Employment Law in UK: Case Studies on Implied Contracts and Religious Discrimination

This report discusses two case studies on UK employment law, covering topics such as implied contracts and religious discrimination. It explains the rights of employees and employers under the law, including the Employment Rights Act 1996, Payments of Wages Act 1991, Human Rights Act 1998, and Equality Act 2010.

Unit Employment Law
LAW012

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Rhidian Welsh.............................................................................................................................3
Helena Bailey..............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION
In current scenario UK has in an average more than 4 million companies which employs
approximately 21 million employees. The country has designed its employment laws in such a
way as to ensure that both the employers and employees are equally protected through the law.
In order to continue growing and running their day to day business, it is very significant for
employers to get a hold with major employment legislations of UK(Adams, Freedman and
Prassl, 2018). The very basic aim of such laws is to ascertain the responsibilities of both
employer as well as employee towards each other and to the business as well as this helps in
continuing the relationship fair to both the parties.

Such as for example, Employment Rights Act of 1996, covers all the rights of the employees
related with unfair dismissal, maternity and paternity leaves, redundancy,etc. This act is a
replacement of the obsolete labour laws of the United Kingdom. Further Equality Act of 2010,
protects employees from the discrimination on the basis of race, gender, disability, hierarchy, etc.
against and among candidates. Also the employee is entitled to get protection under Health and
Safety at work Act 1974 from the moment as soon as he enters the premises in order to ensure a
safe working environment. The following report will cover the two distinct case studies where it
will address the issues arising in the given case scenarios. Further it will help in knowing the
different concepts of the employment law of UK with their postulation in each of the case
studies.
MAIN BODY
Rhidian Welsh
Rhidian Welsh is working on a fruits and vegetable stall in the market from 6 months. He was
working for 6 hours per day from. He use to receive 180 pounds as a payment for every week.
He has provided an application for a mortgage with his wife in a bank named Extortion Bank
Limited. The bank asked him to show the payment slips of 3 months for the reinforcement the
application. But Rhidian was unable to provide the payment slips to the bank because till date he
did not received any of the slips. He then had a conversation regarding this with his employer ,
Jamie, who ignored him by saying that he has no free time to answer his nonsense queries. Now
after this he was afraid to ask his employer one more time about the payslips, that he might lose
his temper which will result in the termination of his employment. In accordance with the first
case study, the issues can be framed as-
 Whether the formation of the employment contract can be made in oral or implied
form?
With respect to the first issue, it has to be determined that whether Rhidian comes under the
definition of 'Employee' or not. According to Section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996,
an employee is a person who has entered into an activity associated to the employment contract
which can be expressed or implied and oral or written, with the employer who runs that
particular business. With respect to the above definition, it can be said that Rhidian comes under
the ambit of the definition of an employee(Amos, 2021). He can be governed under the

Employment Rights Act 1996 as he use to work for six hours daily on the stall and the salary was
also fixed in terms of his employment that is 180 pounds. It is clear about the fact that there is an
implied contract between the employer and the employee.
The term Contract of Employment is defined under section 230 (2) of the said Act which states
that it is an agreement between the employer and employee based on certain terms of
employment whether expressed or implied and oral or written. Section 1 of the above mentioned
act also states that the employer is required to provide with the minimum information regarding
to the working terms and conditions. Basically, the employment contract need not be formed in
writing but on the other hand, it is advisable to make the contract in a written form so that the
employees must be aware of their rights and interests they posses. And if in case if any conflict
arise between the employer and the employee, then the written statement will help in solving the
dispute as it will provide a clarity in case of any ambiguity.
From the above explanation, it is understood that the contract of employment made between
Jamie and Rhidian is an implied contract because Rhidian was working on the stall from the very
first day he joined the job for six hours a day without taking any leave. He is also getting paid in
terms of a proper salary by Jamie for the work he is doing on the stall of fruits and vegetables.
They both are performing their respective duties which makes the fact clear that there is a
implied contract among the employer and the employee(Atkinson, et.al., 2018). There are many
examples from which shows the application of implied contracts. They are as follows- duty of
care, duty to pay on time, health and safety of the employee, mutual trust and confidence, loyalty
and honesty. An employer posses duty of care towards the employees working in the
organization or workplace and also duty to pay the salary to the subordinates on specified salary
date. Both the employer and the employees are bound to maintain a mutual trust and loyalty
between them. They must be honest and duty bound towards each other. Every employer and
employee must hold the level of secrecy concerned with the business. Its not important that
these terms are mentioned in the employment contract because they have a implied effect on
both the employer and the employee.
 Whether Rhidian is eligible to get the payment slips from Jamie(his employer)?
In the second issue, it has to be determined that whether Rhidian is entitled for receiving the
payslips from Jamie. In the reference of this issue, it is to be noted that according to the

