Employment Law Principles in the United Kingdom Report (Assessment)

Principles that Underpin Employment Law in the UK

The employment laws currently in use in the United Kingdom can be traced back to the 14^th century when the government of the United Kingdom started introducing laws to help define the relationship between the employer and the employees (Pyzdek & Keller 2014). The employment laws, as defined in the Acts, common law, Regulations, and equity are underpinned on the principle that employees are human beings and must be treated as such in the workplace.

These laws are meant to define how employees, employers, and trade unions should relate to ensuring that the workplace environment is conducive for the employees and employers. These laws define the rights and freedoms of the employees and employers, and circumstances under which employees are allowed to take industrial action against the employer. The guiding principle is that employees should be given the dignity they deserve without being subjected to a workplace environment that is punitive in nature.

Principles of Law and How It Applies in My Organisation

Accessing Employment Rights

It is important to look at the principles of law as it applies in an organizational setting in different cases. Accessing employment rights was designed to ensure that companies do not employ discriminative policies when hiring new employees. It was based on the principle that every person has a right to employment as long as he or she has the right qualifications needed for that particular job. Employment status and work status helps in defining the position of an employee within an organization and the responsibilities he or she is expected based on the employment contract (Waal 2013).

Continuity of employment was based on the principle that one should always be assured of the security of his or her job. It seeks to eliminate cases of abrupt and unjustified retrenchments. Immigration rights, on the other hand, are meant to protect the rights of immigrants working locally in the United Kingdom. In my current organization, these policies are important in protecting the interest of both foreign and local employees from oppressive managerial decisions. I would strongly advise my organization to observe these laws and regulations to avoid cases where this firm issued by its employees.

Contracts of Employment

Contracts of employment, especially the issue of establishing and changing contracts are very critical processes that managers must be keen on when undertaking to avoid any lawsuits at a future date. The express and implied terms must be clear in such contracts (Shields, Brown, & Kaine 2015). For instance, when the contract expressly states that employees should avoid smoking within the firm’s premises it should be clear to them that the organization prohibits any action that may harm other employees. The employees should understand the spirit behind every written statement of major terms and conditions. It should be clear to them why these terms and conditions are set within the organization and how all stakeholders stand to benefit.

Discrimination Law

The United Kingdom has very strict laws about discrimination. Discrimination based on gender, marital status, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or such other demographical factors is strictly forbidden in the country. In my organization, the management has a responsibility to ensure that its internal policies are in line with the labor laws that prohibit any form of discrimination. Management policies should not be seen to be discriminative in any way. The management should also come up with organisational policies that can protect employee-employee discrimination. Ex-offenders and part-time workers should also be treated with equal respect without any form of prejudice. These policies are meant to protect employees who may otherwise be discriminated against because of things beyond their personal control.

Dismissal law

The principle underpinning the dismissal law must be clearly understood by any organization that has legally hired employees. It holds that when one has to be dismissed, there must be a just cause for that and it must be done humanely. Unfair or wrongful dismissal is illegal in the United Kingdom (Shoemaker & Sigler 2014). Cases of redundancy payments or constructive dismissal may arise in an organization. However, the management is strongly advised to ensure that cases of unjustified dismissal are eliminated. There must be a good reason for one to be eliminated.

Health and Safety

The United Kingdom has laws that govern employees’ health and safety when they are in the workplace. The law prohibits individuals (whether in top leadership or not) from inflicting physical injury on other employees. Anyone who attacks a colleague is held criminally responsible for their actions and legal actions must be taken against them. The management of the firm is expected to act swiftly against such individuals. Personal injury sustained in the workplace should be appropriately compensated. The management is expected to put measures in place to help protect employees from such injuries. The law also requires employers to respect working time regulations as a way of protecting the interest of their employees.

Wages and Salaries

Employment laws in the United Kingdom also define wages and salary issues that employers must respect. The National Minimum Wage Act of 1998 defines what employers should give their employees at a bare minimum based on their age. The law, which was revised in 2014, sets the minimum wage at £6.50 for adults who are over 21 years (Trim & Lee 2014). My organisation must understand that labor laws prohibit unlawful deductions of the wages of employees. The law demands that the pay should be equal to the work done. Issus such as payment of statutory sick pay and fully paid holidays cannot be ignored by my organization. They are issues that can lead to litigation if they are not handled as per the set laws and regulations.

