Identify and describe 4 ways in which the legal system supports working parents, including maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave and dependants leave. 7 5. Give 3 reasons why it is important to treat employees fairly in relation to pay7 6. Explain the concepts: direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation and summarise equalities legislation that relates to each one. 8 7. Explain what is meant by the ‘psychological contract’ and how this is applied in practice within your own organisation or one which you are familiar with, giving examples of good practice policies and procedures hich might underpin this. 8 8. Explain the main differences between fair and unfair dismissal, giving an example of each and the impact on the organisation. 9 9. Explain the importance of exit interviews, for both the organisation and for the employees9 10. Summarise the key stages to be followed in making redundancies and explain what impacts redundancies have on the whole organisation9 Reference List11 Word Count: 2900 (not including introduction) Introduction
This report is considering the impact of employment law at the start of the employment relationship, understanding the employee’s main individual rights during employment and understanding how to end an employment relationship. Describe 4 Factors (2 internal and 2 external) which impact on the employment relationship There are a number of factors that can have an impact on the employment relationship. There is the Trade Union (TU) recognition and membership within an organisation, where by the TU will support their members to secure a good outcome by means of collective bargaining.
The Essay on Vietnam Wars Impact On Australias Relationship With The World
The Vietnam War had great political impact and led to deep division within Australian society. The Australian people were forced to take the issues about the Cold War, Vietnam and the arms race seriously because of Australias military involvement in Vietnam from 1962 to 1972. As a result, our fear of communism and of Asia increased dramatically. Australia, occupying a large mass of land, yet ...
This covers terms and conditions of the workers usually things like pay, holiday, working hours etc. Promoting a good work life balance culture will help to attract, motivate and retain staff. This can be done through promoting flexible working request, to accommodate part time hours, compressed hours, job share etc. It has been suggested that a flexible workforce can adapt quickly to changing business conditions There is a Case Study from KPMG:
In February of this year, KPMG introduced a new scheme, Flexible Futures, designed to minimise the prospect of large scale redundancies in the current recession and enable the firm to retain its talented people. Under the scheme, staff were invited to sign up to the possibility of being asked to reduce their working week by a day with that day unpaid and/or take sabbatical leave of between four and twelve weeks at 30 per cent of pay. 85 per cent of staff signed up for the scheme. Over the past year, 99 per cent of flexible working requests have been accepted by KPMG. Rowlatt, 2010) The Pestle Analysis can be used to look at external factors to determine what impacts on the employment relationship. Political factors can look at changes to legislation that can positively or negatively have an effect. This could be the latest changes to unpaid parental leave now giving each parent the chance to take up to 18 weeks unpaid leave, or the changes to the 90-day consultation period where 100 or more redundancies are proposed that reduces to 45 days from 6 April 2013. Social impact can also be a factor, with retirement now not being enforced.
This means that skilled and long serving employees can continue on to work and can help with succession planning for less experienced workers to be developed for a role. Define the following types of work: Permanent, Temporary, Fixed Term, – explain the main features of each and why determining an individual’s employment status is important Permanent An employee’s contract of employment is the foundation of their relationship with the organisation. These contractual rights may be more generous than the rights that the employee is given by employment legislation.
The Term Paper on Contemporary Issues in Work and Occupations: Precarious Employment
Employment is of various forms. An employee can work on temporary terms, permanent terms, under contract terms, or under subcontract terms. In temporary employment terms, there are the temporary employment relationships. Contract and subcontract terms of employment are defined under certain rights and responsibilities that are specified under the labor law to govern the agreement terms of the two ...
For example, many employees are entitled under their contracts of employment to sick pay that is better than that laid down by statute. Although contractual rights can build upon statutory rights, they cannot undermine them. For example, if a contract specifies that an employer is entitled to terminate the contract by giving one week’s notice, but the employment legislation sets down a minimum period of two weeks’ notice, then the legislation prevails. The contract is continuous until one of the parties decides to terminate the relationship. (EEF, 2012) Temporary
Temporary Workers have exactly the same employment rights as a permanent employee, as long as they have completed the statutory period of employment. There are exceptions to this and relate to those who are covering maternity leave or for an employee who is suspended on medical grounds. A temporary contract may be made permanent. This kind of contract can allow flexibility to both the organisation and the employee. To the organisation it allows for flexibility for times when the work load is increased. (Daniels, 2012) Fixed term Some contracts are intended from the outset to be of a limited duration.
