Employment law - 'Sam, one of the directors of the company feels uneasy about the legal implications of the practice and comes to you seeking advice…What advice would you offer him?'
Mark Taylor's Group: ILLS PROJECT: 'Sam, one of the directors of the company feels uneasy about the legal implications of the practice and comes to you seeking advice...What advice would you offer him?' Research Method: This question covers a broad section of inter-related sub-topic areas, all of which are relevant to employment law. For this reason I began by reading a simple introduction to employment law; I used 'Employment Law-Specific Rights' by C.J Carr and P.J Kay in order to gain some basic knowledge of the subject. The book deals with wrongful and unfair dismissal and discrimination, concentrating on employer as well as employee rights. It provides a brief explanation of each thus allowing me to break down my argument into various sections. I realised however that further research was required as the statutes referred to by Carr and Kay were out of date. I decided to look at relevant statutes directly. I found these using Halsbury's statutes as well as the statute encyclopaedias in the law library. The key statutes with regard to the question come in the form of: * Unfair Contract Terms Act (1977) * The Disability Act (1995) * The Employment Rights Act (1996) * The Data Protection Act (1998) * The Human Rights Act (1998) * The Employment Relations Act (1999) * The Employment Act (2002) After reading the statutes it became apparent that some would be
The human rights movement in Canada
Executive Summary: Canada has become a multicultural, multi religious and multiracial society. The growing ethnic diversity of Canadians includes a large number of non-white Canadians called visible minorities. They consist of non-white groups such as: Chinese, Black, Indo-Pakistani, Arabs, Filipinos, Japanese, South-East Asians, Korean and Oceanic. The presence of such visible minority is a factor endowment for discrimination, which includes all practices that treat people differently because of their sex, race, or national origin. Many programs have been implemented in Canada in order to control discrimination and to compensate victims of discrimination, notably affirmative action. Affirmative action attempts to reach diversity through artificial means. Many people think that those programs also improve the quality of the Canadian work force. However, it has been proven in this paper that affirmative action does not improve the quality of our workforce. Although those programs bring some advantages, the disadvantages are even more important. Just to name a few, affirmative action promotes the unqualified, increases social inequity, and creates reverse discrimination. Discrimination: Over the years, discrimination which includes all practices that treat people differently because of their sex, race, or national origin has acquired a negative meaning such as, racial or
Agency Workers
In the following assignment I am going to critically discuss the legal protection given to agency workers in the United Kingdom. It is an ongoing issue as there are currently more than one million temporary agency workers within the UK, resulting in their legal protection having a major impact on the UK work force. Within this study I will begin by analysing any rights agency workers currently have and those proposed for the future, such as national minimum wage, working time regulations and health and safety. Furthermore, I will explore the current laws and directives in place, assessing their success and if any changes should be proposed. Finally, I will compile a conclusion assessing the current legal protection for agency workers, and if it is deemed suitable. Under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, permanent employees and agency workers have a right under law to the national minimum wage. As of 1 October 2008 this is £5.73 for adults, £4.77 for younger workers (18-21, and some trainees), and £3.53 for 16-17 year olds. If however the agency worker is getting paid by task as to per hour, there are different regulations in place. As from April 2005, an employer will either have to pay the worker the minimum wage per hour for all hours worked or will have to pay 120% of the minimum wage for the number of hours it takes an average worker to complete an agreed block of
company directors
ASSESSED ESSAY A) What is the standard of skill and care expected of a company director? Should Brian attend all board meetings to avoid being in breach of these duties? The standard of care and skill expected of a company director It is the duty of a director to exercise a degree of skill and care in his performance of duties. Failure to comply leads to a charge of negligence. The degree of skill varies with company size and complexity, because directors in charge of small business's position differ from multi-national companies. Both should act in good faith and put company interest first. This duty is described as 'the care and skill that an ordinary man might expect to make in the circumstances'1 An important case related is shown in: RE CITY EQUITABLE FIRE INSURANCE (1925) The directors entrusted company investments to its managing director, Bevan, who was a senior partner in a firm of brokers which handled company investments. £1 200 000 was lost due to Bevans fraud and incompetence, including £350 000 left with stockbrokers. The directors never enquired how these items were made up so were held in breach of duty of care i.e. negligent. Due to this the measure of care and skill was laid down by Romer J: . A director need not show a greater degree of skill and knowledge than he has for the job. This tells us directors have to run a company based on
In the context of a possible liability it is necessary to have a close look at the Directives on redundancy and sex discrimination.
On the 4th of February Megahard dismissed 20 female employees for the reason that their services 'were no longer required'. It has to be examined whether this event caused liability for the company out of European Employment Law. This law is applied since it is not clear in which country the dismissals actually take place. In the context of a possible liability it is necessary to have a close look at the Directives on redundancy and sex discrimination. The 1975 Directive on collective redundancies was amended by the 1992 Council Directive No. 92/56/EEC. Collective redundancies are defined under Article 1(1)(a) as "dismissals effected by an employer for one or more reasons not related to the individual workers concerned"1. This term is among other things used when the dismissal is of a period of 30 days of2: > at least 10 employees in an establishment with between 20 an 100 employees > at least 10% of the employees in establishments with between 100 and 300 employees > at least 30 employees in establishments with over 300 employees. If redundancy is the reason for the dismissal than it should be "[...] wholly or mainly attributable to [...] the fact that requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind [...] have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish"3. However, if a dismissal for redundancy is to be fair, the employer
Legal Report Writing Exercise In no more than 1500 words write a legal report for an employer on a dispute between the employer and an employee or group of employees.
