Business Law for Managers: Case Studies and Legal Framework Review

This report analyzes three business law case studies. The first case examines the duties and responsibilities of a sole director under company law, including legislative provisions and corporate governance. The second case focuses on employment law, specifically the process of dismissing an employee, considering reasons for dismissal, and the rights of both employer and employee. The third case explores dispute resolution between two companies, discussing options beyond legal action. The report covers key aspects of company law, employment law, and contract law, providing a comprehensive overview of legal principles applicable to business management.

Coursework - Problem

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Business is an important part of the company which plays a major role in increasing
revenues of the country by making products and developing some new roles for the organisation.
Business is mainly set by the rules made in business law as it covers both private law and public
law. All the organisations works in the guidelines of the rules and laws made by the government.
It consists of Partnership act, Employment law, Contract law, Company law, IPR etc.
Employment law provides the rules made for the employers and employees while engaging in a
business as all the employees works under the norms made in it (Leow, 2017). All the business
organisation works with principal of partnership, legislations and the companies dealing with
that intact the company law act. In this case scenario, there are three case studies which deals
with the business law.
MAIN BODY
PART 1
Case Scenario
Gemme has opened a new company named Clean Machine Limited for which she is the
sole director of that company. She provides protective equipments to all the small businesses in
town Bedfordshire. As this is a new business for her she is unaware about the duties of the sole
director and all the legal provisions which are applied in company law for a sole director.
Legislative provision
Company is a legal entity which is treated as a sole body and govern with all the rules
made under company law. It consists of a perpetual succession the body of person dealing or
making the company can change. As in all the person engage in running that company can come
and go but the company will remain their forever. Company deals with all the legislation being
made by the company law (Cucari, Esposito De Falco. and Orlando, 2018).
Their consists of two types of companies they are public company which raise their
capital shares by the individual as it is open for the market and public to invest on that company
so that it can earn profit. And the other one is private company which is the sole company and
does not need any investor to invest on the company shares and funds. Companies also covers in
further two more types thnat include Limited liability in which the directors can obliges to their

rights and shares up to a limited extent and unlimited liability which provides that their will not
be any obligation in the rights or the shares for the directors.
As Company law 2006, provides various ways like corporate governance and corporate
finance, in which Corporate governance includes all the rights and the duties of the employers,
directors and the member on the other hand corporate finance provides the information about the
area from which the company raise its fund like equity, debts or from the share holders.
As being a sole director of a company all the directors came with certain responsibilities
as they will have to take the decision by there own and all the investment profit and the
responsibilities will lie on the sole directors other than that to handle the employees and make
new techniques to increase their business is well quiet important for them. When in account to
the sole director they will have to handle all the debts and liabilities by themselves (Meng,
Clements and Padgett, 2018). As Gemme is the sole director of the company she has certain
rights and duties towards the business and that arises from the company law 2006 they are as
follows:
As the first and important role of a sole director is that they should have proper
knowledge about the work and they should be properly skilled in work as being a sole director
the major responsibility lies on them to run the company with proper experience, skills and
knowledge.
Second, it is the duty of the sole director that proper records and books are to be
maintained about the companies working and everything should be clearly recorded so that their
may not be any issue or problem in that.
Third, as the sole director has to maintain all the relations they should try to avoid
conflicts between the staff or other companies it is the sole duty of the director to maintain good
and friendly relation with the working staff and give them a friendly environment for working.
All the companies investing and the share holders being involved should also get a proper
treatment by the company.
Fourth, If the sol;e director is quiet confused about the growth or investment they can
even hire an advisory committee for themselves but that director while taking help from the
advisory committee can make them help for the work and they improvise and guide them
towards the working of the company but the final decision about the company will lies to the