Payments of Wages Act 1991, every employee has the right to obtain the payment slips from
the concerned authority or the employer(Bales, Bogg and, Novitz, 2018).
Generally, pay slips includes the statement of the salary earned by the employee after all the
deductions made. The employees are provided with the payment slips to give a summary of how
much the employee has earned and what all the subtractions are being done. It will also saves
time in order to answer all the queries related to the payments before and after deductions.
Particularly, payslip is kind of an evidence of the financial gain received by the employee on
monthly basis which can be further used in mortgage application, loan applications, passport and
visa and filing tax returns. The same situation was encountered by Rhidian where he failed to
show the last three months payment slips to the Extortion Bank Limited which is required for the
completion of the further process of granting the mortgage. Because the financial institutions or
the agencies requires certain proof that the person who is applying for the loan is capable of
paying it back to the respective bank.
The above mentioned act includes various right of the employees related to the payment of the
wages or salary. Some of rules covered under the act are- the right to receive the payment in the
manner specified in the law, the right to have a payment slip every month which shows the full
information of the amount received and the sort of deductions made in the salary, right to get
protected by law so that the employee can be saved from unnecessary and improper deductions
from the payments(Bogg, 2021). In the year 2019, government of the UK introduced a
modification in terms of the payslips of the employees. Now, the payment slips will going to
include the details of the working hours of the employees that how many hours an employee has
dedicated in the office and accordingly they will going to be paid. Section 5 of the act protects
the employees from the illegal deductions made by the employers.
There are some rules which need to be followed in case of any deductions are made. Like, the
deductions made in the payment slip must be authorized under any law, the point of deductions
must be mentioned in the terms of the contract, the deductions are made for the purpose of
pensions scheme and employees provident fund. Further, Section 4 of the act specifies that every
person who is working under the capacity of an employee posses the right to ask about the
payment slips from the employer even if they are working on a a zero hour contract(Cabrelli,
2022). The right to enquire about the payslips is not at all related with the working hours of the
employee. For e.g.- If an employee is a freelancer, contractor, police official then in that case the

time dedicated in their respective duties will not be considered as a reason of not providing them
the payment slips. The employee can take legal actions against the employer in order to get the
payslips. At initial stage, an employee must ask the employer to give a reasonable explanation of
not providing the payslips(Davis, 2021). Then if the employee does not receive a satisfying
answer from the employer, a legal action could be taken against the employ in order to get the
employer legally bound. In the above case study, Rhidian is entitled to receive the payslips from
Jamie under the Payments of Wages Act 1991.
Helena Bailey
Helena owns a manufacturing plant of swimwear and sunhats named 'Hot Stuff'. The business
holds its speed in the month of March and May when the demand for the swimwear increases.
One third population who works in the plant are Muslims. Helena was distressed with the
shifting of Islamic calendar every year which brings a clash between the major festivals like Eid
and Ramadan with the peak production time for manufacturing of the swimwear and sunhats. To
confront such issue, Helena announces that no one among the employees would be given any
leave in the months of March, April and May by giving the reason that it is a business
requirement. The workforce refused to follow such rules made by Helena and warned the union
representative Zach Hussain that if any kind of force is exercised upon them, they will constitute
a strike for the subsequent months until and unless the rules are changed. According to the
second case scenario, the issues can be framed as-
 Whether the employer can restrict the employees to profess their right to religion?
The first issue talks about the employee's right to religion in terms of the employment.
Everybody has the right to celebrate the festivals of their particular religion. But generally in the
UK, no particular holidays are mentioned other than Christian Festivals in the
calendars(Ghráinne and McMahon, 2019). If any employee who is not Christian and want a
leave to celebrate a specific festival of their religion, then the leave application gets rejected
indirectly by citing the ground of season of high demands of the product or services which is a
business need. The Human Rights Act 1998 of the United Kingdom set out certain principles
and rights that cover each of the individual living in the country. The rights are constituted from
the European Convention on Human Rights(ECHR) in the British legislation. It talks about

