Business Law Report: English Legal System and Case Studies

This report delves into the intricacies of business law, examining the structure of the English legal system and its various sources of law, including statutes, common law, and the role of the government in law-making. It analyzes the legal obligations of employers, covering areas such as occupational health and safety, harassment, and equal opportunities, while also exploring the impact of employment and contract law. The report includes a case study involving a workplace accident, discussing the legal implications of employing a minor in a hazardous environment and the failures in health and safety protocols. Furthermore, the report addresses the concept and benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes, providing a comprehensive overview of business law principles and practical applications.

Business Law

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................1
P1 Structure of English legal system and different sources of laws that organisations..............1
must comply...............................................................................................................................1
P2 Role of government in law-making and application of statutory and common law in justice
courts...........................................................................................................................................3
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................4
P3 Employers’ legal obligations in different cases.....................................................................4
SECTION 3 ....................................................................................................................................7
P4 Appropriate legal solutions for the both of the case studies. ................................................7
P5 Justification of solution..........................................................................................................9
SECTION 4....................................................................................................................................11
P6 Concept and benefits of using Alternative Dispute Resolution process..............................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................14
........................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
All the laws relating to formation and operation of business is known by the name
of business law. State as well as federal both rules and regulations are included in it.
When an individual or group of people start an enterprise they have to follows all the
legal binding that exist in a region or country. In order to avoid conflicts and remove
various malpractice government made “acts” which has to be followed by everyone one
who want to do business in that nation. This report will explain English legal system and
different law that an organisation has to comply. Role of government will also become
part of this file along with jurisdiction system (Bird, 2011). Various obligation of employer
will be included in this report and their solution will also become part of this assignment.
Some cases study will be included in this file in order to understand different type of law.
Some acts and laws relating to workplace safety and insurance will be discussed.
SECTION 1
P1 Structure of English legal system and different sources of laws that organisations
must comply.
Normally a legal system operates in a particular country but English legal system
still has some presence in countries like Canada, New Zealand etc. Structure is made to
ease a complex process which can create different kind of confusion among public. This
legal system mainly has two parts, Criminal law and Civil law. Criminal is related to
crime which can be very serious like murder or it can general accusation like stealing an
important data or information. Civil is related to private disputes which can be between
individuals or may be among different organisations (Bishara, 2011). In English legal
system, Supreme court is the apex body, their judgement will be considered as a final
decision in all part of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Magistrates courts and
Tribunal are first place where a person should go in case of any legal problem. Crown
court and Country court is next level, in earlier one serious offences are handled and
later one deal in normal cases which are not too complicates and not to simple. High
court is their superior body which has two parts, first is based on family division i.e.
Queen's Bench division and Chancery division and second is based Divisional court i.e.
Administrative court and Divisional court.
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Sources of law:
Law in United kingdom mainly has four sources, first is statutes which is made by
UK parliament and devolved parliaments (Borde and Rhee, 2011). Second is 'common
law' which were established centuries ago at the time of standardisation of regulations
throughout England. Third is from European union and last one is case law. Parliament
is prime source of developing a law because it is their duty and responsibility. Selected
candidates has to vote if they want execution of proposed act, if projected bill get
majority of votes than it become a law which has to be followed by everyone. Common
law do not have much importance in recent time because they are considered as an
outdates rules and regulation so government try to end them whenever they create a
problem. United kingdom was a part of European union so an organisation had to follow
various rules and regulation made by them but after completion of Brexit they do not
have to follow these legal obligations. Some decisions given by courts become law and
it can be taken as base for future judgements. Recent reform focus on removing various
legal barriers in social investments and their were some recommendations relating to
issues like fire arms which will now be covered in The Policing and Crime Act 2017
because it got Royal Assent.
P2 Role of government in law-making and application of statutory and common law in
justice courts.
Government play a crucial role in formation and implementation of law because
parliament is responsible for developing various acts (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2014).
