Legal Aspects of Business: Employment Law and the Equality Act 2010

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LEGAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS
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Table of Contents
Letter................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference List................................................................................................................................10
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Letter
To
Alex,
The Director of Manufacturing Shirts Company
Subject: Legal advice on employment policy
Date: 11th May 2019
Sir,
Introduction
The “legal aspects of business” are necessary for the business organisations to follow. All the
rules and regulations of how the business will operate are being provided in this part. These are
essential for the business organisations to have proper look at the different rules and their
workings so that the issues are solved. There are different types of laws out of which the
“Equality Act 2010” is very important. This act provides all the necessary information about the
equality that needs to be followed within the area of the organisation. These are vital for the
business in order to have proper working conditions. This is a part of the “employment law” that
started to act from 1st of October, 2010. This act came by replacing the laws of discrimination
that were present in the country. With the formation of the “Equality Act 2010” all other acts
related to the discrimination came under one heading. This was prepared to make the laws easy
for the people so that the issues are reduced within the business.
The assignment will provide detailed information about the “Equality Act 2010”, which will help
the business with all the related information within their operations. There are various cases like
cancers that are covered within this act. If any worker is having cancer in the country of England
and Wales, then he will be “protected from discrimination” in the area of work under “the
Equality Act 2010” (Acas.org.uk, 2019). It can be any type of cancer but all types are treated in
the same way to avoid any kind of discrimination within the business area.
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According to “the Section 4 of the Equality Act 2010”, there are numbers of protected
characteristics. These are necessary to be checked at the workplace. These characteristics are:
1. Disability
2. Race
3. Age
4. Sex
5. Religion
6. Pregnancy and maternity
7. Gender reassignment
8. Sexual orientation
9. Marriage and Civil partnership
All the points that are presented above states the protected characteristics that are necessary for
the business organisations to follow so that they understand all the aspects of the act.
Disability is such a thing that can happen to any person at any point of time and can stay for a
shorter or a longer period of time and even last for a life time. These are vital for the workers so
that they are protected during their disability without any kind of discrimination. These are vital
for the business to work in a proper manner so that the disability is protected. “According to
Section 6 (1)”, disability is such an activity, where a person who faces disability, which can be
mental or physical impairment to carry out his daily work. In this situation, it is necessary for the
management to protect the employee so that he gets the amount of money from the organisation
to carry out his daily needs (Acas.org.uk, 2019). Disability can be protected by providing all the
facilities to the disabled person to get back into proper condition and continue working with the
organisation he was working in.
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Main Body
This part of the letter is very vital which will present the whole case of James. James is a person
who works in the organisation of Alex. The organisation is a manufacturer of shirts. There are
total of twenty employees working under this organisation. The case of James is that he is
suddenly ill and is taken to the hospital for the last four weeks. He had to go a lot of time in the
hospital to undergo a lot of medical tests. There is a suspect of cancer. Thus, it can be said that
this is another type of disability that is present in James and he should be treated as per “the
Equality Act 2010”. The reason behind this is that James cannot work in the business until he has
fully recovered from the sickness that he is facing. This shows that he is temporarily disabled
from doing the work.
It is the duty of the management and the director to provide t he necessary support to his
employee, which Alex is doing properly (Acas.org.uk, 2019). “The Employment Act, 2002”
states that all the employees needs to be treated in the same way so that there are no
discriminations that are being faced by the employees at any given point of time. This also states
that the employer cannot dismiss an employee at his will. Alex, the director of the organisation
has a lot of concern and affection for his employee, who is very much experienced and has
provided good results for the organisation. In the same time, the financial condition of the
business is also not good, as he needs to hire an employee on the temporary basis, who will
provide service to the organisation in the place of James.
Alex has understood that the employees are very big assets for the business and he needs to take
care of his employees so that he can perform his work in a proper manner. These are beneficial
for Alex as they are performing well for the business which is earning him lots of money. The
gesture that Alex shows towards James in regards to help him with the salary so that some part of
the expenses that are incurred by James can be recovered. In the same time, the hiring of an
additional employee will cost the organisation extra amount of money, which will become a
burden for the director Alex (Macmillan.org.uk, 2019). This is essential for Alex, as he needs to
take proper decision as to what he will be doing. In this place, “the Equality Act 2010” will be
needed so that Alex can take all the necessary action in relation to the act so that nothing is
hampered (Stein, 2017). There are twenty employees working under Alex and he needs to look
after all the employees and also needs to run the business properly. The reason is that the other
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employees that are working in the organisation are working to get the aid of finance that they
receive as salaries. This cannot be denied by Alex in order to support James.