They may be ‘task’ or ‘specified purpose’ contracts, which state that they will end when a particular task is completed or a specified event occurs. Or they may be fixed-term contracts, which specify the period for which they will last or, the date on which they will end. Fixed-term contracts may be short, so an employee working under a contract for a day, a week or a month that is renewed on a rolling basis, is also a fixed-term employee. Employees who work under this type of contract of limited duration are protected by the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002.
The Term Paper on Reasonable Working Hours Work Workers Actu
For nearly three years, one of the main activities of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has been to conduct a campaign for "reasonable working hours." It commenced with a survey completed in October 1999, which linked the sharp increase in working hours over the past two decades with stress-related illnesses and workplace accidents. Apart from occasional media releases, the "campaign" ...
Under the Regulations, ‘fixed-term’ employees include not only those working under a fixed-term contract but also those working under a task or specified purpose contract. (EEF, 2012) Contract of employment – importance A contract of employment is a legal document and will set out the obligation from the company to the employee and vice versa. A legal document is extremely important if there is a dispute. The contract may include company sick pay, holiday entitlement, probationary period, hours of work, as some of the key points.
All employees are workers, but an employee has additional employment rights which do not apply to workers. These additional rights include: • Statutory Sick Pay • Maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay • Minimum notice periods if their employment will be ending • Protection against unfair dismissal • The right to request flexible working • Time off for emergencies • Statutory Redundancy Pay Some of these may need a minimum length of continuous service before they qualify for them and these terms will be detailed in the contract. (Gov. uk, 2012) Why determining an individual’s employment status is important?
It is important to determine employment status to better understand the legal rights and obligations and be better equipped to deal with any problems that could arise. An employee has rights to claim unfair dismissal; this could be through redundancy to name one. With a worker the organisation has a duty of care to exercise equality and adhere to Health and Safety regulations. Give examples of legislation that impact on: employee holidays, rest periods, working hours and night working and explain why these are important for both the employee and organisation
The most important legal consideration for an employer in structuring the working hours of its workforce is health and safety law. Employers are under a duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of their employees. They are under a similar duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. These duties involve providing a safe system of working, which includes working hours. (EEF, 2012) As an overview the Working Time Regulations 1998 provide rights to: • a limit of an average 48 hours a week on the hours a worker can be required to work, though individuals may choose to work longer • 5. weeks’ paid leave a year • 11 consecutive hours’ rest in any 24-hour period • a 20-minute rest break if the working day is longer than six hours • one day off each week • a limit on the normal working hours of night workers to an average eight hours in any 24-hour period, and an entitlement for night workers to receive regular health assessments. There are special regulations for young workers, which restricts their working hours to eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. They are entitled to two days off each week. ACAS, 2013) Working Time Regulations is a very important area of employment; and maintains a standard of employment conditions and the health and safety of workers protecting them from adverse health and safety risks. The directive ensures that all workers do not have to work excessive hours or excessively at night and are entitled to adequate rest and holidays. These principles apply to all workers (not just employees) and require employers to keep records to show that the provisions of the Directive are being complied with.
The Essay on Law To Limit The Number Of Working Hours
In recent years, working time laws have become central to national and international debate. The reduction of working hours is one of the objectives of the labour law. About half of 103 countries have adopted normal limit of 40 hours or less and the others are between 42 to 48 hours a week. In Malaysia, the employment act requires an employees’ to work no more than 48 hours in a week. With ...
By complying with these regulations the workers are generally happier with their working conditions and this has an impact on their work, making the worker more engaged in their job. Identify and describe 4 ways in which the legal system supports working parents, including maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave and dependants leave. Equality Act – this has encapsulated many previous legislations and now has a defined list of protected characteristics. Pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics, ensuring that a woman cannot be unfairly treated in the workplace whilst pregnant or on maternity leave.