When a problem emerge which made a huge impact on life of many people than
government try to make a rule so people who are creating these troubles can be
checked. In order to stop them, authorities make proposal which is than sent to cabinet
ministers. If they agree with proposal they convert in into a bill which contain all the
provision and section regarding various issues. This bill is than presented in parliament
where government has to make lot of efforts so that bill can become a 'law'. Their are
different stages which has to be followed when a bill go to parliament, in first reading bill
is made available to all then MPs and in second reading MPs from government side try
to convince other MPs so they will vote in favour of bill. Peers and members of
parliament discuss this bill and government try to solve various queries relating to
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proposed bill (De Jonge, 2011). A Committee is made in order to make necessary
changes and amendments, this commission generally have 20MPs. Debate and voting
happen in third reading and than it is sent to Monarch for 'assent' so a bill can be turned
into an act.
Statutory law is a written act enacted by legislative body, its nature is prescriptive and
new law is issued by different government authorities. Common law is made by various
decision that are given in judges, they have an instructive nature and it has a wide
scope. Statutory law is made by government and its various agencies, generally these
rules and regulation are made to solve public problem and avoid different types of
conflicts. Court give judgements of the basis of these acts which contain provisions for
punishment. All the decisions giving by judges are connected to some law, they can not
free or punish anyone without mention the law which free or punish a person or an
organisation. Common law is vert different from statutory because it consider past
judgements by courts at the time of giving any judgement (Dickerson, 2011). Jury can
give decision on the basis of various judgements that is given in past cases, there is no
necessity that they need to follow law that is made by government.
SECTION 2
P3 Employers’ legal obligations in different cases.
 Occupational Health and Safety – According to occupational safety and health
administration act, an employer has to provide a workplace which is free from
hazardous situation. They have to make sure that employees use safe tools and
equipment so any type of accident can be avoided. They should educate and
aware them about various risks that is present in a particular job by using
posters, signs and different colour code. OSHA standards state that employees
should be given proper medical examination as well as training in the language
that can be understand by workers. In case of any fatalities employer has to
report the incident within 8 hours of its happening to OSHA office, if amputation
and loss of eyes happen than it has to be reported within 24 hours (Eren and
et .al., 2012). They have to keep record of all the injuries and illness that has
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happened but enterprise will less than 10 employees in some industries are
exempted from it. Employer has to develop and update various procedures
relating to safety and health requirement on regular basis.
 Employer has to get workers' compensation insurance to all the employees and
paste a poster relating to issue at a visible area (Esposito, 2012). In case of any
accident where an employee get injured than employer has to pay the claim
within 24 hours, copy of claim has to be given to the injured worker. Medical
assistance up to $10000 has to be paid within one day after filing the claim.
Employer has to provide accommodation to the injured worker and in the case of
any violence they has to release notice about workers' compensation eligibility. It
a personal liability of employer to compensate worker in case of injurey or
accident.
 Harassment – Unfair treatments, spreading rumours, undermine a qualified
worker etc. (Fassin and Buelens, 2011). are some of the examples of
harassment which is not legal in Equality act 2010. Employer has to make rules
and regulation which assist in stopping this problem at the points of its
generation. Communication on continuous time period has to be done in order to
check cases of harassment.
 Equal opportunities – Provider of job has legal obligation by law to give equal
chances to all the workers so various type of discrimination can be avoided. An
employer can not differ salary of employees with same capability on the basis of
gender or colour. People with disability has to be treated in same way and their
remuneration should also be equal with others.
Relevant employment and contract law will have a potential impact upon the business.
Employment law is made for issues like pay, work hours, recruiting and firing
workers, grievance etc. (Folsom and et .al., 2012). It cover area like sick pay but at the
same time unauthorised absence it also included in it. Discrimination is a major problem
across the global, this trouble is covered in Equality act but it also has connections with
various rules and regulations of act relating to jobs. Employment law play a crucial role
between employers and workers, it gives a clear image about what an employer can
expect from his employees and what workers can ask to the job provider. Various rights
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relating to workplace also get included in this act because it has direct connection with
employment. Their are some other things in this act which do not have much legal
binding but they are necessary to keep smooth relations between both parties.
Providing right information to employees will motivate them to work hard so their
performance can get better (Gjølberg, 2011). This law contain rights relating to
dismissal as well as redundancy which help a business in minimising risk of various
legal dispute. Remuneration is one of the most important part of this law which include
topic like minimum wages, equality is pay etc. pension is also covered in this subject.
Contract is an intentional arrangement between two or more than two parties
which has legal binding. This law do not have much connection with employment but
two people or entities can make mutual consent in order to achieve common objective.