Transfer of Undertakings

Transfer Undertakings of 2006 are regulations in the United Kingdom meant to help in implementing the European Union Business Transfer Directive (Oakland 2014). It stipulates conditions under which an employer can dismiss an employee. It also demands that employees must clearly define the terms and conditions of employment to their workers. Principles guiding consultation and continuity of employment in transfer situations should also be made clear to the employee as demanded in this regulation.

Family-Friendly Employment Law

The principle underpinning family-friendly laws is that workers’ interests should be protected to ensure that their working environment is as sustainable as possible. The United Kingdom requires employers to have insurance plans for their employees. That is why employees’ right to primary care must be respected. Similarly, paternity, maternity, and adoptive rights must also be taken into consideration by the organization. The law also defines regulations regarding anti-natal care, health, and safety of pregnant employees, parental leave, and time off for family emergencies (Petraq 2015). Employees also have the right to request flexible working in case the family issues that justify such a request.

Confidentiality Issues

The confidentiality laws as based on the principle that employees are entitled to their privacy, especially when they share sensitive information with their employers. The interception of communication is illegal unless there is a legal justification for it to happen. Data protection laws also protect the employer to ensure that employees do not share sensitive information about the firm to third parties. Both the employee and the employer are expected to protect a firm’s trade secrets as much as possible. Law on whistleblowing was designed to protect employees who reveal the dark secrets of their employers such as illegal activities going on in the firm.

Collective Employment Laws

The organization will also need to understand and respect collective employment laws as stated in various legal documents in the United Kingdom. Employees’ freedom of association, the right to industrial action, and collecting bargaining is clearly defined in the law. The organization must also respect the rights of trade union officials, consultation rights, and the right of employees to be accompanied by trade union officials. According to Monden and Minagawa (2015), collective employment laws were designed to ensure that employees can form trade unions to protect their interests. Although some of the careers in the modern workplace environment require individual employees to champion for their own interests, the United Kingdom still allows employees to unionize if they feel that they can have a better position to bargain for their rights.

Legal Implications of Decisions, Plans, or Proposals in the Employment Field

I had situations where I had to advise some of my colleagues on actions that had significant legal implications not only to the firm but also to them as employees. The first incident was on handling customer complaints. One of the customers had come back claiming that the product that he bought from the firm was of substandard quality and had caused injury to one of his children. The client wanted the firm to acknowledge the fact that the product was substandard and to find a way of replacing it to avoid any legal action. The colleague, acting in the interest of the firm, wanted to accept the firm’s responsibility and to replace the product to avoid any legal actions. However, the client had no official document showing that he had purchased the product from the firm. He only brought with him a piece of the product that he claimed had broken. It was not easy ascertaining if the brand was ours.

I warned him against taking that decision because of the legal ramifications. Such a decision would have meant that the firm acknowledges selling a faulty product to the client. It would have validated any lawsuits against the firm. The management would not have spared him for having taken such a wrong decision. We demanded proper documentation from this client. He promised to come back with the documents accompanied by his lawyer. However, we never saw him again. It is proof that this man wanted to scam our firm. Following this incident, I advised the marketing manager to send a memo to the sales officers and customer service employees on how to deal with such situations. The evidence is shown in the memo in the appendix.

In another incident, one of our employees was standing in for a friend who had to attend to a personal issue without informing the supervisor. The colleague had completed his shift but decided to stand in for the other friend who was to report to work late. They were both working in the production department. Because of fatigue, the colleague failed to follow safety procedures set in this department and sustained a serious injury while standing in for the friend. The firm paid all the hospital bills and granted him three weeks of fully paid leave.

However, when he came back he started considering suing the firm for a bigger compensation because of the injury. I advised him that such a move might have a serious impact on his career at this firm. He was very likely going to lose the case because he was at work illegally based on the rules set by the production department. It was also his mistake that he sustained such an injury because he failed to follow the set safety procedures. As such the firm would not be liable for his own mistakes at the firm. In fact, the firm had demonstrated its loyalty when his medical bills were fully paid without the management blaming him for the injuries sustained. He realized that the firm had acted in good faith and that it was his turn to be faithful to the firm. He decided not to sue the company after that discussion.