Work and Families Act 2006 – Was put in place to make provision for extending statutory rights in connection with the birth or adoption of children and to allow for the provision to request flexible working patterns. The aim was to enable all families to balance work and family caring responsibilities. It extended the period of statutory maternity and adoption pay and provided qualifying periods for additional maternity pay. It also introduced keeping in touch days, and enhancements to the additional paternity leave. (Department for Business Innovation & Skills, 2012)
The Term Paper on The Ethical Issues Of Family Medical Leave Act
... approved by the Government. The number of employers and employees the Family Medical Leave Act affected went above and beyond the projected ... result of President Clinton s Medical Leave Act more than twelve million eligible workers have taken leave since its enactment and more than ... a whole often pays the price for failed, fragmented family units. On the other hand, many smaller employers see the new ...
Time off for dependants – all employees have the right to time off for dependants to deal with unforeseen matters and emergencies, although there is no legal right to be paid for such time off. A dependant could be a spouse/partner, a child or someone who depends on you for care. The right is to a reasonable time off to deal with the immediate crisis. With adoption leave an adoptive parent is entitled to 26 weeks ordinary adoption leave and a further 26 weeks additional adoption leave. This is only given to one parent with the other parent taking paternity leave.
As with Maternity leave the correct paperwork and notice must be provided to the employer and the employee must have worked for the organisation for at least 26 weeks prior to the child being matched. Give 3 reasons why it is important to treat employees fairly in relation to pay i. National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act 1998 gives the rights to workers to receive a minimum hourly rate of pay. There are three bands of pay depending on the workers age. Currently, the rate is ? 6. 19 for workers aged over 21. There are a number of exceptions to this the main one being to apprentices, who are working yet being trained.
Items such as bonus, living allowance, tips, shift allowance plus others, are not to be added into the NMW. The NMW is aimed at providing employees with a reasonable minimum standard and fairness in the workplace and applies to most workers. ii. The Equality Act 2010 protects workers from discrimination. There are in all 9 protected characteristics which are: Age, disability, Gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. The Equal Pay Act 1970 make it unlawful to pay a man and a woman different rate of pay for oing the same job, this also applies to the terms and conditions of their contracts. iii. Employee Rewards are a way of attracting and retaining staff, motivating workers collectively and individually linking pay to performance. The organisation would then be seen by the employee to be fair and consistent. Communication and transparency is key to keeping this fair for all employees. Explain the concepts: direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation and summarise equalities legislation that relates to each one.
Essay on Pay Equity; Age Discrimination
As per Age Discrimination in Employment Act in 1967, it is illegal for an employer with more than 20 employees to discriminate the employees over the age of 40 based on age. A strong 6400 workforce of Allstate Insurance Company filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the company’s decision to transfer them from employee to independent contractors after serving the company for around 20 years. ...
Under the Equality Act there are nine protected characteristics; direct discrimination is where an employee is treated less favourably on these grounds. Direct discrimination cannot be justified and that there is good reason for treating groups differently is not relevant. If an employee can claim that they have been treated unfavourably, they must be able to show a comparator, and that they are being treated differently. An employer cannot argue that it was not their intention to discriminate; the law only considers the end effect.
Indirect discrimination is where a claimant has to show the employers provision, criterion or practice that puts or would put the claimant at a disadvantage. There has been a case study (Noah vs. Desrosiers – ET 2201867/07) where a Salon was looking for a stylist to have funky and trendy hairstyles. A Muslim girl applied for the vacancy, she declared in the interview that she wore a hijab that covered her hair. On these ground the salon decided not to employ her. This was seen as indirect discrimination, The PCP of having a visible hairstyle put Muslim women at a disadvantage. Daniels, 2012) Harassment and bullying in the workplace can be in many forms and be aggravated by a variety of grounds. It can have a serious effect on the health and well-being of individuals, who can become stressed and fretful, demotivated and unproductive. It can have a direct effect on their fellow workers and contribute to absenteeism, low productivity and turnover. Harassment is not always in the form of discrimination, where the individual can be protected on one of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act.
It is possible to prosecute under criminal law by using the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Victimisation occurs when an employer treats an employee less favourably than other employees would be treated, on the grounds that they have been, intend to be or are suspected of being involved in legal proceedings against the employer to seek redress for discrimination on one of the prohibited grounds. (Charles Leatherbarrow, 2010) This is generally legislated under the Equality Act 2010.
