Employment Law

Employment Law
Employment Law
 Unlawful discrimination
 Gender;
 Race, colour, tribal origin;
 disability;
 Religion ;
 Sexual orientation (from December 2003);
 Age.
 Major legislation Acts (for info)
 Equal Pay Act 1970
 Sex Discrimination Acts 1975 and 1986
 Race Relations Act 1976
 Disability Discrimination Act 1995
 Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
 What is discrimination?
 direct discrimination:
 treating one person less favorably than another purely on
grounds of sex or race, etc.;

 indirect discrimination:
 imposing a requirement that;
 can be satisfied by a much smaller proportion of the
people from one sex or one racial group than from
another;
 cannot be shown to be justifiable by the needs of the
job.
 Discrimination on grounds of disability

 treating a disabled person less favourably without

justification;

 failing to make a reasonable adjustment without justification.

 Enforcing anti-discrimination legislation

Court action can only be initiated by the Equal

Opportunities Commission (sex discrimination), the
Commission for Racial Equality (racial discrimination)
or the Disability Rights Commission, except that;

 individuals can take allegations of discrimination relating to

employment directly to an Employment Tribunal.
 How a trade union is recognised?
it negotiates agreements with the employer on pay and
other employment conditions on behalf of a body of
workers (known as the bargaining unit). This is called
collective bargaining.

Recognition can be the result of voluntary agreement

between employer and union or it can be statutory, i.e.,
enforced by law.
 Grounds for fair dismissal
 conduct
 Capability
 dismissal statutory requirement
 something else.
but the employer must follow proper procedures (due
process).
Employment Law
Employment Law
Employment Law
Employment Law
Employment Law
Employment Acts (info…)
 Employment Act 1980
 secondary action made unlawful;
 pickets could only picket their own place of work;
 unions encouraged to ballot their member before taking
strike action.
 Employment Act 1982
 redefined ‘trade dispute’ as a dispute between
workers and their employer relating “wholly or
mainly to terms of employment”;
 union legal immunity removed when they authorise
unlawful industrial action;
 improved rights for workers in closed shops.
Employment Acts 1988 and 1990
Fixing at the edges:
 procedural changes for ballots;
 unlawful to discriminate on grounds of membership
or non-membership of a union;
 union liable for damages arising from unofficial
action unless explicitly repudiated;
 selective dismissal of strikers permitted.
 Employment Act 1984

 required unions to hold elections before taking industrial

action;

 if no election held, then the union lost its resistance from

legal action.
 Trade Union and Labour Relations
(Consolidation) Act 1992

Replaces previous legislation and brings it all together in a

single act
 Trade Union Reform and Employment
Relations Act 1993
 gives employees the right to join a union of their choice;
 permission required to deduct union payments at source;
 extends the circumstances in which unfair dismissal can be
claimed;
 Employment Relations Act 1999
 equality of treatment for part-time workers;
 parental leave and ‘family-friendly’ policies;
 increased protection against unfair dismissal;
 stopped the Commissioner for the Rights of Trade
Union Members and the Commissioner for
Protection Against Unlawful Industrial Action.
 ACAS (Advisory Conciliation
and Arbitration Service)
 founded in 1896;
 present name and structure date from 1974;
 mission is “preventing and resolving problems in the
workplace”, through conciliation, mediation and
arbitration services;
 publish very helpful guides to good practice;
 excellent web site.
 Individual employment rights
 unfair dismissal (Industrial Relations Act 1971);
 contracts of employment;
 right not to be discriminated against;
 maintenance of rights when transferred (TUPE regulations
1981, as amended, resulting from European Acquired Rights
Directive, 1977,2001);
 right to join a union of your choice or not to join one (Trade
Union Reform and Employment Relations Act, 1993);
 limits on hours (EU Working Hours Directive 1993, UK
Working Time Regulations 1998);
 statutory sick pay;
 ’family friendly’ rights (Employment Relations Act 1999 and
Employment Act 2002).
 Employment Act 2002

 parental leave;
 Acceptance leave;
 improved Industrial Tribunal practices;
 equal pay questionnaires.
 Public Interest Disclosure Act
protects employees
1998 (PIDA)
 who make disclosures about malpractice to their managers or bodies such
as the HSE or the FSA provided the employee has reasonable grounds for
the disclosure and it is made in good faith

 who make disclosures about malpractice more widely (e.g. to the police,
the press) provided it was not done for personal gain and
 reasonably believed they would be victimised if they raised it internally or
with a regulator, or
 reasonably believed there would be a cover-up if they raised it internally and
there was no regulator, or
 had already raised it internally or with a regulator and nothing had been done.