In this case a girl who's age is 16 was working in a fast food outlet. Her job is to make
fries at frying range, she felt down on a ice making machine, in order to save herself she
put her hand in a deep fryer which has boiling oil with a temperature of 360 degree
fahrenheit. This causes serious injury to her left arm which got severely burnt, her
forearm are got critically damaged. When this whole incident was happening their was a
shortage of staff and team leader not monitoring workplace, he was operating tills
(Hayden and Bodie, 2012). The first question arises here is relating to giving
employment to a 16 year old girl. It is not legal to recruit a 16 year girl for such a risk
work. Another issues will be relating to proper health and safety measures which were
not followed at the time of incident. This work contain high risk but a girl whose age is
only 16 was doing is work which was very damages and could take her life. Another
area where employer commit mistake is ignoring important task of monitoring. This type
of job need continuous supervision but team leader was not doing his work because of
which influence of injury increases. His presence could minimise the damage and some
severe injuries can be avoided. Shortage of staff was another issue, some part of this
accident can be stopped it needed worker were presence on that day. The process of
giving her first aid and other medical treatment got delayed because their were very few
employees available to help her.
It is obvious that business will have to face many negative implications because
of this incident. First of all tehi9r image and goodwill will go down which will reduce their
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market share and it will ultimately make a huge impact on their revenue (Hiller, 2013).
They have to report this incident to OSHA office and they have to register it in record of
these types of accidents. Employer has to pay for medical treatment of that girl because
it is stated in health and safety act. Girl was not aware of these kind of risk because of
appropriate warning regarding the risk was not pasted at a visible site. If proper poster
or colour were pasted at right places than this incident could be avoided. Another issue
is related to first aid service, according to various rules and regulations workers has to
be trained so they can give necessary treatment which can minimise the damage but
severe injuries depict that no one gave her essential medical assistance because of
which her left hand and forehand got burnt.
SECTION 3
P4 Appropriate legal solutions for the both of the case studies.
Employment act states proper way by which an employ should be recruited and it
also mention the process of retrenchment (King and Raja, 2013). Their are mainly two
type of dismissal, one is unfair dismissal and other is wrongful dismissal. Normally a
laymen consider both of kind as a same thing but there are big differences between
both of them. In wrongful discharge, an employee is fired by breaking the contract that
exist between employer and employee. In other case worker get dismissed by without
getting any notice about retrenchment which is essential according to the law. Notice
should be given in right amount and at correct time. These types of incidents happen at
large number because most the companies and employer do not take these rules and
regulation very seriously which put them in major legal trouble in long run. According to
the law, proper number of notice should be given to a worker in case of retrenchment so
he/she can start search of new job without getting any delay. An employee can not be
fired by giving a single notice, correct number of warning should be given so worker can
know what kind of mistakes he/she is commenting and he/she can avoid them in future.
In case of unfair dismissal, a worker do not get fair reason of his/her dismissal
(Leung and et.al., 2013). Sometime employer has fair reason but the way matter got
handled is unfair, in this situation the person who got fired has a right under law to go
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for a claim against dismissal. Normally in these type of cases organisation want to find a
reason to discharge the worker so they make find bogus or unfair reason to remove the
people who are working with them. Unfair dismissal in a statutory right which is made by
parliament and it get cover under an act. But there are some points which has to be
qualified in order to use this right. Employee has to be working as a full time or part time
worker and hours does not matter ,according to the law. Their is one important point in
in this regulation that individual who is using provision of the act should be working in
the organisation for at least 1 year but there are some exception in certain cases. Every
firm has a retirement age, generally it is 60-65, an employee can not use this right if
company is dismissing him/her because he/she has crossed the age at which he/she is
suppose to retire but it also have some exceptions.
Calvin was a designer in a big fashion house (Michalos, 2017). He was working
for almost fours years and got a status of permanent employee. Donna was her
employer who fired him because she got a suspicion on Calvin that he stole £100 which
was missing from the petty cash box. At the time of happening of this incident their were
four other employees but she discovered that Calvin's behaviour was suspicious. She
did not give him any notice regarding retrenchment and insult him by saying that she
would not allow a thief in the organisation. Dismissal of Calvin was both unfair and
wrongful. In law, it is clearly stated that proper number of notice should be given to the
person who is getting fired. Calvin did not get any notice before Donna tell him to leave
the organisation. This is unethical because notice of retrenchment should be given for at
least 1 month before discharging an employee. The reason of firing Calvin was also
unfair, their was no investigation regarding petty cash thief and he was blamed only on
the basis of suspicion. Their were four other employees at the time of incident but they
were not asked about the stealing, employer do not ask questions to them and give the
judgement that Calvin is culprit (Monseau, 2011). She also insult him by calling her thief
in front of everyone which can also be considered as a case of harassment.
