Comprehensive Report on UK Employment Law and Employee Protections

This report provides a detailed overview of UK employment law, addressing its aims and objectives, and the role of the Employment Tribunal and other courts in enforcing the law. It examines the process of settling disputes, both before and during tribunal proceedings, including ACAS and judicial mediation. The report also covers the importance of fair recruitment and selection processes, the creation of employment contracts, and the legal implications of varying contracts, managing redundancies, and handling transfers of undertakings. Furthermore, it highlights key employee rights, including working time, pay (with a focus on equal pay), and family-friendly rights like maternity and paternity leave. The report emphasizes the significance of these areas for line managers, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of employment law principles.

Running Head: Employment Law
EMPLOYMENT LAW

Employment Law 2
EMPLOYMENT LAW
1. Explain the aims and objectives of employment law. You must include the role of the
Employment Tribunal and other courts in the UK in enforcing the law, and the ways of
settling disputes before and during the Employment Tribunal process.
There are many situations where the employees would be left hostile and treated unfairly at
the workplace by the employers or other employees, and this takes place without a proper
legislation or laws that govern the workplace environment. So many laws are put up for
protecting as well as benefitting the employees and the employers from the harassment faced
in a workplace. Hence, there evolved the concept of the rights of employment, race relation
and sex discrimination in a workplace.
The definition of employee as encapsulated under the Employment Rights Act, 1996 is ‘an
individual who has entered into or works under a contract of employment'. It also includes
any individual providing service through a limited company would fall under the ambit of
employee and be held in the case of Catamaran cruisers Ltd. v. Williams.
The discrimination at the place of work as well as unfair dismissal from work is the
objectives sought to be achieved by the Employment law.
Discrimination is defined as the treatment of one person less favourably by the other on
various grounds of sex, race, caste, creed or even marital status. Discrimination of sex is
applicable for both the genders, an instance for this could be an unfavorable treatment to the
pregnant woman. Discrimination on the ground of marriage is done mostly in employment or
work place by the single status person. The remedies for the same are also available by way
of compensation and declaration of the rights of the parties as encapsulated under Sec 65(1)
(b) of SDA, 1975.

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No employee shall be dismissed in an unfair manner by his employer. The remedies available
for the same are the re-engagement in work, reinstatement as well as compensation.
The decision with regards to the employment disputes is carried out by an employment
tribunal. All the cases which are being of legal nature are brought to the tribunal including
the cases of discrimination, unfair dismissal, redundancy. The bench comprises of three
people namely a chairman, employment judge and a legally qualified person. The tribunal is
independent of the government. The hearing of the employment tribunals is not formal to the
ones held in the courts, but the decisions made by the tribunal are legally binding.
The settlement of the dispute before the tribunal takes place by way of
 Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration services which are a government funded
organization helping in sorting out the disputes related to the employment. After a
person makes a claim in the employment tribunal, a conciliation officer is appointed
to help settle the issue. The concept of settling here involves the agreement by the
other party to stop the proceeding by agreeing to some settled terms.
 The settlement not by way of ACAS but directly between the employee-employer or
employee-employee or employer-employer is settlement agreement. The effect of the
agreement is usually similar in ACAS as well as in Settlement agreement. Solicitor or
the legal advisor is necessary for the settlement agreement to be legally binding.
 The third category of resolving the dispute is by way of judicial mediation in which
there is hardly any need to go for complete hearing. The mediation is confidential and
held in private, offered by the Employment tribunal. The mediator here is an
employment judge.

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The importance of ensuring that the recruitment and selection process of new
employees is fair. In addressing this point, you must outline the key issues relating to
discrimination and explain how a contract of employment is created.
There has not been any need for the legal justification with respect to the fundamental human
rights guaranteed for the non-discrimination and equality which is legally binding. The
Millennium Development Goals bypass the principles despite the fact and recognition in the
Declaration of human rights, non-discrimination and equality. Discrimination is a hurdle in
the growth of the country as well as alleviates poverty.
A comprehensive anti-discrimination regulation including the age discrimination has been
now included in the United Kingdom legislations. Prohibition of discrimination on the major
grounds of race, caste, creed and disability is done by the following acts such as the Race
Relations Act 1976, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 as well as the Sex
Discrimination Act 1975. For getting equal remuneration as paid to the opposite sex, the
Equal pay Act 1970 was enacted. Much legislation has been enacted for the prohibition of
discrimination against the employees kept on fixed term contracts and the part-time
employees, in 2002 and 2000 respectively.
For the prevention of discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as religion or belief,
the laws were enacted in December 2003. Laws have come into force in 2006 for the
prevention of discrimination on the grounds of age as well. There has also been progress in
setting up a Commission for human rights and equality, and also there has been ample
anticipation for replacing the present Commission by the year 2009 for the equal
opportunities, disability and racial equality.