The unique situation that James is facing is very tough for him to perform his activities due to the
sickness that he is going through. Since, he has very high values; the absence of James from the
organisation due to the sickness is affecting the organisation as well. According to “the Equality
Act of 2010”, there are number of rights that are necessary for him comply with. The
management of the organisation needs to work to fulfil all the rights of James. If one of the rights
are not fulfilled in a proper manner then James can lodge a complaint and can claim his rights. In
this part, the employer cannot discriminate among his employees and there cannot be any kind of
deductions in the salary of James until he is working for the organisation and do not give
resignation (Acas.org.uk, 2019). This is vital for the employer Alex as he might face issues if he
do not provide James with proper remuneration in this course of time. This is vital for Alex to go
through all the legal documents in order to have a look at the different aspects of the business so
that he can take the necessary steps in order to protect the operations of the business. There are
different cases that are of the same types where the employers were taken into court for not
giving the rights of the employees.
In the case of “Lofty V Hamis, 2018” it was stated that Mrs. Lofty had cancer before she joined
in this organisation. This is the reason that did not allow her to enjoy all the rights. However, for
the case of James, he faced cancer during his workings with the organisation. Thus, it becomes a
necessity for Alex to provide him with all the rights that James will get. It can be commented
that James will be liable to get all the necessary rights including his remuneration and if anything
is deducted from the remuneration then that can be treated as “violation of rights according to the
Equality Act of 2010”. These are beneficial for James and he also needs the remuneration for his
check-up (Olaniyan and Hystad, 2016). These cannot be denied by Alex as the sickness started
after James have joined the organisation and until James gives a resignation he will enjoy all the
rights as he has become disabled and cannot earn for a living and as well as for the cost of the
checkups. It is a necessity for the director to provide James with all the facilities that will help
him to get proper treatments from the hospital.
The reports that are found from the other groups states the organisation cannot terminate the
employee during this situation. This has been stated in “the Equality Act of 2010”. There cannot
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be any kind of discrimination done with James due to his sickness. This is stated in the “Section
4 of the Equality Act of 2010” that if a person is facing any kind of sickness after joining the
organisation then he cannot be terminated under any grounds. The law will not accept this as the
cause of illness is not yet determined. It is stated that he might face cancer but that is not
declared from the tests. Thus, before the confirmation the employer Alex needs to pay the
remuneration of James (Acas.org.uk, 2019). These are significant for the employer and as well as
for the employee as the test results can be something different and discrimination cannot be done
by any organisation. Until, the sickness is confirmed by the hospital, Alex cannot take any
drastic step by terminating the employee James from his role. On the contrary, James in on a
long absence from his job due to his sickness, this can act as legal liability on the ground of the
profession. Still the termination of the employee James in the grounds of sickness cannot be an
option for the employer. These are necessary to be kept in the mind of the employer so that
nothing is affected and the issues of the laws do not affect the operations of the organisation.
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 indicates that the disabled people should not face any type of
discrimination within their workplace (legislation.gov.uk, 2019). The employer has to treat them
equally while promoting the employees or giving them working responsibilities. In case of
James, Alex should not terminate him from the organisation due to his disability. As commented
by Alhaboby et al. (2016), it can be said that if any worker is diagnosed with a serious health
issue then the organisational management needs to offer them with enough support so that they
can be able to take necessary medication.
At the time of working in an organisation, the staffs are provided with several employment
benefits including health insurance (Acas.org.uk, 2019). The workers suffering from cancer
should be treated fairly by their employers. As James has encountered the health issue after
joining the organisation hence Alex has the full responsibility of helping James to receive the
required treatment. James can get help from the health insurances to cope with the treatment
cost. Sometimes, the organisations do not have updated internal policies and for this reason, the
staffs become unable to get the employment benefits. Reasonable accommodation can be
provided to the workers having cancer. In addition to this, Alex can ask the other internal staffs
to support James and help him to perform his work when he will re-join the organisation.
