Business Studies Employee Rights

The Race Relations Act 1976

• The Race Relations Act of 1976 means that any discrimination based on any race, colour, ethnicity, or religion to an employee or prospective employee is illegal.  
• This prohibits Schuh from showing favouritism over another employee just because of the colour of their skin, or that they are the same nationality as the employer.
• There are different aspects to racial discrimination. For example direct discrimination is actually when the employer decides to choose another employee over another just because of colour.
• Another type of racial discrimination is indirect discrimination this usually involves racist discrimination but not directly mentioned. For example if a prospective employee went to Schuh and there was a rule that had stated no head wear and that went to all religious headwear.
• Schuh is a proactive business designed in dealing with discrimination of this nature. Schuh allow their employees to wear certain types of religious clothing, for example headwear and modified working clothes. Schuh can also allow certain religious jewellery to be worn by employees.
• Schuh can also modify or plan a special timetable for the employees, in order for the employees to have special times to worship.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995

• The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 states that it is illegal to discriminate against people who have a disability.  
• The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 makes sure that disabled people have the right to be employed for a job, and the right to equal treatment along with all other employees. The job of the employer is to provide disabled people with the accessibility to at work, and to remove any barriers in the way.

There are things that employers will have to do in order for the employee to work.

These things include:

• Provide the employee with accessible and usable equipment in which the employee will find it easy to use with the disabilities, for example their own type of stick to reach higher placed shoes.
• To provide the employee with access to all areas, for example ramps and lifts fitted into the workplace, so that they can have access, for example wheelchair users.
• To allow the employee to have flexible and suitable time shifts and working hours, this is important since a disabled employee might have to go for rehabilitation classes, for example learning how to walk again.
• In some instances provide the employee with modified equipment in order for the disabled employee to carry out there jobs. This is important since a disabled person will usually find normal items hard or unable to use due to their disability.
• Schuh will also have to ensure that disabled employees receive all of the necessary training just like any other employee, in order for them to do their job to the best of their abilities.

To follow this law there are a number of things that Schuh does;

• Schuh makes sure that stores and building are accessible for disabled people. This includes lifts, ramps, and accessible doorways.
• Schuh can also provide extra training for disabled people in order for them to do a particular job to the best of their ability.

Employment Rights Act 1996

• The Employment Right Act of 1996 is in place to ensure that the employees are treated fairly.
• The first part of the Employment Rights Act is that Schuh must provide the new employee with written terms and conditions with in the first 2 months they join.
• Under the Employment Rights Act of 1996, Schuh must provide the employee with an itemised pay statement, this means that the employer must list all the deductions taken away from their wages, these things usually include tax, national insurance, and union fees.
• Another employee right is to be able to take time off for incidents happening, for example; an employee’s close relative may have passed away, so it would be respectable to give the employee a few days off.
• A major element in the Employment Rights Act of 1996 is the rules of dismissal of an employee. Schuh must give an employee a proper notice if they are to be dismissed. For example at Schuh, there is a disciplinary procedure that will allow for 3 formal warnings before an employee can be dismissed.
• An exception of this rule can be is if an employee breaks some of the main and important terms and conditions of their contract which can call for an instant dismissal.
• Also if an employee becomes redundant then they will pay employees redundancy money.