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A contract is an agreement between the parties, i.e. employer and employee. The contact for
employment includes the conditions with respect to the employment , the rights conferred on
the employee and employer, the responsibilities of both the parties and the duties of the
parties which should be adhered. The employment contract should be legally binding on both
the parties and they should stick to it until its end or if the terms are changed. Acceptance on
the part of the employee for the job is the inception of the contract and it does not necessarily
be written. The various terms of the contract between an employer and employee should be
on the basis of implied terms such as providing safe and secure environment for work, paid
holidays for 5.6 weeks which being a legal requirement, bonuses etc.; collective agreements
which includes as to who would represent the employees, how and when to organize
negotiations, who all would be covered under the said agreement and what could be the
possible terms and conditions for the same; a written statement by the employer must be
provided to the employee in respect of the contract lasting a month or more and should be
provided within two months of the start of the employment. The written statement must
include the following particulars such as the name of the business, name of the employee, the
job title, description, working hours, entitlement on holidays including the public holidays,
relocation of the employee if needed, the terms of the notice periods, pensions, who would
address the grievances, procedures for sick pay, disciplinary procedures.
The law to be aware of as organisations change and develop. In addressing this, you must
highlight the processes to be followed when varying a contract of employment, managing
redundancies and addressing a transfer of undertaking.

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The consent of the employee is necessary for making the changes or altering the terms of the
contract. As a matter of legal fact, the contract has a binding nature, and any changes in the
contract without the consent of the other party leads to the potential claim for the breach of the
contract. If the employee suffers damage or change in his status or wages with regards the
variation in the contract he can directly sue the employer. Hence, for making changes, it is
necessary that the consent of the employee should be there. There are instances when the
contract has the flexibility clause at the outset which provides the employers to make changes in
the contract later. But for exercising flexibility, the terms of the contract must be unambiguous
and should be made in accordance with the trust of the employee. The very process of making
changes in the contract terms will have the negative impact on the reputation of the employer's
organization as well as his relations with the employees. Thus for making changes, there should
be the valid reason given to the employees. For making any changes in terms of the contract, the
employer should have a written consent of the employee for avoiding any sort of ambiguity later.
Many organizations manage the business by cutting their operating costs, and this usually
happens in small business organizations. The form of getting dismissed from the job is
redundancy and usually undertaken when the workforce needs to be reduced in the workplace.
Certain rights are conferred for redundancy as the pay, period of notice given to the employee,
the employer consultation and the time needed for finding a new job. Usually, there are 5 main
processes for the redundancy namely:-
 Preparation of the process for redundancy and how important it is, the preparation of the
documents as well as the time frame.

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 Selection of the people for redundancy and the determination of the needed criteria in the
selection process which should be fair and applied equally.
 The consultation with every individual is important as well as an explanation has to be
provided as to the selection of that particular individual.
 The employee should be informed of his dismissal and should be provided with the right
to appeal.
 The redundancy payment should be given to the employees with a service more than two
years.
When any other employer takes over the company or business as a result of transfer or merger,
then the transfer of undertakings occur. There is a legal obligation on the new employer for
taking over the business and the existing staff when the transfer takes place. The application of
any transfer of the undertaking of any business or part of it is made by the European
Communities Regulations 2003. The application of the regulations is to any person who is
working under a contract of employment, any person who is employed through an agency etc.
Any employee cannot be dismissed from the employment only for the sake of transfer though
dismissal may take place for reasons such as economic, technical or organizational reasons
making changes in the workplace.

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The key rights that employees have during employment. Here you must cover working
time, pay (including equal pay) and family friendly rights specifically including maternity
and paternity rights. Highlight the areas that you think are most important for line
managers to know about.
The key rights of the employees in the workplace include:-
 Minimum wage is the entitlement given to the employees as remuneration for the
performance of their work. The entitlement, however, is not given to every employee but
an exception to this include the persons who are self-employed, the workers who are
voluntary as well as the individuals who undertake work experience.
 The employee can bring a claim before the tribunal if in case he feels that he has been
unfairly dismissed. Dismissal claim arises when the employee has not been given a sound
reason for the dismissal or termination, there has been a breach of employment contract
through which the employee has been made to resign when the employer has not
followed the contractual entitlements. To qualify for such claims, it is necessary that the
employee should be under employment for the period of one year.
 Discrimination is of two types namely direct as well as indirect in any given workplace.
The negative treatment given to any employee in a workplace from others is direct
discrimination; an instance could be a discrimination of an employee who is denied
promotion due to its caste. When treatment to every employee is equal but the effect of
the conduct has completely reverse effect on a particular employee, and this is called
indirect discrimination. Any form of harassment in the form of verbal or physical contact
comes under the ambit of discrimination.

