Comprehensive Report on UK Employment Laws and Regulations

This report offers a comprehensive overview of UK employment laws, covering various aspects of the employer-employee relationship. It begins with an introduction to employment regulations and their purpose, emphasizing the importance of fair treatment and natural justice in the workplace. The report then delves into the role of the court system and employment tribunals in resolving disputes, including the process of settling cases before and during formal legal procedures like the Early Conciliation Scheme. It explores the laws regarding recruitment, selection activities, and the critical topic of discrimination, including direct, indirect, perceptive, associative, harassment, victimization, and third-party harassment. The report examines employment contracts, highlighting both express and implied terms, and addresses managing change and reorganization, including changing contracts, redundancy law, and business transfer requirements (TUPE). The report includes relevant cases and statutes to illustrate key legal principles. This report aims to provide a clear understanding of the complex legal landscape governing employment in the UK.

Employment Laws
05-Jan-18
(Student Details: )

Employment Laws
Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................................3
Employment Regulations and its purpose.....................................................................................3
Goals.......................................................................................................................................... 3
The role of court system and tribunal........................................................................................4
Settling the cases before and also during the formal legal procedure.......................................4
Managing the recruitment and the selection activities.................................................................5
Laws regarding discrimination...................................................................................................5
Employment Contracts.............................................................................................................. 7
Managing change and reorganization...........................................................................................8
Changing contracts.................................................................................................................... 8
Need of redundancy law............................................................................................................8
Business transfer requirements.................................................................................................9
Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 10
Primary Sources....................................................................................................................... 10
Cases.................................................................................................................................... 10
Statutes and statutory instruments.....................................................................................10
Secondary Sources...................................................................................................................10
Books................................................................................................................................... 10
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Introduction
Employment laws, as the name suggests, are the laws which govern the employment of
an employee, and also puts out the rules for the employers. In United Kingdom, there are a
number of legislations which apply over the different facets of the employment. It is crucial that
all these legislations, as become applicable, are followed properly, in order to avoid a breach of
the statutory laws. Included in the range of laws are the Equality Act, 20101, the Working Time
Regulations, 19982, the Employment Rights Act, 19963, the Employment Relations Act, 19994,
and the Employment Act, 20025, amongst the others.
These employment laws govern the relationship which is present between an employer
and an employee during the course of employment. Through these laws, assistance is attained
in the regulation of the employee rights and of the things which can be expected in a
reasonable manner by the employee from their employer6. This discussion is focused upon
highlighted the different areas of the employment law present in UK. In doing so, the various
points which would be highlighted include the purpose of employment law, lawful recruitment,
and changes in business, including TUPE and redundancy.
Employment Regulations and its purpose
Goals
The main aim, or as can be stated as its objectives, goals or objectives, of the
employment law is to ensure that the people working in workplace and being present their are
1 Equality Act, 2010
2 Working Time Regulations, 1998
3 Employment Rights Act, 1996
4 Employment Relations Act, 1999
5 Employment Act, 2002
6 Simon Honeyball, Honeyball & Bowers' Textbook on Employment Law (14th edn, Oxford University Press 2016)
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treated in reasonable and a fair manner. The other purpose of employment law is to ensure
that the individuals are treated in a manner which shows natural justice7.
The role of court system and tribunal
The employment law mainly forms a part of the civil portion of the law and where any
sort of dispute or conflict is raised in the employment law, these are referred at the very start
to the employment tribunals. The hearings which take place in the employment tribunals are
informal when they are compared to the higher courts and yet they are given the status as is
given to the courts. The verdicts of the employment tribunals can be made an appeal against to
the Employment Appeals Tribunal based on the point of law8.
When it comes to the appeals from Employment Appeals Tribunal, these can be made in
the Court of Appeal and after this stage they can be referred to the Supreme Court, beyond
with there is no more courts to appeal in, as the Supreme Court is the highest appeal court in
UK. Given that Brexit has already been passed, there is still absence of clear policy on Brexit,
and due to these reasons, the laws of European Union continue to apply over UK and this is the
reason why the decisions made in the courts of UK, can be referred before ECJ, i.e., the
European Court of Justice9.
Settling the cases before and also during the formal legal procedure
Back in April 2014, the Employment Conciliation Scheme was introduced and the same
was made compulsory just one month after that. The purpose of this scheme was to bring
down the number of claims being made to the employment tribunal. This scheme provides that
the person making the claim is contracted by the Early Support Conciliation Officer and this is
done to seek the details of the claims which have been made and at the same time the claimant
is asked regarding the process of conciliation.