various human rights which are given under the respective Articles. These rights are also known
as the 'Convention Rights'.
Particularly, Article 9 of the said act will going to deal with the first issue which covers
'Freedom of thought, belief and religion.' It provides the freedom to profess the right to religion
with respect to any festival or belief (Hankivsky, DeMerich and Christoffersen, 2019). The right
to change the religion or belief whether individually or in a community and to propagate the
religious practices through teaching and preaching by the means of worship, giving public
speeches, taking lectures in educational institutions. Besides the right to religion, there are
certain limitations provided with the same. The right must be exercised in the manner settled by
law and in the interest of public order and safety so that it must not harm the rights and liberty,
health and morals of the other people.
The employees who are being restricted from exerting their rights regarding their religion are
said to be discriminated under the Equality Act 2010 of UK. The citizens living in Britain are
subjected to this act which provides protection to the individuals against any discrimination,
harassment and victimization irrespective of the place. If any person experiences unlawful
treatment which hampers their right to equality then they will get security under this act. It
contains nine protected characteristics and, discrimination on the basis of religion or belief is one
of them. One must not be treated unequal among the equals only because that person is a
follower of another religion or carries different philosophical belief. The discrimination could be
done in the manner of harassment, victimising or direct and indirect form.
Every employee in UK is provided with 12 annual leaves other than the Christian Holidays and
for the same they have to place a request in the form of an application before the employer
(Menegatti, and Gyulavári, 2022). And now, granting those leaves is totally depends upon the
employer's will. It is not important that the employees must get the additional leaves. So, the
employer must sanction the application of the annual leaves by approving the request of the
employees and avoiding the risk of claim for discrimination in the court of law. In the case of JK
Walker Ltd. vs. Hussain and Others, the employees received a notice of 'no holiday rule' in the
subsequent months of May, June and July. The Muslim workers of the organization opposed this
rule by claiming their right to religion in the court of law, as the months from May to July
coincides with their festival of Eid and the sacred month of Ramadan. The court held that the
employer cannot force the employees on the basis of such discriminatory practices and rules.

They have to create a balance between the business needs and the requirements of the workers by
providing them the required amount of holidays or flexible working hours so that they can
celebrate their festivals(Sánchez, MonederoDencik and Edwards, 2020). The employers owes the
duty of care towards the employees working in the business organization. In order to fulfil the
obligation an employer must maintain the proportionality among the employees and the business
activities. In the above case of Helena, the employees are entitled for leaves and flexible working
time(Savulescu, Cameron and Wilkinson, 2020). The leaves can be granted on the alternate days
which will not adversely affect the manufacturing process and the relationship of an employer
and the employees.
 Whether the employer can form any such rules like the 'No holiday rule', with
respect to the festival season related to any specific class of people acting in the
capacity of employees?
The second issue talks about the 'no holiday rule' which has been formulated by Helena in order
to provide no leaves in the months of March, April and May in order to fulfil the demands of the
swimwear and sunhats. These months includes the festival of Eid and Ramadan which are
celebrated by the Muslim employees(Rayment, 2019). The reason given by Helena is that, the
needs of the business cannot be compromised at any cost as it is the ultimate aim to enhance the
profit maximisation of the business. In the context of the above case study, the employer that is
Helena cannot impose the rule of 'no holiday' on the employees because first of all it comes
under the ambit of indirect discrimination and further it is the right of every individual residing
in the country to profess their right to religion in order to celebrate and enjoy the festivals of Eid
and Ramadan.
Generally, in the United Kingdom, the employees who are working five days in a week are
provided with the paid holidays of 5.6 weeks that is twenty eight days per week which are fixed
and are referred as statutory leaves(Moore and Newsome, 2018).
The employees working on zero contracts, the freelancers, agency workers , are also entitled for
the annual leaves. These leaves are granted according to the employment law of UK and
accordingly, the employer can ask the employees to include the bank holidays in the said leaves.
So as to avoid the risk of claim for the right to religion and the discrimination on the basis of
freedom of religion and belief, an employer must provide the sanction to the annual leave
applications to the employees or workers who wants the leave for a particular reason specially