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In context of Alex it can be said that he can offer changing working hours to James so that he can
continue his treatment procedure and ensure that his work also done simultaneously. However, it
would not be possible for Alex to make huge changes in the work timings as it would affect the
business process of the organisation. James can claim medical leave to the organisation for the
treatment procedure.
Alex can approve the medical leave of James and allow him to join the workplace after
recovering from the health issue. Moreover, Alex can help him financially so that James does
have to face trouble to continue his treatment as the medication cost of cancer is very expensive.
As per the point of view Alhaboby et al. (2016), it can be said that if an employee is suffering
from poor health condition then he can give resignation and take rest at home. In case of James,
he can resign from his responsibility as he has to receive medication and treatment. However,
Alex has no right to terminate him after knowing his health condition as it will affect his mental
health very badly.
On the contrary Wintemute (2016) argued that, it is necessary to think from the perspective of an
employer also. In case if any of his workers is suffering from injury or serious health condition
and they are unable to come to the workplace then their work remains incomplete. For this
reason, the employer also encounters issues to manage the workflow. At this time they can hire
part time worker to balance the business process however, they should not terminate that worker
suffering from health problem.
Conclusion
There are different areas that are necessary for the employer to look at during any kind of illness
that is faced by the employees of the business. It is necessary for the employers to provide those
employees with proper remuneration until they are completely stated with a disease that will not
be cured within a short span of time. The thing that has happened in this scenario that James is
going through severe illness and the doctors have thought that this can be cancer but nothing has
been stated officially. Alex, the director of the organisation, is also keen towards helping James
with his remuneration and do not deduct any amount of money from his salary. But, Alex need to
appoint another employee as a temporary to fill the gaps of James until he is fit and there is a
very high cost that is incurred by him.
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The organisation is also facing problem in relation to finance and these are necessary to be
solved. In this scenario, the director cannot terminate the employee, which is stated under “the
Equality Act of 2010”. This is a concern for Alex but he cannot do anything until the cause of
sickness is not determined. If the sickness is not for a long term then Alex cannot terminate
James under any ground. There cannot be any kind of discrimination in relation to illness can
affect the life of the employees. These are necessary for the employers to have proper knowledge
of the laws that are being present within the business in order to have proper working condition
within the business and the operations are done properly.
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Reference List
Acas.org.uk. 2019. [online] Available at:
http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/s/k/Disability_discrim_keypoints_workplace_Nov.pdf
[Accessed 11 May. 2019].
Acas.org.uk. 2019. The Equality Act 2010 | Acas. [online] Available at:
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3017 [Accessed 11 May. 2019].
Alhaboby, Z.A., al-Khateeb, H.M., Barnes, J. and Short, E., 2016. ‘The language is disgusting
and they refer to my disability’: the cyberharassment of disabled people. Disability &
Society, 31(8), pp.1138-1143.
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Beadle, R., 2017. Review of Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity: An Essay on Desire, Practical
Reasoning and Narrative by A. MacIntyre.
Disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk. 2019. [online] Available at:
https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/Northern-Officers-
Group-defining-impairment-and-disability.pdf [Accessed 11 May. 2019].
Fredman, S., 2017. Disability equality: A challenge to the existing anti-discrimination
paradigm?. In Disability and Equality Law (pp. 123-142). Routledge.
Jones, J., 2016. Dignity at Work: The Law’s Engagement with Bullying and Harassment in the
Workplace. In Gower Handbook of Discrimination at Work (pp. 57-70). Routledge.
legislation.gov.uk 2019. Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Available at:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/50/contents[Accessed 11 May. 2019].
Macmillan.org.uk. 2019. Your rights at work. [online] Available at:
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/information-and-support/organising/work-and-cancer/
information-for-employees/your-rights.html?origin=HP-2019-wss [Accessed 11 May. 2019].
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Olaniyan, O.S. and Hystad, S.W., 2016. Employees’ psychological capital, job satisfaction,
insecurity, and intentions to quit: The direct and indirect effects of authentic leadership. Revista
de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, 32(3), pp.163-171.
Pigou, A., 2017. The economics of welfare. Routledge.
Stein, M.A., 2017. Disability human rights. In Nussbaum and Law (pp. 3-49). Routledge.
Wintemute, R., 2016. Goodbye EU Anti-Discrimination Law? Hello Repeal of the Equality Act
2010?. King's Law Journal, 27(3), pp.387-397.
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