Actions in Workplace Scenarios Where Employment Regulations Applies

The management of this company must be careful when taking actions in the workplace scenario where employment regulations of the United Kingdom apply. The first case is the recruitment and selection. The law prohibits this firm from being discriminative when hiring its employees. As such, the human resource department should try to ensure that the primary basis of hiring its employees is qualification. Hiring should not be seen as being based on race, gender, religion, or any other demographical factor that might be considered discriminative. When coming up with terms and conditions of employment, the management must take into consideration the existing regulations as defined in the employment laws. The organizational policies should not be in conflict with national laws.

It is the responsibility of this company, as defined in the employment law, to ensure that the working environment is conducive and sustainable to the employees. Employees should feel safe in their workplaces. Safety standards set by the government should be reflected in the planning of the working environment. As Madjid (2014) notes, it is also in the interest of the management to ensure that the performance of the employees is properly managed. However, managing performance should not mean that employees are subjected to undue pressure that may cause them stress at work.

Another critical issue that the management must put into consideration is the communication and involvement of the employees. As per the existing employment laws in the United Kingdom, a firm is at liberty to come up with a communication system that it considers suitable for its operations. However, the chosen model of communication should not limit the ability of the employees to communicate with top managers, especially on issues that affect their operations. The firm is also at liberty to come up with appropriate plans of how to involve its employees on various projects. However, care should be taken to ensure that the chosen plan is not in any way discriminative or oppressive to the employees.

The United Kingdom has laws and regulations that define the minimum wage that can be given to an employee. As such, minimum pay and reward must be based on the set regulations to avoid any legal action against the firm. The law also requires organizations hiring people who are below 18 years to be responsible for their education. It means that training and development may be a requirement in case some of the firm’s employees are under 18 years. Currently, the firm only hires people of legal age. It means that training and development can be designed based on terms and conditions that this firm considers appropriate. When it comes to working allocation, the firm has the liberty to organize its employees in a manner that it considers would be most productive.

However, Dimon (2013) advises that it should not be done in a discriminative way. The firm should not be seen to be oppressive to a section of its employees based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, age, or such other related demographical factors. Retirement management should also be done as per the law. Currently, the legal age of retirement for men in the United Kingdom is 65 years. It is expected that this firm will respect this regulation and avoid cases of forcing its employees into early retirement without a just cause.

Organizational Response When Legal Action is Anticipated or Taken

In the recent past, I have undertaken 2 disciplinary investigations within this company. The first disciplinary investigation took place about two years ago. One of the employees was accused of non-discriminative laws as set by the organization. One of the young Indian female employees complained that a particular White male was constantly making fun of her about her race and gender in their workstations.

The lady also complained that this man was making unwanted advances that were making her very uncomfortable. She tried addressing the issue by talking to the man but he has failed to respect her. It was reported that one day he spanked her at the back inappropriately in front of other employees. This was a serious case that this firm had to address conclusively to avoid being seen as condoning such discriminative acts. We called in several other employees who had witnessed such acts to help ascertain the claims. We were able to confirm that the male employee was indeed acting inappropriately with the girl.

After consulting the aggrieved party, it was agreed that the man had to be transferred from that department immediately. Given that it was the first time he was committing such a mistake, he was given the last warning and informed that future complaints may result in his dismissal from the firm. The outcome of this investigation was positive because both parties were satisfied with the decision that was taken by the management. We were able to avoid any legal action that would have resulted from the abuse were it not addressed appropriately.

The second incident involved a team of salesmen who were overpricing the products of the firm when they deliver products to clients. Our company offers some of its products on the online platform. After making online payments, it is the responsibility of the firm to ensure that the products are delivered to the client’s doorsteps at no extra cost. This is an offer and it is clearly stated in our terms and conditions. However, it was brought to our attention that some of the people responsible for delivering the products charge clients extra fees claiming it is for the delivery. The fee they charge goes to their pockets.

