They are four main acts concerned with employment they are: The Employment Rights Act 1996, The Sex Discrimination Act 1975, The Race Relations act 1976

Unit 1 Michael Mahon 12O

Acts that protect employees

They are four main acts concerned with employment they are:

The Employment Rights Act 1996,
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975,
The Race Relations act 1976
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

In the past many employers took advantage of their employees. As they were no formal procedures employers literally treated employees however they wanted. The Employment Rights Act 1996 was created to protect employees from being mistreated. This act is employment law the other three are acts concerned with equal opportunities.

Employment Rights Act 1996

This act states laws that protect employees of organisation. Some of the laws included are:

After two months of work employees must receive a written contract that should have details of their employment responsibilities. This is called a Contract of Employment
Employees are entitled to itemised pay slips.
Female employees are entitled to maternity leave and can return to the same conditions as before

Sex Discrimination Act 1975

This act is to stop employers discriminating against you on the grounds of your sex. Some of the laws included are:

Employees doing the same job must be paid the same (Equal pay Act 1970)
No Direct discrimination where one gender is singled out e.g. ‘only female need apply’
No Indirect discrimination making it difficult for one sex to comply e.g. ‘only people that can carry over 50kg should apply’. Some men can carry over 50kg but it is very rare that a woman could.

Race ...

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Sex Discrimination Act 1975

This act is to stop employers discriminating against you on the grounds of your sex. Some of the laws included are:

Employees doing the same job must be paid the same (Equal pay Act 1970)
No Direct discrimination where one gender is singled out e.g. ‘only female need apply’
No Indirect discrimination making it difficult for one sex to comply e.g. ‘only people that can carry over 50kg should apply’. Some men can carry over 50kg but it is very rare that a woman could.

Race Relations Act 1976

This Act makes it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race, nationality or ethnic origin. This also applies for both indirect and direct discrimination. E.g. ‘only black people need apply’. However they are some exemptions to this act because is some special circumstances a job might need a person of a particular colour or gender. For example in an Asian Resource Centre where Asian women call to ask for help with problems in the home or at work etc. If someone were working there then a woman calling would rather talk to another Asian woman. Also the woman calling may not speak any English and again the employee at the centre will have to be able to speak an Asian language the caller understands.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

When employing, employers cannot discriminate because of disability. The disability may be physical, mental or sensory but the employer mustn’t treat the person differently than an able-bodied person when recruiting, promoting or dismissing an employee. Employers must be willing to make adjustments to their premises so it can be accessible to disabled people. Also make adjustments to any equipment in the workplace for example a deaf person wouldn’t know when a fire alarm went off in a building if the fire alarm wasn’t specially adapted to flash lights as well as make a noise.

Ikea Policies on Discrimination

When there is a vacancy for a job at Ikea they usually advertise the post internally they rarely advertise the post externally.

Ikea do not discriminate against people when advertising for a job. We can see this when looking at an extract for the job of retail manager

“We need successful retailers who can differentiate between being a Manager and a Leader. Individuals who want a position with the responsibility to make decisions and not just follow the plans of others. If you feel by working and learning with us you would be ready to accept even greater challenges in the future we want to hear from you. Being a Manager at IKEA Wednesbury is no small business and how and where your career develops is up to you whether it’s your ambition to stay in the UK or work overseas nothing is impossible within IKEA, and nothing could get your career off to a better start than joining our highly experienced Management team.

So if you want a very different type of Retail Career please send/submit your CV”

This has no discriminatory parts to it at all. The applicants are taken to a group interview. Impressive candidates are then invited back for a one-on-one interview.

If the applicant gets the job then they have to agree to Ikea’s polices on discrimination. Ikea do not tolerate discrimination in their work place. A way they check that employees are not discriminating anyone is to have their line manager answer a question when the employee is having an appraisal. The question is “What is the employee’s relationship with co-workers and managers”. If this question is answered with a bad relationship then Ikea will tell the employee that they must get on with co-workers and managers.