If Calvin go to court than Fashion house has to face many legal trouble because
they breach the law. In order to avoid judicial problem they can give correct amount of
notice at proper time to Calvin so all the legal binding can be followed and major legal
difficulties can be avoided. They can give him a letter of apology and reappoint him.
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Fashion house should start an investigation about missing money from pretty cash so
real culprit can be fond and charges of stealing money on Calvin can be removed. In
another case, Dan was an owner of small convenience store which got destroyed in the
fire (Reed and et.al., 2013). He open another store at a new location and than he apply
for fire insurance, at the time of filling the form he got confused in a question which ask
about any claim that Dan made in last 2 years. He thought insurance company was
asking about last 2 years but actually he was asking for 23 months (Nichols, 2012). New
store also got burnt and Dan face severe loss, insurance firm denied the payment of
claim. Insurance company can not deny the claim because Dan was not aware of the
legal meaning of 2 years, he thought was 24 months but according to law it was on 23
months. According to the Insurance act, it is the duty of a company to fairly present their
policies and regulations to every costumers so they can avoid any committing any
mistake intentionally. It is the responsibility of insurance firm to remove any type of
confusion that they occur in the process of form filling. They must clear some general
errors that a customer can make like considering 2 year as 24 months instead of 23
months (Roe, 2013). Dan should file a case in court because he is entitled for claim
according to the Insurance act 2015.
Insurance company has to face many legal consequences because of this
problem. Their image in industry and market will suffer and their overall customer
across the nation will also decrease (Nissenbaum, 2011). This may reduce their profits
which is the main target of most of the organisation. In order to avoid this situation they
should pay Dan amount of claim money and a letter of apology for inconvenience. This
matter should be solved out of court because it will cost lot of money of company and
their brand value will also not go down in the market.
P5 Justification of solution.
Everyone has to follow the law that are present in an nation whether it is an
individual or a company. The solutions that are provided in above answer are mainly
related to the legal solution. This type of solution is best for both, the person who is
going to file the case and the company or employer against whom case is going to be
filed. Name of a business play a huge role in its success, if Calvin file a case on fashion
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house than their brand image will go down which will also make a huge impact on their
sale (Oswald, 2014). So to avoid this type of problem it is preferable that they solve the
matter out of court because it Calvin will file a case than both have to pay huge amount
of money their lawyer. Settlement outside court will save lot of money to both the parties
and they do not have to wait for long time to clear the matter. Judiciary system take too
much time in taking any decision which will not be beneficial for both the parties. In
other case insurance company rejects the insurance claim made by Dan. This matter
could get stretch for a long time so it is advisable to insurance company to pay the
amount because because according to Insurance act it was their fault. It they take this
matter in court than and lose this case than value of their goodwill may go down which
is not good in insurance of industry. But there is another perception regarding this
solution which is bit risky (Ruggie, 2014). Generally it is advisable to solve the matter
out of court but in both cases if Fashion house or Insurance company go to court than
they may win the case. If fashion house go to court than they may explain the reason
why they fired Calvin without giving proper notice. Although fashion house should fire
him after giving proper notice and a fair reason but if they appoint a good lawyer than
they can represent their facts clearly which can help in convincing judiciary system.
Their chance so winning the case in court is very less so it is advisable to solve the
matter without involving judiciary system.
Same thing can be done in case of insurance company and Dan, although they
can resolve the issue out of court but if they involve legal system than it will not be
beneficial for both of them (Santner, 2011). Both have to pay high fees to lawyers and
various legal charges, whole process of solving this issue will also take lot of time will is
not good for both of them. If Dan knock the door of court and insurance company get
agree to fight it than they may win the case and avoid payment of claim. But they also
understand that their chances of winning the case is very low and if they lose in hearing
it will ruin their image and brand in industry. Because their chances of winning the case
is not high is advisable that they should clear the matter out the court.
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