Employment Law Essay

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of UK employment law, critically analyzing its key aspects. It begins by defining employment law and its importance in regulating the employer-employee relationship, covering topics such as employment contracts, wages and hours, holiday entitlem...Read More

Essay
Employment law

TABLE OF CONTENTS
introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
Critical understanding of UK employment law...........................................................................1
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
Analyses of the way in which EU membership impacts on the development of employment
law and related social policy in the UK.......................................................................................4
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of the rules and principles that govern the contract between employer and
employee......................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Employment law regulates relationship between employees and employer of an
organization. All those people who work in UK enjoys lots of rights which are provided by the
government (Holland and Burnett, 2014). Employment laws also focus on some conditions and
detail information of employment, employee and employer. There are different acts, rules and
regulations of employment law which need to be followed by each and every organization of UK
for governing their business operations. The current essay also focuses on employment of UK
and it includes different concepts for understanding employment law. Present essay will
determine the major impact of EU membership on employment law and other social policy in
UK. Further, essay also comprise of appropriate evaluation of rules and principles that govern
the contract between employer and employee.
TASK 1
Critical understanding of UK employment law
Employment law addresses the rights and duties of employee and employer of an
organization. Employment law of UK helps in maintaining strong relationship between employer
and employee (Shehzad, 2009). Implementation of employment law helps in improving
productivity and saving cost and stress of employment hearing claims. There are some basic
labor laws of UK which are described as under:
Employment contract
As per the employment law of UK, employer needs to follow the legal system of the
country and they should develop employment agreement between employee and employer. As
per the Employment Rights Act of 1996, employment agreement needs to cover basic
information about employee and employees (Employment Law in the United Kingdom, 2013).
Information include date of joining, job title and duties, amount of pay, place of employment,
working hours, holidays, pension entitlements, grievance process, termination information and
probationary period, etc. Employment contract helps in maintaining legal and professional
association among employee and employer.
Wage and hour
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According to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, every organization needs to
provide specific amount of wage for working hours and minimum standard of wage has been
decided by UK government (Jefferson, 2008). As per this act, minimum wage rate can fluctuate
as per the age group. According to the UK government, minimum wage rate for employee over
21 years is £6.19/hour. As per the law, employees can refuse to do work more than 48 hours in a
single week. It helps in deciding working hours and wages for each and every employee in the
organization.
Holiday entitlement
It is also one of the important sections of employment law and it includes information
about total number of holidays which are offered by organization to workers in a year (Blum,
2007). As per the Working time Regulation of 1998, employee in UK is legally entitled to 5.6
weeks paid holiday time in a single year.
Discrimination laws
As per the international employment law discrimination and harassment at workplace is
completely restricted at the workplace. Equality Act 2010 is one of the primary legislations for
prohibiting discrimination and annoyance at workplace in UK (Employment contracts, 2015). It
includes different types of discrimination such as age, disability, gender, marriage, pregnancy
and maternity, race and ethnicity, etc. Along with this, employer of an organization is also
restricted to discriminate employees on the basis of religion, belief, sexual orientation, part-time
job, fixed work term and trade union membership activities. Equality Act helps in maintaining
discrimination free environment at the workplace which helps in developing strong association
between different employees (Jones, 2013).
As per the employment law, trade unions needs to apply these laws at the time of hiring,
employment, training, promotion, compensation and termination processes. It helps in
prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination at the workplace. Employment law of UK also
includes some other legislation such as Equal Pay Act 1970, Race Relations Act 1976 and
Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (Miller, 2011). All these regulations help in maintaining
discrimination free environment at workplace.
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Maternity and paternity leave
According o the labor law, employees of an organization are entitled to avail twenty Six
weeks leave as Ordinary Maternity Leave (Rush and Ottley, 2006). In this duration, they can get
maternity allowance statutory Maternity Pay. As per this law, some employees can take longer
period leave as additional maternity leave. As per the law, employer has no right to dismiss
employees due to pregnancy. After completing this leave employee are entitled to resume their
normal job in same terms and conditions. Therefore, it is one of the important sections of
employment law which increases flexibility for female employees during her pregnancy period
(Tikkanen and Kaleva, 2011).