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 Maternity rights are also provided to the women at employment. The ordinary leave for
maternity is twenty-six weeks, and there is no qualification to be entitled to this leave.
Apart from ordinary maternity leave, there is additional maternity leave as well which
commences at the end of OML and also lasts for twenty-six weeks. The start of the leave
is at the beginning of the eleventh week of the birth of a baby.
 In small business organizations and when they decide to cut off the costs they dismiss the
employees who are no longer needed, and this is redundancy. To claim for the
redundancy or being entitled to the same the employee must be the part of the company
for not less than two years. The redundancy dismissal also takes into count the status of
your current job, the age and the time needed by the employee to take up another job.
 The leave of paternity- in order for fathers to qualify for paternity leave he must be in
continuous employment for twenty-six weeks which ending on the fifteenth week before
the birth of the baby. The father being a biological father should be given the leave for
the upbringing of the child. The maximum leave period for this is two weeks which starts
from the day baby is born. For availing the paternity leave it should be notified to the
employer with regards to the date of due delivery and how long it has been planned to
take an off.
The protection that the law gives to employees. Here your employer has asked you to
address health and safety specifically, the implied duties of the contract of employment and

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freedom of association. There should be an example of at least two implied duties and an
explanation of what happens when these duties are breached (which will include reference
to constructive dismissal).
The term which is not set out expressly in the contract but has come into picture because of the
circumstances is the implied term of contract. All the contracts, whether employment or not
should have the implied terms of contract. The implied terms include:-
 The main duty of the employee is to maintain the confidence as well as the trust of the
employers and vice versa. It is all the more the duty on the part of the employer that he
should not without a reasonable cause conduct or destroys the relationship build between
the employer and employee. The duty to maintain the confidence and trust is the duty to
act in a rational manner and not in a reasonable manner. The duty for the maintenance of
trust as well as confidence is covered on the context of bonus disputes. There have been
cases in which the employee has breached the clause of mutual trust and confidence
leading him to be dismissed from the job. The employers before terminating the
employee’s employment should be cautious in seeking to rely on the breach of this duty
and termination.
 The duty of fidelity is mainly a term which requires the faithfulness of the employee and
is implied in all the terms of the contracts of employment, and it also means that an
employee would not be acting against any interest of the employer. It is usually
contemplated when the employee works for the competitor as well as instances where the
employee gets such profits which are not disclosed to the employer.
 The duty to provide work is an obligation for the employee and not for the employer and
arises only when the employee is allowed to maintain his or her extra skills, and it was

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predominantly applied in the fields where there is the performance of the work of arts or
another highly skilled sectors. The duty may also arise if the employee is deprived the
opportunity to earn if he or she is not provided with work, e.g. if his or her pay includes
commission.
 Giving a reference is not a duty of any employer for the employee currently or previously
working there. But for providing a reference for the employee, reasonable care and sue
diligence along with the skills must be taken in view of ensuring the accuracy of the facts
contained therein. Even on the termination of the employment this implied duty persists.
Any individual can recover damages for a breach of any implied term if it could be
shown that the employee has lost the chance of employment or has sustained financial
loss because of a careless reference.
How the law requires disciplinary situations relating to capability and conduct to be
addressed. You must explain the procedures that line managers have to follow. You must
explain the right of employees to be accompanied during formal disciplinary or grievance
hearings.
The direct management of the other employees as well as the operations and finally reporting it
the manager higher in rank is carried out by the line manager. The line manager plays a role that
is important for any business organization. The responsibility of the line manager includes the
hiring as well as recruiting the teams and providing support and training to the candidates newly
hired, provide the performance feedback to the members of the team, ensuring and monitoring
the goals of all the respective departments. Based on all the mentioned responsibilities so the
line manager is thus an integral part of the organization. Line manager is also entrusted with the

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responsibility of directly influencing the employee’s satisfaction and providing the original
productivity. Apart from the responsibilities there are various challenges faced by the line
manager such as the responsibility for the operations of the firm with the available resources,
jobs which demand long hours of work and also looks after the needs of the frequent turnover
and is always under a Constant pressure for minimizing the expenses and maximizing the output.
The workers are provided with the statutory right for accompanying a trade union at any
workplace for any disciplinary actions and are provided by the employment relations act, 1999.
This feature thus outlines the provisions highlighting the potential impact and came into force in
September 2000. It has been provided by the regulations that the workers are invited in order to
attend a disciplinary hearing with respect to the full-time union official; a lay union certified who
have the experience in performing the respective roles.

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References
Turnstone HR Limited. (2017). Manage The Redundancy Process Effectively - Turnstone HR
Consultancy. [online] Available at: http://www.turnstonehr.com/managing-redundancy-process/
[Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].
Acas.org.uk. (2017). Transfer of undertakings (TUPE) | Acas advice and guidance | Acas.
[online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1655 [Accessed 19 Aug.
2017].
Citizensadvice.org.uk. (2017). Parental rights at work. [online] Available at:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/parental-rights/parental-rights-at-work/
[Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].
The Balance. (2017). The Role and Challenges of a Line Manager in Today's Organization.
[online] Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/role-and-challenges-of-a-line-manager-
2275752 [Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].