7 Kathy Daniels, Employment Law: An Introduction for HR and Business Students (3rd edn, Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development 2012)
8 Elizabeth Aylott, Employment Law (Kogan Page Publishers 2014)
9 Hugh Collins, Employment Law (2nd edn, Oxford University Press 2010)
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In such cases where a result is not obtained even after making use of this scheme, the
individual has the option of making an application before the employment tribunals and once
this is done the ACAS gets in contact with both the employer and employee in order to facilitate
a settlement as is the purpose of the Early Conciliation Scheme. In such cases, the role of ACAS
is to simply mediate upon the matter in place of providing any sort of advice to the parties. In
this very process, negotiations are included and this is done through the Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform Act, 201310. A point which is crucial in this regard is that when the
settlement agreement is put up, care has to be undertaken in doing so. This had been a point of
emphasis in the case of Newbury v Sun Microsystems11 in which it was held by the court that
the offer which had the settlement sum was actually binding due to the reasons that it had
covered ample amount of details for a person to agree upon the terms, after gaining an
understanding on them.
Managing the recruitment and the selection activities
Laws regarding discrimination
Discrimination is a common term which is meant to denote that a particular individual is
given a higher or a lesser preference in comparison to the other person, owing to the particular
features which are held by the individual. In UK, the Equality Act, 2010 works against
discrimination and through this very act, discrimination on the basis of seven different points is
prohibited; the seven types include direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, perceptive
discrimination, associative discrimination, harassment, victimization and the third party
harassment.
The Equality act puts forth nine protected characteristics based on which the claim of
discrimination can be made and included in these nine characteristics are sex, belief or religion,
gender reassignment, disability, age, race, marital status or civil partnership, pregnancy or
maternity, and sexual orientation. The point of significance here is that the discrimination
should never take place in the recruitment and in the selection procedures in employment law
10 Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, 2013
11 [2013] EWHC 2180
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context. So, just because a person follows a particular religion or is from a particular race, it
should not hinder his selection in the company for higher posts or even his recruitment in the
company12. As highlighted earlier, the laws of EU are still applicable on UK; and in this context,
the discrimination is restricted through the Equal Treatment Directive 2006/54/EC13, where
there is a requirement of providing all the people with equal opportunity.
The instances of direct discrimination occur where an individual is treated in a manner
which can be deemed as less favourable in comparison to the other individuals owing to the
protected characteristics held by such individual. Amnesty International v Ahmed14 brings forth
clarity in this regard. In this case, a candidate had not been selected Amnesty International for
their Sudan region due to the fear of the life of this candidate. When the matter reached before
the Employment Appeals Tribunal, they agreed that the motive here was quite noble; however,
this could not deny the presence of direct discrimination in this case.
The instances of indirect discrimination occur where some policies, rules or practices
apply over every person but have the worse impact on some of the individuals when compared
to the other individuals. In the case of R v Secretary of State ex parte Equal Opportunities
Commission15, the proceedings were brought by the Equal Opportunities Commission against
the government. In order for the unfair dismissal claim to be brought forth by the employees
who worked full time, they had to have completed two years of service. A claim of indirect
discrimination was thus brought due to the women facing hardships in making the case of
unfair dismissal owing to the higher chance of them being employed in a part time manner for
the purpose of looking after their kids and the average provided that he women would have to
serve for a longer period in comparison to men. As a result of this, the claim made regarding
the undertaken indirect discrimination, had been upheld.
The case of perceptive discrimination is such discrimination which is born due to the
thinking of someone holding a protected characteristic in such cases where the individual may
not even have such a protected characteristic. The associative discrimination is related to such
12 At 7
13 Equal Treatment Directive 2006/54/EC
14 [2009] IRLR 884 EAT
15 [1995] 1 AC 1
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instances of discrimination against the individuals which result from the individuals being
associated with an individual who holds such protected characteristic. The case of Coleman v
Attridge Law16 saw requests being made by Coleman for the flexible working pattern as her son
had been disabled. An argument had been made by Coleman that she had been treated in a
manner which was less favourable in comparison to the parent of the children who were not
disabled and who could work in a flexible manner. The European Court of Justice made a ruling
in favour of Coleman based on the European Employment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC17
and as a result of this, the case of associative discrimination was upheld.