Terminations
Employment law also includes termination contract and this contract will comprise all
information about the termination date of employment and mutual understanding (Tomprou and
Nikolaou, 2011). Further, it also comprises date about death and retirement of worker, dismissal
of employees due to redundancy, etc. Trade unions can also include some basic standards of
work and if these requirements are not completed by workers then company can terminate that
employee without any kind of notice. But, on the other hand, any employee who want to
discontinue their job then he/she needs to provide a notice before leaving the job (Marsh and
Soulsby, 2002).
Redundancies
UK redundancies are implemented by employer only when a company cannot afford to
keep an employee. In this situation employer needs to terminate employee from work
(Middlemiss, 2012). As per the law, in case of redundancy, employer needs to send a statement
which comprises reason of termination or unemployment. According to the law employer needs
to consult with employees 30 days before the dismissal (Employment Law and the UK’s EU
Referendum, 2015).
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TASK 2
Analyses of the way in which EU membership impacts on the development of employment law
and related social policy in the UK
European Union (EU) includes 28 members’ states and UK is also one of the important
countries of EU. Each member of EU needs to follow the common laws and regulations (The
Importance of the European Union, 2015). Membership with EU helps in maintaining effective
coordination between different countries about employment. Earlier, Most of the countries are
facing the very serious problems towards unemployment. But, for resolving this problem EU has
developed some common rules and regulations for managing employment. These laws help in
improving employment rate in whole country. There are some UK employment laws that are
affected by EU; these laws are related to equality, family Friendly Laws, typical working, and
transfer of undertaking, collective consultation and working time (Goldman, 2013).
EU introduces laws for maintaining anti-discrimination at workplace. It has positive
impact on Employment law of UK. In this aspect European law underpinned discrimination laws
regarding sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, belief, culture and religion and age, etc (Rosly,
2010). Earlier, UK employment law has not introduced any kind of regulations about the
maternity. But, European Law includes law about maternity pay and leave, paternal leave and
time off for domestic emergencies. As per the EU law all members of European Union needs to
implement this regulation in their employment law. So, UK employment law also include this
regulation in their rules and regulation (Edwards, Edwards and Wells, 2008). EU has established
a rule that every organization needs to develop an employment contract for part-time, Fixed and
agency working. So, EU membership has also affected the working agreement conditions of UK
employment law. After being member of EU, working time regulations of UK has also affected.
All these impacts have positive impact on employment law which will be positive for employer
as well as employee of the organization (Gillies, 2004). All these rules and regulations helps in
improving relationship between employee and employer which leads increment in the total rate
of employment.
There are some similarity between employment law of EU and UK which does not have
any impact on employment regulations. Along with this, there are some European laws which are
similar with UK rules and regulations (Marsh and Soulsby, 2002). These include dismissal,
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Whistle blowing, minimum wages and industrial relations, etc. Overall EU members affect
employment law of UK in positive as well as negative manner which can affect different
organizations of UK also (Tomprou and Nikolaou, 2011).
TASK 3
Evaluation of the rules and principles that govern the contract between employer and employee
Contract between employee and employer is known as employment contract. Such types
of agreements set out employment condition, rights and responsibilities and duties of employees
towards the organization (Rush and Ottley, 2006). There are some basic rules and principles of
employment contracts which are also called employment terms. All these terms are described as
under:
 Employer and employee must have to stick to the contract until the end which means they
have to follow all rules and regulations until the terms are changed.
 Employment contract must be in written format including different information about
employee and employer (Tikkanen and Kaleva, 2011). This statement needs to comprise
all information about name of employee and employer, date of employment, location,
payment and salary with working hours and job description. It is helpful for maintaining
clear and professional relationship between employee and employer of the organization.
 Rules of employment contract include that both employer and employee must be
mutually agreed on the similar statement (Rosly, 2010).
 In the employment contract there are some conditions which have not discussed between
employer and employee but these terms can be covered as implied terms. For example,
employer needs to provide safe and secure working environment to employee, etc.
 Along with this, there are some terms which have already mentioned in the written
document and these terms are known as expressed terms (Middlemiss, 2012).
 Employment contract also includes information about grounds of termination during job.
 Organization can hire third party or person to make a valid contract between employee
and employer.
All these rules and principles help in developing a valid and legal agreement between
employee and employer. Along with this, it allows for a high level of transparency regarding
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detail of the employment (Advantages and Disadvantages of Employment Agreements, 2013).