sole director as they can tale advise from the committee a but will have to make their final
judgement.
Sole directors can not take any profit or undue or false represented benefit from the
company or any shareholders (Marzionna, 2019).
Fifth, it is the core duty of the directors that they should maintain a friendly environment
with their employees and should give them proper training about the work and motivate their
employees so as they should work properly. Directors have to maintain a good environment in
the company by giving them goals, incentive and rewards for their good performance.
Sixth, The sole directors are not allowed to gain any profit individually as their main aim
is to focus on the growth of the organisation or company and they should work fairly without any
fraud and they should also give complete information about the changing policies and working of
the company.
Seventh, All the judgement should be made clear and all the strategies made by the
directors have to be explained to the employees so that they should work under that same
contravention and helps to earn more profit for the company (Alfraih, 2017).
Thus, being a sole director Gemme will have to follow all these rights and duties to run
the business efficiently.
PART 2
Case scenario
Gemme have employed Charanjit as the cleaner in the company Clean Machine Limited.
She observed that his attitude is poor towards her and also for other employees. Gemme have to
regularly oversee the work of Charanjit and remind him to clean all the allocated places properly.
Now she wants to terminate the employment contract.
Legislative process for dismissal
when an individual is engaged in an employment, there is contract between the employer
and employee. The contract is an agreement for the work for which the employer will pay for it
which forms the contract. In order to form the employment relationship, it is necessary as per
Employment Rights Act of 1996 that employers must give their employees a written statement
which provides the terms of contract within a period of 2 month of starting the work.

The employment law states various rights to employees which are either stated in statutes
or the regulations which may affect the relationship of employment. The rights stated under the
Parliamentary laws and regulations include the right to equal pay, right to not get discriminated,
right to not get unfairly dismissed and many other (Barnard, 2020). The employment contract
states the rights of the employees and these rights are either expressly termed or impliedly
termed in the contract of employment.
The employment contract may be terminated either by the employer or by the employee.
There are two ways in which contract of employment can be ended which includes firstly when
the employee resigns from the job and secondly when the employer dismiss the employee from
the job.
Dismissal is when the employer ends the employment of the person. It is important that
the employer must serve the notice of dismissal to the employee and the dismissal must show
that there is valid reason to dismiss and the employer have acted reasonably in the circumstance.
A dismissal can be fair or unfair which depends on two things of which first is the reason
for dismissal and the process of dismissal. Another type of dismissal includes constructive which
means when the employee resigns from the job because the terms of employment contract was
breached. The constructive dismissal may be fair but the onus id on the employer to prove that
the reason for the breach of terms of contract was fair enough. Another type of dismissal is
wrongful which is when the terms of contract of employment is breached in the process of
dismissal (Grossman, 2017).
The employer is obliged to serve the notice every time, as to whether the dismissal was
fair or not either for the period mentioned in employment contract or for the statutory notice
period, whichever is longer. According to Employment Rights Act, 1996, the statutory notice
period includes the period of one week for the employment of 1 months to 2 years, a notice of
two weeks when the employee is engaged in employment for at least 2 years and one week
notice for per year of continuous employment but it must be maximum for twelve weeks.
The employer is not bound to serve notice when it has fair reasons for the dismissal
which have evolved from the employment tribunal by using the guidelines which includes firstly
the capability which means when the employee is not capable or qualified enough to perform the
job role. Second is the conduct of the employee is not appropriate which includes all sort of
misdemeanours like theft, continuously late for the work, racist or abusive behaviour, third is