Assignment 1 2004-5 Legal Report Writing Exercise This assignment carries 20% of your overall assessment in the module. It is to be submitted to the Faculty Resources Centre no later than Thursday 2 December 2004. Task In no more than 1500 words write a legal report for an employer on a dispute between the employer and an employee or group of employees. Paper copy of the details of the legal dispute were distributed in the week commencing 11 October 2004. If you have not received a paper copy of the case studies then click here This piece of work must be produced by your own research and writing (i.e. without collaboration with others) - see Faculty Cheating Statement given in the guidelines for assessment An example of a Legal Report can be found here (Note - This example demonstrates the style and structure of a legal report, it is not necessarily an entirely accurate piece of legal advice.) Assignment 1 Case Studies Case Study 1 Avril worked part time stitching handbags for Lozell & Co, a manufacturer of leather goods, from October 1999 to 10th October 2004. Until January 2004 she worked at their factory in Birmingham. She was paid a basic wage of £115 for a 20 hour week. Avril, become tired of travelling the 40 miles into work, told her employer that she intended to leave. Lozell told Avril that they did not want to lose her expertise and suggested to
What does the Sex Discrimination Act say?
What does the Sex Discrimination Act say? The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA) prohibits sex discrimination against individuals in the areas of employment, education, and the provision of goods, facilities and services and in the disposal or management of premises. It also prohibits discrimination in employment against married people. Since the Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5th December 2005, the same protection is afforded to those in a civil partnership as those who are married. It is not unlawful to discriminate against someone because they are not married. Victimisation because someone has tried to exercise their rights under the SDA or Equal Pay Act is prohibited. The SDA applies to women and men of any age, including children. Discriminatory advertisements are unlawful but only the Equal Opportunities Commission can take action against advertisers. The SDA applies to England, Wales and Scotland. What is sex discrimination? The SDA prohibits direct and indirect sex discrimination. There are special provisions about discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity and harassment in employment. Part I of the SDA describes the forms of discrimination to which the SDA applies. Direct sex discrimination This is where a woman (or man) is treated less favourably than a person of the opposite sex in comparable circumstances is,
Discuss some of the ways in which sexism shows itself in society
Throughout this essay I will discuss some of the ways in which sexism shows itself in society, why it persists, and what can be done to reduce or eliminate it. In doing this I will critically discuss some definitions of sexism from structural, cultural, institutional, and personal perspectives. I will make reference to the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) and Equal Pay Acts (EPA), the significance of targets and agents, and also draw on my own experiences and observation. Within western society it can be said that sexism, in many ways, begins at birth and will continue throughout our lives. This conditioning commences when boys are born, the most well known colour of clothing for them to wear is blue and newly born girls are dressed in pink. It is almost a must for young boys to be given gifts such as guns, cars, along with other macho objects such as a football kit. Girls, on the other hand, are expected to play with dolls and prams, tea sets and other feminine domestic items. As we develop in our lives boys are, more often than not, encouraged to help the fatherly figure around the home. This could entail handing a hammer to the male adult or given responsibility for dirtier chores, such as, taking the bin out. In the meantime girls might be seen to be assisting the motherly figure with cooking, cleaning and washing the dishes. Young boys might be encouraged (rather not
Employment Law Scenario. In this scenario there are many issues that are relevant in employment law. The most responsible person in the organisation is Mr Gervais. As an employer Mr Gervais has many responsibilities, duties and issues to overcome
ASSIGNMENT TWO In this assignment will be critically discussed all the issues relevant in employment law against company Ricky Gervais & Co Ltd. It is competent to prove whether the company is liable for breach of employment law. Employer as well as employee has a certain duties expressed in the contract of employment, if the employer or employee fails to execute his duties there can be taken legal actions against him. Breach of legal duties can even result in damage to the claimant as in case Walker v Northumberland County Council, where the employer breached the duty to take reasonable steps to avoid employee's injury. In some cases it can be found that there has not been breach of duty to care as in Blyth v Proprietors of the Birmingham Waterworks. This case decided that there is no liability for the employer's breach of duties. Further in the essay it will be identified and discussed the issues that would be relevant in employment law. When the potential employee visits office premises, it is seen that there are some unsatisfactory conditions for employees. It must be considered whether the employer, Mr Ricky Gervais, is in breach of duty. Firstly, it is necessary to think about uncomfortable chairs and high glare computer screen. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 which states that general employers duty is to "ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the
Racial discrimination
INTRODUCTION My aims and objectives for this report are to research the issue of discrimination and other factors that relate to it. My initial research that I conducted allowed me to gain an insight into how much discrimination can affect employees within organisations and also the efforts that are taking place to combat the problems. Therefore I came up with issues that I will look into further and will aid me in answering the topic question. These factors are:- - Discrimination. - Legislation. - Trade Unions. - Company methods. The methods of research I will use for this report will be based on textbooks and the internet as these will help me in obtaining theories on the subject of discrimination but will also give me information on linking discrimination with the workplace. WHAT IS DISCRIMINATION? The Office of Equal Employment Opportunity at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences states that 'Discrimination is defined in civil rights law as unfavourable or unfair treatment of a person or class of persons in comparison to others who are not members of the protected class because of race, sex, colour, religion, national origin, age, physical/mental handicap, sexual harassment, sexual orientation or reprisal for opposition to discriminatory practices or participation