The objective of the United Kingdom employment law is to secure the employees significant rights, most of which will supersede any agreement made between the employer and its employees and these laws are usually in favour of the employee.
These rights include:
- The right to receive a written statement of the basic terms of employment,
- The right not to be unfairly dismissed,
- Rights to maternity and paternity leave and pay,
- Rights to paid holiday,
- Right to a minimum wage,
- Protection from discrimination on grounds of gender, race, age and disability,
- The right not to work for more than 48 hours per week,
- The right to protection of employment in the event of a sale of the business, among others.
There are:
,
The Employment Relations Act 2004,
.
Furthermore employers in the United Kingdom are also required to act according to a number of statutes imposed upon them in relation to their employees' health and safety. It is the duty of every employer who employs five or more employees to prepare and bring to the attention of its employees a written statement of its general policy on the health & safety at work of employees and the arrangements in force for carrying out that policy.
In general employment relationships are becoming more various within firms, more distinctive between people, and more directly created by market-related factors. Now employment relationships are changing as a consequence of these developments. Changing the conditions under which firms are likely to be more successful affects the critical features of the employment relationships these firms create.
Bibliography
Gospel, H. and Palmer, G., British Industrial Relations, 2nd ed., London, Routledge, 1993.
- Employment complains; "Learning Lessons from the US"; URL:
http://www.workrelationships.com/site/articles/learninglessons.htm (1.1.2009).
2-Eversheds;"UK Employment Law Summary";
URL:http://www.employmentlawalliance.com/files/uk-laborlaws.pdf (1.1.2009).
3- Employment and Labour Laws: "What is employment and labour laws?"; URL: http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/0199286760/taylor_ch01.pdf (1.1.2009).