for the religious purposes. In order to keep up the balance, the aforesaid leaves can be granted as
unpaid leaves. According to the above explanations, an employer is not entitled to formulate
such rules like 'no holiday' on the workers(ScottPatel, 2019). The problem of clash of interests
between the employer and the employees in terms of festival months and high demand
production can be solved by allowing the employees to work on the alternate days.
CONCLUSION
The following report concludes that every employer must take into consideration the
employment laws of the country so as to avoid the after effects of the legal obligations. From the
first case study it is concluded that the contract of employment can be formed in expressed or
implied and written or oral form. The employee is entitled to receive the payslips under the
Payments of Wages Act 1991, whether the employee is working under zero employment
contract, freelancer, part time employee or having irregular working hours. Further,the
conclusion drawn from the second case scenario is that every employee working in the
organization posses the right to religion and the employer cannot restrict their rights by
formulating any rule like 'no holiday rule' in the organization. An employer must be able to
create a balance between the business needs and the workers needs.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals:
Adams, A., Freedman, J. and Prassl, J., 2018. Rethinking legal taxonomies for the gig
economy. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 34(3), pp.475-494.
Amos, M., 2021. Human rights law. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Atkinson, H., et.al., 2018. Race, ethnicity & equality in UK history: A report and resource for
change.
Bales, K., Bogg, A. and Novitz, T., 2018. ‘Voice’and ‘choice’in modern working practices:
Problems with the Taylor review. Industrial law journal, 47(1), pp.46-75.
Bogg, A., 2021. 'Labour Law is a Subset of Employment Law'Revisited. Dalhousie Law
Journal, 43(2), p.8.
Cabrelli, D., 2022. Employment Law: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Davis, H., 2021. Human Rights Law Directions. Oxford University Press.
Ghráinne, B.N. and McMahon, A., 2019. Abortion in Northern Ireland and the European
Convention on Human Rights: Reflections from the UK Supreme Court. International
& Comparative Law Quarterly, 68(2), pp.477-494.
Hankivsky, O., De Merich, D. and Christoffersen, A., 2019. Equalities ‘devolved’: experiences
in mainstreaming across the UK devolved powers post-equality act 2010. British
Politics, 14(2), pp.141-161.
Menegatti, E. and Gyulavári, T., 2022. Who Regulates Employment? Trends in the Hierarchy of
Labour Law Sources. International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial
Relations, 38(1).
Moore, S. and Newsome, K., 2018. Paying for free delivery: Dependent self-employment as a
measure of precarity in parcel delivery. Work, Employment and Society, 32(3), pp.475-
492.
Rayment, A., 2019. Changes in employment law mean new rights for workers and new
responsibilities for management. Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, 8(7), pp.348-350.
Sánchez-Monedero, J., Dencik, L. and Edwards, L., 2020, January. What does it mean
to'solve'the problem of discrimination in hiring? Social, technical and legal perspectives
from the UK on automated hiring systems. In Proceedings of the 2020 conference on
fairness, accountability, and transparency (pp. 458-468).
Savulescu, J., Cameron, J. and Wilkinson, D., 2020. Equality or utility? Ethics and law of
rationing ventilators. BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia, 125(1), p.10.
Scott-Patel, K., 2019. UK Employment Law-A Good Plan for Workers?. Int'l. In-House Counsel
J., 12, p.1.