employment contract as and when relevant to thecircumstances. Some of the main statutes are Equal Pay Act, 1970; Sex Discrimination Act,1975; Employment Tribunals Act, 1996; Employment Relations Act, 2004; Human Rights Act,1998; Disability Discrimination Act, 2005 and various such statutes form a part of theemployment contract.
EU Law: The European Law directly becomes applicable on the member states irrespective ofthe fact that the same has been explicitly adopted by the state or not (Ackers, 2014). It is either inthe form of European Directives or the precedents of European Court of Justice. Customs and Practices: Usually long-standing practices, which are reasonable, notorious andcertain in nature may also form a part of the employment contract. It should be fair and notarbitrary in nature. Further, it is continuously and automatically made available to the employees.Common Law duties of the employeeThe Common Law duties imposed on the Employees are Duties of Obedience, MutualTrust and confidence, Fidelity, Care and Skill. In accordance to the Duty of Obedience, anemployee is required to act according to lawful and reasonable orders from their respective boss.Chatterji M., Mumford K. and Smith P.N., (2011) says generally, this constitutes to be a“conditional essential” to the contract. The reasonability of the order shall depend partly, on theother terms of the contract and partly on the job profile and related circumstances. However, ithas been opined by the courts that in the event any of the orders of the employer is unlawful orunreasonable or potentially poses a threat over the safety of the employees, the act ofdisobedience on the part of employees is justifiable. A similar decision was given in Turner v.Mason, 1845 wherein the court held the disobeying action of the employee justified in thecircumstances of health and safety threats. The employee is expected to co-operate with the employer and avoid steps that are likelyto obstruct his/her performance. It is an affirmative obligation implicitly imposed on theemployee by the contract, to ensure best of the efforts for efficient functioning of theorganization. The duty of fidelity requires the employee to act in good faith and in a faithfulmanner to serve in best of the interests of the employer. Finally, the duty to care and skillimposes the liability to undertake the tasks by utilizing the best of the skills and maintaining thestandard of care throughout. The standard of skill and care is considered to be in accordance withthe employee's experience and capabilities (Freedland and et. al., 2016). Common Law duties of the employerCommon law imposes the duty to provide a safe working environment to the employees,to assign tasks in accordance with the employment contract and finally to act in good conscience.The employers are expected to be fair in their ways and are further expect to act in good faith.
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