We talked to some customers whose products were delivered by these individuals and they all confirmed that they had to pay for the delivery. The firm risked legal action. As a result, all the affected clients were contacted and the fee they had paid for delivery promptly refunded. The employees who were involved in this scam were dismissed and handed over to the police for a criminal investigation to be conducted. The evidence of this investigation is shown in the letter below written to the government authorities.

Preparations, Presentations, and Settling of Employment Tribunal Cases

Employment tribunal cases may arise in an organizational setting and it is important to address such cases in the most appropriate way possible to avoid negative impacts that may arise from them. I have witnessed such cases spiral out of control. I would strongly advise my organization to be very careful when handling employment tribunal cases. The United Kingdom’s labor laws define the procedures and rules of evidence needed in such cases. I would strongly recommend that before taking such cases to court, an internal tribunal should be set up to find a solution locally within the firm. The management should engage the aggrieved parties to try and find a way of finding a remedy. In case the management is one of the parties in the disputes hence cannot preside over the case, then mediation should be the next option of solving the dispute without incurring a significant financial burden.

The labor union leaders may be called in to mediate the case if both parties are convinced that there will be no bias. In case mediation fails to yield the desired result, then the next option will be arbitration. Both parties must understand that the decision of the arbiter is legally binding. If both parties agree on any of the alternative means of solving the dispute, then they should focus on having a win-win discussion. Both parties should be committed to finding a solution that would balance their interests instead of being unfair to the other party (Bugdol & Jedynak 2014). Litigation should be the last option in case all other alternative dispute resolution methods fail to yield the desired results. In case it is decided that the only option is to seek legal attention from the courts, then the management of this firm must be ready to defend itself. It should understand the rules of evidence as a way of proving the firm’s innocence in such cases.

Keeping Up To Date with Development in Employment Law

Employment law keeps on changing and it is the responsibility of the management of this company to keep up to date with these developments. As Barsalou (2015) says, failing to know about changes in employment laws may force a firm to pay fine for actions that would have been taken at no cost at all. One of the best ways of keeping up to date in employment laws is to regularly go through the newspapers. Most of the major employment legislation is often carried in the major dailies because of the interest of the public.

The management can also make a habit of getting new legislation regarding employment law from the government printer on a monthly basis. The human resource department can visit the government printer on a monthly basis in order to know if an employment bill is already published or passed into law within the country. It will be the best way of ensuring that any new legislation regarding employment is well known to the management. The knowledge will help the firm to realign its internal operations and procedures with the existing laws in the country.

One of the anticipated developments in employment law that may have a significant impact on this firm is the retirement age. As Demartini (2013) says, the retirement age in the United Kingdom has been on the rise over the recent past. Currently, men are expected to retire at 65 years while women retire at 63 years. However, there are new proposals that may soon be implemented that change the retirement age. By 2018, the retirement age for women is expected to be 65 years. Longoni (2014) says that there are plans to increase the retirement age to 67 years soon after. This is specifically so because of the growing population of the elderly in society. However, this new development may have a significant impact on this company based on the activities employees are expected to do. Most of the activities in the production, marketing, and procurement departments are physical jobs that require energetic people.

Reference List

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Bugdol, M & Jedynak, P 2014, Integrated management systems, Springer, New York.

Demartini, C 2013, Performance management systems: design, diagnosis and use, Springer Science & Business Media, New York.

Dimon, R 2013, Enterprise performance management done right: an operating system for your organisation, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Longoni, A 2014, Sustainable operations strategies: the impact of human resource management and organisational practices on the Triple Bottom Line, Springer, New York.

Madjid, T 2014, Handbook of research on organisational transformations through Big Data analytics, IGI Global, New York.

Monden, Y, & Minagawa, Y 2015, Lean management of global supply chain, World Scientific, New York.

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Pyzdek, T, & Keller, P 2014, The Six Sigma handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York.

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Shoemaker, D & Sigler, K 2014, Cybersecurity: engineering a secure information technology organisation, Cengage Learning, Stamford.

Trim, P & Lee, L 2014, Cyber security management: a governance, risk and compliance framework, Ashgate Publishing, Burlington.

Waal, A 2013, Strategic performance management: a managerial and behavioural approach, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.