Harassment is the conduct which is unwanted and which is related to the relevant
protected characteristic owing to which there is a violation of the dignity of an individual and
the person is made to feel humiliated or degraded. The case of Strathclyde Regional Council v
Porcelli18 saw two male colleagues being made accountable for direct sex discrimination and for
harassment by the tribunal due to the removal of the belongings of Procelli, the equipment
being stored beyond her reach, the information being withheld, suggestive remarks being
made, and lastly, brushing against her in a deliberate manner.
Third party harassment refers to the things which are attained from a person who is not
the employee of company, and a leading example of this is the consumer or client of the
company. In such cases, the liability is raised for the employer in such instances where the case
of harassment occurs at two or more instances, and where the employer had clear knowledge
of such taking place, followed by the failure of the employer in undertaking the requisite steps
for the purpose of stopping the same from taking place. Victimization is something which is the
unfair treatment being given to the employee, upon them making any compliant or where such
an employee supports the grievance which have been initiated under the Equality Act, 201019.
16 (2008) C-303/06
17 European Employment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC
18 [1986] IRLR 134
19 At 7
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Employment Contracts
A key part of the employment contracts is the recruitment process. A key requirement
in this regard, placed on the employers, is to give written statement to the employee in the
matter of initial employment particulars in a time frame of two months from the employment
being initiated. The employment contracts can also be undertaken in verbal manner and in such
cases the recruitment process has to be undertaken in a careful manner in order to avoid any
unwanted verbal commitment being made. The employment contracts have both implied and
express terms and both such terms have to be complied with. The implied terms are born from
customs, practices, case laws, collective agreements, statue, work rules and confidentiality. The
case of United Bank v Akhtar20 saw 6 days notice made to employee for relocation given rise to
a successful claim by the employer owing to the implied term in employment contract of
confidence and mutual trust being contravened.
Managing change and reorganization
Changing contracts
Owing to a number of reasons, changes could be required in the employment contract.
This includes automation efficiency, economy, business being changed, or the most recent
Brexit taking place. The employer may have to extend the trading hours, requiring the shift of
employee being increased. For all such reasons, contract needs to be varied, where the first
step is to undertake consultation with the employee for getting agreement on change. Upon
this being successful, a new employment contract is chalked out21.
Need of redundancy law
There are three situations in which redundancy can take place. The first is where the
business is intended to be ceased by the employer; the second is one in which the business is
intended to be ceased by the employer in location where employee works; and the third is
where the demand for the work done by employee declines. When such happens, the ACAS
20 [1989] IRLR 507
21 At 7
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Code of Practice: Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures has to be followed and this is not
restricted to the redundancy cases. Also, this procedure includes collective consultation. A list
has been provided in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act, 199222 which is
to be given to the employee by the employer before the consultative process begins. The
employer also is under the obligation of looking for alternative and suitable employment for
employee in redundancy cases23.
Business transfer requirements
TUPE, or transfer of undertaking, occurs when a part or all of the business is sold by the
employer and the same is being transferred to another employer. The Transfer of Undertakings
(Protection of Employees) Regulations 200624 provides two types of transfer and these are
transfer of service and economic entity services resulted in identity being retained. TUPE’s main
objective is to protect the employees upon being transferred, and here also the consultation
process has to be undertaken.
22 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act, 1992
23 At 7
24 Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employees) Regulations 2006
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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Cases
Amnesty International v Ahmed [2009] IRLR 884 EAT
Coleman v Attridge Law (2008) C-303/06
Newbury v Sun Microsystems [2013] EWHC 2180
R v Secretary of State ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission [1995] 1 AC 1
Strathclyde Regional Council v Porcelli [1986] IRLR 134
Statutes and statutory instruments
Employment Act, 2002
Employment Relations Act, 1999
Employment Rights Act, 1996
Equal Treatment Directive 2006/54/EC
Equality Act, 2010
European Employment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act, 1992
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employees) Regulations 2006
Working Time Regulations, 1998
Secondary Sources
Books
Aylott E, Employment Law (Kogan Page Publishers 2014)
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Collins H, Employment Law (2nd edn, Oxford University Press 2010)
Daniels K, Employment Law: An Introduction for HR and Business Students (3rd edn, Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development 2012)
Honeyball S, Honeyball & Bowers' Textbook on Employment Law (14th edn, Oxford University
Press 2016)
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