University Employment Law and Regulation Report - Module Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of employment law and regulations within the context of a case study involving Sparkling Cleaning Services. The report begins with an executive summary emphasizing the importance of trust and confidence in employment relationships. It then proceeds to examine potential legal claims against the company, including breach of employment contract, grievances of employees, unfair treatment and harassment in the workplace, and personal injury at the workplace. Each claim is supported by relevant legal precedents and the facts of the case. The report further evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each claim, assessing the likelihood of success and the evidence required to support each argument. Finally, the report concludes by defining the term 'employee relations' and highlighting the importance of positive employee relationships for organizational success, emphasizing the need for fair treatment and the prevention and immediate resolution of workplace issues.

Running head: EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Employment Law and Regulation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Executive summary
Employment relationship governs the relationship between employers and employees within an
organization. It is very essential for an employee and the employer to trust each other and have
confidence in each other’s potentials and competencies. In the context of employment law, trust
may be defined as a belief that employers depends on the employees that they will meet the
expectations and the employees depend on the employers that they will understand and consider
their grievances and needs. Trust and confidence are essential human resource capabilities, that
enables any organization fulfils its organizational objectives.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................4
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................13

3EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Introduction
An employment relationship arises when employers and employees work together within
an organization. An employment relationship is positive when there is an existence of mutuality
and trust. The circumstances under which management and employment acts interdependently
and both the employee and employer obtain benefits from such interdependency. A positive
employment relationship provides a foundation for employee and employment relations related
policies (Emir 2016). An employment relationship usually emphasizes on what are the factors
that the organizations must be aware of while applying and developing human resource
management.
Task 1
In the given case, the potential claims that Sparkling Cleaning Services has likely to defend are
enumerated as below:
Breach of employment contract
An employment contract includes legal obligations of the employers and the employees
that are to be fulfilled after entering into an agreement. In the event any of the parties fail to
perform the contract, it shall amount to breach of the contract. The breach of the contract may
entitle one or both the parties to the contract to either enforce the contract on its terms or try to
recover any financial loss that resulted from such breach of the contract as was held in Fraser v
HLMAD Limited [2006] EWCA Civ 738.
The employers in UK must ensure that the employees do not work for more than 48 hours
every week. However, the employment contract or a separate opt-out agreement may include

4EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
specific working hours of the employees but it may also include an additional clause that may
require the employees to work for additional hours on certain occasions without any additional
pay. Nevertheless, the workers can always opt out from such provisions after serving a seven
days notice minimum, unless there is a stipulated notice period within which it is to be served
upon the company (Painter and Holmes 2015).
On the facts here, two female members of the sales team asserted that they were unable to
attend the outdoor team-building task, as they were single parents with responsibilities of young
children. Buff stated his ex-girlfriend was due to give birth to their baby and wanted a paternity
leave. Yasmin, another employee stated that she was not mentally prepared as she attended
similar program and was traumatized (Freedland et al. 2016).
The employers of the organization, Frances and David rejected their request on the
ground that the outing was essential for team development. all the above-mentioned staffs sent a
formal letter two days before the outdoor plan stating they cannot attend outdoor program as it
permitted the employer to work more than 48 hours a week. However, the employers declined
their requests and stated they shall be subjected to disciplinary proceedings.
Here, David and Frances were not concerned about the health and their respected
concerns and was only concerned about the development often sales department of Sparkling
Cleanings, amounting to breach of the employment contract which prohibits employees from
working more than 48 hours under Employment Rights Act 1996. Moreover, the employers are
entitled to pay the National Living Wage (NLW) and the National Minimum Wage (NMW)
including the payments for overtime to the above four staffs.
Grievance of employees

5EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
According to the ACAS code of practice, it is important to inform the employer about the
grievance faced by the employees in an organization. The employers must arrange a formal
meeting with the employees to deal with the grievances being faced by the employees. The
employers must ensure that the employees are given opportunity to explain their grievances to
the employers.
The employers are required to act fairly while deciding the appropriate action to be taken to
resolve the grievances mentioned by the employees. The employees should be allowed to appeal
against any formal decisions made by the employer before the Employer’s Tribunal.
On the facts here, most of the staffs of Sparkling Cleaning Solutions were not
comfortable with the outdoor team plan but they agreed, as they had no other options. However,
the four above-mentioned staffs, mentioned about their grievances before the employers, David
and Frances. The employers did not arrange any meetings with the employees to learn about their
grievances neither allowed them to prefer an appeal against the formal appeal before the
employment tribunal. They simply intimidated the staffs stating disciplinary proceedings shall be
undertaken against them if they did not attend the office outing (McKendrick 2014).
Unfair treatment/Harassment at workplace
According to Equality Act 2010, any unwanted conduct or an unfair treatment such as
making comments or threats regarding the job security without any reasonable reason shall
amount to harassment or unfair treatment at workplace in United Kingdom as was observed in
John Lewis v Coyne [2001] IRLR 139. Sometimes, the employees face emotional distress at
workplace from the conduct of the employers against which they are entitled to claims for
causing personal injury and recover damages. The employees must establish Intentional

6EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED) that is the employer has intentionally caused mental
illness to the employees that was severe in nature.
On the facts here, the employers have compelled the employees to attend the outdoor
team outing. When Yasmin, Buff and the other two female employees requested to excuse them
from attending the outing on unavoidable grounds, their requests were turned down and were
intimidated about subjecting them to disciplinary proceedings. This conduct of the employers
amounts to causing mental distress of the employees, intimidation regarding their job security
and unfair treatment at workplace.
Personal Injury at workplace
According to Worker’s Compensation Act 1979, the employees are entitled to
compensation benefits if they sustain injuries during the course of employment or while carrying
out employment related activities as was observed in Hudson V ridge Manufacturing [1957] 2
ALL ER 229. They can include medical care and other temporary disability benefits. It includes
treatment services, medicines, equipment and tests that are reasonably necessary to treat the
injury. Temporary disability benefits include payments for losing wages as the injury of the
employees prevents the employee from carrying on his/her usual job while recovering.
On the facts here, Yasmin sustained severe injuries during the final orienteering exercise,
and her head injuries and broken arm prevented her from carrying on her usual duties for several
months. Hence, she is entitled to medical and temporary disability benefits to be paid by
Sparkling Cleaning Solutions to Yasmin as the injuries were sustained while carrying out activity
that was arranged by the organization as part of her training course.

7EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Task 2
Breach of employment contract
Strength- Further, the employers may require employees to sign up a waiver of the 48
hours maximum working hours each week and include the same in the employment contract or
separate opt-out agreement. However, the employees may always opt out from such provisions
after serving a seven days notice minimum, unless there is a stipulated notice period within
which it is to be served upon the company. Moreover, the employers are legally obligated to pay
the National Living Wage (NLW) and the National Minimum Wage (NMW) including the
payments for overtime. The employer may refuse the opt-out request made by the employee
under circumstances, where the employer is concerned with the health impact of the employee.
However, the employees cannot be forced to work for excess hours as it may violate health and
safety rules o the duty of the employers to avoid causing injury to the staffs (Russell 2017).
David and Frances were not concerned about the health and their respected concerns and
was only concerned about the development often sales department of Sparkling Cleanings,
amounting to breach of the employment contract which prohibits employees from working more
than 48 hours.
Weakness- However, all the above-mentioned staffs sent a formal letter two days before the
outdoor plan stating their opt-out requests from the opt-out agreement that they signed at the
time of their agreement, which permitted the employer to work more than 48 hours a week,
hence, they cannot attend outdoor program.
Grievance of employees

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Strength- The employers must arrange a formal meeting with the employees to deal with the
grievances being faced by the employees and ensure that the employees are given opportunity to
appeal against any formal decisions made by the employer before the Employer’s Tribunal.
Weakness- This is a strong claim as the employers did not only turned down their opt-out
requests but had also intimidated them, not allowing them to appear before the Employers’
Tribunal to appeal against the formal decision made by the employers.
Unfair treatment/Harassment at workplace
Strength- According to Equality Act 2010, any unwanted conduct or an unfair treatment such as
making comments or threats regarding the job security shall amount to harassment or unfair
treatment at workplace in UK if such treatment is made without any reasonable reason.
Sometimes, the employees face emotional distress at workplace from the conduct of the
employers against which they are entitled to claim damages for sustaining severe (emotional)
personal injury from such conduct (Blanpain and Bisom-Rapp 2014).
The employers are under statutory obligations to ensure that the employees are motivated
and are encouraged to carry out their activities effectively. The employer must ensure a safe and
healthy workplace for the employees preventing any form of hostile conduct that might cause
emotional distress to the employees.
Weakness- the employers have compelled the employees to attend the outdoor team outing.
When Yasmin, Buff and the other two female employees requested to excuse them from
attending the outing on unavoidable grounds, their requests were turned down and were
intimidated about subjecting them to disciplinary proceedings. Such a conduct may amount to
unfair treatment and caused the employees suffer from emotional distress.

9EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Personal Injury at workplace
Strength- According to Worker’s Compensation Act 1979, the employees are entitled to
compensation benefits if they sustain injuries during the course of employment or while carrying
out employment related activities. They can include medical care and other temporary disability
benefits. The employee sustaining such injuries is entitled to medical benefits and other
temporary disability benefits such as medical benefits, treatments, equipments and other medical
benefits as was held in Harrison Michelin Tyre Co [1985] 1 ALL ER 919.
Weakness- Yasmin sustained severe head and arm injuries during the final orienteering exercise,
and her injuries prevented her from carrying on her usual duties for several months. She was
unable to attend office due to which she suffered loss of her wages, which she is entitled to
receive from Sparkling Cleaning solutions as she suffered injuries during the course of
employment. Hence, this is a strong claim and the company is entitled to pay compensation to
the injured employee.
Task 3
The term ‘employee relations’ may be defined as the effort made by an organization to
manage relationship between the employers and the employees. An organization with a positive
employee relationship implies that the organization provides consistent and fair treatment to all
employees (Dau-Schmidt, Finkin and Covington 2016). Such positive employment relationship
ensures that the employees remain committed to their respective jobs and continue to be loyal to
the company. A good employee relationship tends to prevent any unnecessary issues to arise
within the workplace and aims at resolving any such issues immediately.

10EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
The employment relationship exists in different levels in an organization (management to
individual employees and management to employees generally as well as the groups or
representatives of people. Therefore, the operation of relationship may be affected by processes
such as consultation, communication and by the management style in the entire organization. In
organizations where the mutual trust is high, employees work for the organizations for long-term
and communicate freely and honestly.
The employer is under statutory obligation to include duty to pay wages or salary, ensure
a safe and healthy workplace, to act in good faith and avoid any conduct or words that may result
in undermining the confidence and trust of the employment relationship. The organizations
consist of employers and employees who are related to one another and this employment
relationship may be expressed formally by an employment contract. In the legal context, the
employees are someone who works under the employer, having the ultimate right to instruct the
worker to perform the employment activities (McKendrick 2014).
The most common employment issues that may arise due to misconduct on part of the
management of an organization include workplace conflicts, issues related to wage and hour,
workplace disputes, leaves disputes, etc. workplace disagreements may often take the shape of
workplace conflicts which arises from direct disagreement between employers and employees.
This may arise due to lack of effective communication between the employers and the
employees. According to ACAS, failure to satisfy the needs and expectations of employers from
the employees and vice-versa becomes the sole and primary reason for workplace conflicts. In
addition, difference in values, increase in workloads, unresolved problems from the past are
some of the other factors that often leads to employment issues within a workplace.

11EMPLOYMENT LAW AND REGULATION
Under such circumstances, the managers of an organization must develop a good strategy
for managing conflict after consulting with the employees. It is important for the employers to
have effective communication with the employees individually and give them an opportunity to
express their grievances (Painter and Holmes 2015). The managers must be provided with
trainings to deal with employees’ issues and most importantly, the managers must recognize
importance of feelings of the employees. Finally, they must emphasize on the interests of the
employees instead of positions and personalities.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be inferred that a healthy employee relationship is
fundamental to make the employees find their job interesting, which would further motivate the
employees to perform better within the organization. a friendly and cooperative workplace will
enable the employees to concentrate on their work and remain loyal to the organization as well.
The initial point of employment relationship is where an employee promises to provide
effort and skill to the employer in return for salary that the employer shall pay to the employee.
The legal relationship arises with an employment contract, which must be in writing. However,
in the absence of a written contract, the contractual obligations still exists due to the presence of
the implied obligations and statutory rights. The manager of an organization plays a significant
role in maintaining a healthy workplace and a positive employee relationship. a good employee
relationship shall leads to a positive employment relationship where both the employer and the
employee shall strive to achieve the organizational goals.