redundancy, fourth is when the employee breaks the law which includes committing gross
misconduct and fifth is other reasons like constructive dismissal (Campbell, Roberts and
Sarkaria, 2020).
The Employment Rights Act of 1996 provides a two stage test which determines whether
the dismissal is fair or not where the first stage is that the employer must show that it has fair
reasons to dismiss the employee and secondly the employment tribunal must see that employer
have acted fairly and reasonably in treating the reason to be sufficient and fair for the dismissal
(Jacobson and Fedorka, 2020).
In the present case scenario, Charanjit is not performing its job role adequately and that
his attitude towards other employees and employer is very poor. He is continuous late for the
work which shows his disinterest in the work. So in this case, Gemme may dismiss Charanjit on
the ground of conduct where his conduct is not appropriate and that he is not capable enough to
perform the job role appropriately.
Gemme may opt for the procedure to dismiss Charanjit where she has to firstly set out the
grounds for the action in writing which has led to dismissal. Then the employee Charanjit, if
wishes to appeal against the decision, the employer shall invite him to the meeting where it must
communicate its final decision to Charanjit. The grounds on which Gemme will dismiss
Charanjit must be fair enough so that it does not lead to unfair dismissal. Gemme is lawful in
dismissing Charanjit as its attitude and conduct towards the work and other colleagues is not fair
and that he is regularly late which shows its disinterest in the job. So Gemme may terminate the
contract of employment and dismiss Charanjit.
PART 3
Case Scenario
Gemma, who is the director of the company Clean Machine Limited takes her supply
material from the company named, Precious Time Limited. Gemma was facing many issues
recently with the company they were taking supplies from. Many problems also occurred
because of the various issues between both the companies. Gemma consulted about this problem
with her friend. She suggested her to take the Precious Time Limited to the court. Gemma was
not sure about this suggestion. Gemma wanted to seek an advice where she can resolve the
dispute between both the companies without taking the matter to the court as she wishes to
continue to work with the Precious Time Limited. There are many options that are available to

solve the dispute without dragging this matter to the court, i.e. through alternative dispute
resolution method.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The process to resolve the dispute between any contracting parties is commonly known
as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) or External Dispute Resolution (EDR). This is a
process in which the parties who do not agree with each other comes on to some mutual
agreement. This method is increasingly getting popular with the increase in the number of cases.
There are many advantages of using ADR method to resolve the dispute between the parties
(Golding, 2020). First is that, this method is consensual in nature. No person can compel parties
to dispute to opt for this process. Second is that this process is very flexible in nature. Thirdly,
the process of ADR is time saving and cost efficient. It gives quick remedies or decisions to the
parties. Fourthly, this process of solving dispute is confidential and do not affect the reputation
of the companies part of the dispute.
There are four ways which can be used as an alternative method to resolve dispute
between the parties. They are: Conciliation, Arbitration, Mediation and Ombudsman Scheme.
Conciliation is a method in which a conciliator is appointed by the parties. Conciliator is
a person who helps the parties to dispute to resolve matter and come to some common
agreement. The conciliator mainly focuses on the facts which lead to the problems and issues
between both the parties. Generally parties to the contract pre decide the conditions to resolve the
dispute if any in future. But even if the mode of resolving dispute is not decide the parties can
also make decisions after the dispute takes place. If either party is not satisfied with the decision
of a conciliator then they may go to the court for further help. The decision made by a conciliator
is not binding upon the parties (Tomassetti, 2018).
Arbitration is another process to resolve the dispute between the parties. This process is
carried out by an Arbitrator. In this process both the parties are expected to submit the evidences
and relevant facts to an Arbitrator for deciding the matter. If an arbitrator is not satisfied with the
evidence then he may also call parties and listen to both the sides and then make decision. The
decision made by an arbitrator have binding effect. The parties choosing this method are legally
bound by the decision of an Arbitrator (Abbott and et. al., 2018).
Mediation is also one of the method to resolve dispute. In this process a mediator is
mutually appointed by the parties to dispute. He looks into the matter and gives advice and