Explain what is meant by the ‘psychological contract’ and how this is applied in practice within your own organisation or one which you are familiar with, giving examples of good practice policies and procedures which might underpin this. When discussing a psychological contract it is in the context of an unspoken obligation, that can be a common and agreed understanding of promise or expectations that both parties have made to each other about such things as: pay, loyalty, commitment, and career advancement. Schein, 1963) described it as ‘An unwritten set of expectations operating between members of an organisation’ The traditional psychological contract is generally described as an offer of commitment by the employee in return for job security provided by the employer – or in some cases the legendary ‘job for life’. The modern day agreement is said to be about offer of fair pay and treatment by the employer plus opportunities for training and development. On this analysis, an employer can no longer offer security and this has undermined the basis of employee commitment. CIPD, 2013) This practice could be that an employee promises to work harder and an employer promises to pay equal with performance, or work extra hours when required in return for feedback on performance. A positive psychological contract typically supports a high level of employee engagement, with employees going the extra mile by feeling valued. It can have the opposite effect when breached. Explain the main differences between fair and unfair dismissal, giving an example of each and the impact on the organisation.
Fair reasons for dismissal may be capability, conduct, redundancy, statutory ban or some other substantial reason. Unfair dismissal may be terminating a contract for a pregnancy related matter, family reasons, representations of a TU, discrimination or pay and working hours. An employee would have more rights than a worker to put a claim in for unfair dismissal. The law on unfair dismissal gives employees a legal right to be treated in the way in which a fair and reasonable employer would treat them.
For an employer to dismiss an employee fairly, they must have a valid reason for dismissal, and act reasonably in treating that reason as a sufficient reason for dismissing the employee. A fair dismissal will follow a policy and procedure. An unfair dismissal will be decided through an Employment tribunal Explain the importance of exit interviews, for both the organisation and for the employees Exit interviews take place in order to collect information from an employee that is leaving, and in particular if the employee is moving to another organisation, as they may perceive that remuneration and training is more attractive elsewhere.
The organisation will generally use the information provided to look at any changes that need to be made to improve morale and conditions, to create data and statistics for turnover and to improve retention. The employee has a chance to part with any constructive feedback and to leave the business on good terms. Summarise the key stages to be followed in making redundancies and explain what impacts redundancies have on the whole organisation Redundancy is a dismissal and is primarily a fair process. The process for redundancy must follow a set and fair criterion and include all workers who carry out a similar job/role/location.
Workers who have been identified (this is usually 20 workers or more) will be consulted over a set amount of days, as laid down by statute. The criteria for selection could include information such as length of service, attendance, skills, performance or any other related matters. At the beginning of a consultation the reason should be set out for the proposed redundancies, who and what jobs are at risk, the number of employees at risk, the selection methods, the procedure being followed, and the method of calculating redundancy payment.
Employees aged over 18, with one or more years’ service are entitled to statutory redundancy payment. After a redundancy has taken place surviving employees may have feelings of low morale, high stress levels, and be less productive, often with more workload. It is the organisation’s responsibility to ensure they communicate honestly about what has happened and to keep the organisation functioning efficiently. Reference List ACAS, 2013. ACAS. [Online] Available at: http://www. acas. org. uk [Accessed 28 February 2013]. Charles Leatherbarrow, D.
C. &. J. F. , 2010. Introduction to Human Resource Management: A Guide to HR in Practice. 2nd ed. London: CIPD. CIPD, 2013. Employment Law at Work. [Online] Available at: http://www. cipd. co. uk [Accessed 24 February 2013]. CIPD, 2013. Psychological Contract. [Online] Available at: http://www. cipd. co. uk/hr-resources/factsheets/psychological-contract. aspx [Accessed March 2013]. Daniels, K. , 2012. Employment Law: An Introduction for HR and Business Students. 3rd ed. London: CIPD. Department for Business Innovation & Skills, 2012.
Department for Business Innovation & Skills. [Online] Available at: www. bis. gov. uk [Accessed 4 March 2012]. EEF, 2013. Employment guide. [Online] Available at: http://www. eef. org. uk/members/hrlegal [Accessed 24 February 2013]. Gov. uk, 2013. Gov. Uk. [Online] Available at: https://www. gov. uk [Accessed 24 February 2013]. Rowlatt, E. S. a. A. , 2010. CIPD. [Online] Available at: http://www. cipd. co. uk/binaries/Flexible_working_Taskforce_report. pdf [Accessed 04 March 2013]. Schein, 1963. Psychological contract. ———————– 1