Employee and employer can also develop contract about desires a certain wage rates. Along with
this, it is also beneficial for future if any kinds of disputes between employee and employer in
future. Overall employment contract helps in maintaining positive relationship between
employee and employer of an organization. But, on the other hand contract between employee
and employer is associated with some disadvantages also which can harm the relationship of
employee and employer (Edwards, Edwards and Wells, 2008). Employment agreement can limit
and bound the flexibility of employer and employee. In some cases, employment contract bound
employees for not to change employment for certain time period. This condition can de-motivate
employees because they can’t switch the job before completing specific time period. In contrast,
it is beneficial for employer and employee as well for maintaining strong relationship with each
other. Therefore, all above discussed rules and principles helps in government legal contract or
agreement between employee and employer of an organization (Four advantages for employers
to consider using employment contracts, 2015).
CONCLUSION
The current research report has concluded that government of UK has introduced
employment law for maintaining legal agreement between employee and employer of an
organization. It is beneficial for maintaining strong relationship between employees and
employer. Employment law includes some basic rules and regulations about employment
contract, wages and working hours, holiday entitlement, discrimination laws, maternity and
paternity leave, terminations and redundancies. As per this law employer needs to assure about
the inclusion of all required information in employment contract. Along with this, research has
also found that contract between employee and employer is known as employment contract. This
contract needs to comprise all information about name of employee and employer, date of
employment, location, payment and salary with working hours and job description. Report has
also described that EU membership has positive impacts on employment law of UK by which
government of the UK can make favourable changes in different rules and regulations for whole
country (Employment Law in the United Kingdom, 2013).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Blum, A. B., 2007. Contracts: Examples & Explanations. Aspen Publishers Online.
Edwards, S. J., Edwards, L. L. and Wells, K. P., 2008. Tort Law for Legal Assistants. Cengage
Learning publication.
Gillies, P., 2004. Business Law. Federation Press.
Goldman, A., 2013. Business law: Principles and Practices. Cengage.
Holland, A. J. and Burnett, S., 2014. Employment Law Legal Practice Course Guide Series.
Jefferson, M., 2008. Trade Union Law and Collective Employment Rights (2nd edition)",
International Journal of Law and Management. 50(5). pp.262 – 263.
Jones, L., 2013. Introduction to Business Law. Oxford University Press.
Marsh, S.B., and Soulsby, J. 2002. Business law. Nelson Thornes.
Middlemiss, S., 2012. The legal impact on employers where there is a sham element in contracts
with their workers. International Journal of Law and Management. 54(3). pp.209–221.
Miller, R., 2011. Modern Principles of Business Law. Cengage.
Rosly, A. S., 2010. Shariah parameters reconsidered. International Journal of Islamic and
Middle Eastern Finance and Management. 3(2). pp.132-146.
Rush, J. and Ottley, M., 2006. Business Law. Cengage.
Shehzad, N., 2009. Business Law: A Guide for Entrepreneurs (1st edition). International Journal
of Law and Management. 51(1). pp.53 – 54.
Tikkanen, I. and Kaleva, H., 2011. Contract award procedures and award criteria in the catering
services in Finland. British Food Journal. 113(8). pp.952-964.
Tomprou, M. and Nikolaou, I., 2011. A model of psychological contract creation upon
organizational entry. Career Development International. 16(4). pp.342–363.
Online
Advantages and Disadvantages of Employment Agreements. 2013. [Online]. Available through:
< http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
employment-agreements.html >. [Accessed on 7th September 2015].
Employment contracts. 2015. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/employment-contract>. [Accessed on 7th
September 2015].
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Employment Law And The UK’s EU Referendum. 2015. [pdf]. Available through: <
http://files.dorsey.com/files/upload/Carp-Employment-Law-UK-EU-Referendum-
2015.pdf >. [Accessed on 7th September 2015].
Employment Law in the United Kingdom. 2013. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/labor-employment/b/labor-employment-top-
blogs/archive/2013/04/09/employment-law-in-the-united-kingdom.aspx >. [Accessed on
7th September 2015].
Four advantages for employers to consider using employment contracts. 2015. [Online].
Available through: < https://www.bgdlegal.com/blog/four-advantages-for-employers-to-
consider-using-employment-contracts/ >. [Accessed on 7th September 2015].
The Importance of the European Union. 2015. [pdf]. Available through: <
http://shop.cipd.co.uk/shop/bookshop/media/cms/pdf/bookstorepdfs/managing-
employment-relations-5th-edition---a-sample-chapter.pdf >. [Accessed on 7th September
2015].
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