suggestions to the parties by learning their needs, wants and expectations. Mediator only helps
parties to reach an agreement. The decision or suggestion given by a mediator is not binding on
either parties and is also not enforceable by law (Lee, Yiu and Cheung, 2018) .
Ombudsman Scheme is also one of the process through which parties can resolve
dispute. This scheme includes various services that are provided to the customers. Under this
scheme if any person is not satisfied with any of the services they can directly approch an
organisation who is rendering those services. If within eight weeks there is no response or an
action made from the organisation then the complain is made under ombudsman. Evidence for
the same is needed to be submitted so that the whole matter can be investigated. After
investigation is complete the decision is delivered to the parties (Hamann, 2020).
In the above case, Gemma can use the method of arbitration to resolve the dispute
between both the companies. This process will help both the companies to save time, cost also
also reputation in the market by not going to the civil court. The decision by the arbitrator will be
binding upon both the companies and later companies would not be able to step back from it.
The decision will have binding effect and also will be enforceable by law. Even if Gemma do
not wish to choose Arbitration to resolve dispute, she can select any other alternative method to
resolve dispute between her company i.e. the Clean Machine Limited and the Precious Time
Limited. The main aim of all the methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution is to resolve the
matters between the disputing parties help them to come to an agreement. So, it not not important
which method to choose. Any of the above method will be proved helpful to resolve the matter
and save reputation of both the companies in the market.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from this report that for running business effectively to have knowledge of
all the laws that are related to manage business activities. There are many laws which helps in
managing business and its activities like: contracts law, alternative dispute resolution,
employment contract, etc. This report discusses three case scenarios that relates to Gemma who
is director of the Clean Machine Limited. In first case scenario all the roles, duties and
responsibilities of the directors are explained. The second case scenario is about the employment
contract law. It explains the dismissal of an employee who is under employment contract and
also explains the process by which an employment can be dismissed. The third and the last case
scenario states various methods available to resolve the dispute between the companies or any
other party through: mediation, conciliation, arbitration or Ombudsman scheme. Parties can use
any method to resolve the dispute and come to an agreement. These methods help parties to
come to conclusion ina very less time and also this process is cost efficient.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abbott and et. al., 2018. Recent Developments in Employment Law and Litigation. Tort Trial &
Insurance Practice Law Journal. 53(2). pp.335-367.
Alfraih, M.M., 2017. Choosing an external auditor: does the composition of boards of directors
matter?. International Journal of Law and Management.
Barnard, C., 2020. EU ‘Social’Policy From Employment Law to Labour Market Reform.
Campbell, G., Roberts, K.A. and Sarkaria, N., 2020. Alternative Dispute Resolution. In Harmful
Traditional Practices (pp. 175-186). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Cucari, N., Esposito De Falco, S. and Orlando, B., 2018. Diversity of board of directors and
environmental social governance: Evidence from Italian listed companies. Corporate
Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 25(3). pp.250-266.
Golding, G., 2020. The Distinctiveness of the Employment Contract. G Golding,'The
Distinctiveness of the Employment Contract'(2019). 32.
Grossman, N., 2017. Jettisoning the Normative Value of the Implied Duty of Good Faith in
Employment Law. Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 21. p.377.
Hamann, D.J., 2020. Nonprofit law: from tax advantages to employment law challenges.
In Teaching Nonprofit Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Jacobson, N. and Fedorka, S.H., 2020. Labor and Employment Law. Syracuse L. Rev., 70, p.501.
Lee, C.K., Yiu, T.W. and Cheung, S.O., 2018. Understanding intention to use alternative dispute
resolution in construction projects: Framework based on technology acceptance
model. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and
Construction. 10(1). p.04517021.
Leow, R.P.S., 2017. Companies in Private Law: Attributing Acts and Knowledge (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Cambridge).
Marzionna, P., 2019. Complaining to the Ombudsman: Alternative Dispute Resolution in
Brazilian Organizations. In Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations. Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Meng, Y., Clements, M.P. and Padgett, C., 2018. Independent directors, information costs and
foreign ownership in Chinese companies. Journal of International Financial Markets,
Institutions and Money. 53. pp.139-157.
Tomassetti, J.L., 2018. Employment Law: A Proposal for a New Course using Participatory
Learning Methods.