Reading 2. Introduction to Employment Law.

Key vocabulary:employment; recruitment; dismissal; sex discrimination; disability; to be construed as discriminatory; marital status; genuine occupational qualification (GOQ); reasonable adjustments; holiday entitlement; termination of employment; unfair dismissal; redundancy; trade union; labour union; employment tribunal; collective bargaining; arbitration process.

Read the text quickly, then match each of these headings (a-g) with the paragraph (1-7) to which it best corresponds.

a Termination of employment

b Employment tribunals .

c Terms of employment

d Employment legislation

e Labour law

fProtecting the disabled

g Recruitment

This text provides an introduction to concepts related to employment law and recruitment, including factors to be taken into account when drawing up employment contracts, when dismissing employees and when resolving disputes.

Employment law entails contracts between employers and employees, which are normally controlled by specific legislation. In the UK, certain laws have been enacted regulating the areas of sex discrimination, disability, health and safety, and employee rights in general. Also, certain aspects of employment contracts are covered by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992.

In the recruiting process, employers must take into consideration that it is unlawful to discriminate between applicants for employment on the basis of gender, marital status, color, race, nationality, or ethnic or national origins. It is also unlawful to publish job advertisements, which might be construed as discriminatory. It is unlawful for a person to discriminate against another based on sex or marital status in the hiring process and in respect of the terms and conditions of employment. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as where sex or marital status is a genuine occupational qualification (GOQ).

The law protects disabled persons by making it unlawful to discriminate against such persons in the interviewing process and regarding the terms of the offer of employment. Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments in the place of work to accommodate disabled persons. However, cost may be taken into account when determining what is reasonable.

After the employee is hired, protection is provided generally under the Employment Rights Act 1996. In particular, this Act requires the employer to provide the employee with a document containing the terms and conditions of employment. The statement must include the following: identities of the parties, the date of employment, a statement of whether there has been continuation of employment, the amount and frequency of pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, job title and work location.

Matters related to termination of employment, such as unfair dismissal, discriminatory dismissal or redundancy ((US) layoff) dismissal, are governed by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 when the decision to terminate employment is in some way related to the activities of a trade union ((US) labour union).

The protections mentioned above are largely enforced through complaints to an employment tribunal. The tribunal has the power to render decisions and issue orders in respect of the parties’ rights in relation to complaints. It may also order compensation for loss of prospective earnings and injured feelings.

Employment law relates to the areas covered above, while labour law ((US) labor law) refers to the negotiation, collective bargaining and arbitration process. Labour laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and trade unions. These laws grant employees the right to unionize and allow employers and employees to engage in certain activities (e.g. strikes, picketing, seeking injunctions, lockouts) so as to have their demands fulfilled.

Ex. 2.Match these key terms (1-4) with the examples (a-d).

Ex. 3.Answer these questions.

1 What does the phrase construed as discriminatory in paragraph 2 mean?

What do you think would be involved in proving that a job advertisement could be construed as discriminatory?

2 What do you understand by the phrase reasonable adjustments in paragraph 3? What factors do you think might be taken into account when deciding if an adjustment is reasonable?

3 What do you think compensation for (...) injured feelings in paragraph 6 refers to? What kinds of work-related situations do you think could result in such a claim for compensation?

Ex. 4.Match the words to form collocations as they appear in Reading 1.

Ex. 5.What laws govern employment in your jurisdiction? Do they regulate the same areas (sex discrimination, race relations, disability, health and safety, and employee rights in general) that the UK laws regulate?

Language use 1.

Ex. 1.Look at the title and read the first paragraph of the text. What do you think case bonanza means? Why will there be a case bonanza?

Ex. 2.Read the first two paragraphs. What does each of the three planned directives deal with?

EU employment laws mean case bonanza

Employment lawyers will soon experience a major boom in work after the European Commission last month published plans to outlaw discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age, religion and sexual orientation. At present, UK domestic legislation only allows for claims against employers on the grounds of race, sex and disability. The proposed directive would also cover, inter alia, discrimination based on age and religion.

Further directives are also planned. A second one would deal with outlawing discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity more generally, while a third envisages a 'programme of action', providing practical support and funding for education on race-discrimination issues and for groups which target race discrimination.

Once passed, the directives would place a deadline on transposition into the national laws of the member states and might allow people to bring claims against governments and other state employers, such as local councils.

The directives would add to a large number of other European measures already enshrined in UK law, such as those covering maximum working hours and entitlement to parental leave, which were enacted last year, and have led to a huge growth in work for employment practitioners. It is only since the Amsterdam Treaty was passed last summer that European lawmakers have had the ability to introduce anti-discrimination legislation on any basis other than sex.

David Cockburn, the former chairman of the Law Society's Employment Law committee, said: 'The whole discrimination industry will take off in the next four or five years because of so much legislation in the pipeline: He said advising employers on how to avoid claims and increased awareness amongst the public of their rights would give rise to more work for solicitors. Mr. Cockburn added that the scope of discrimination would also be opened up by a broader definition of indirect discrimination in the directive, which would 'remove any artificial hurdles claimants currently have to cross'.

Elizabeth Adams, chair of the Employment Lawyers Association's international committee, said the directives would mean 'more legislation for employers to tackle, more claims and more work for lawyers' as well as a 'simpler route for claimants'.

Language use 2.

Ex. 3.Read the whole text and decide whether these statements are true or false.

1. A directive concerning entitlement to parental leave will soon be made into law in the UK.

2 David Cockburn thinks the discrimination industry will expand over the next few years because so many new laws have been passed.

3 Once passed, EU directives apply immediately to member states.

4 Elizabeth Adams thinks that the directives will make it easier for employees to file a complaint against an employer.

Ex. 4.Match these words or phrases from the text (1-4) with their synonyms (a-d).

Ex. 5.Choose the correct definition and make sentences of your own with the legal terms:

1. At-will-employment
a) An employment relationship in which either party can terminate the relationship with no liability if there was no express contract for a definite term governing the employment relationship
b) High risk work involving extra peril entered into willingly by an employee.
c) A unit of the U.S. Department of Labor responsible for the development of plans for training dislocated and unemployed workers.

2. Dismissal with Prejudice
a) A racially insensitive court order.
b) Termination of an action or claim, barring the plaintiff from prosecuting any further lawsuit on the same claim.
c) A court order in a discrimination case.

3. Collective Bargaining
a) Negotiations between an employer and the representatives of organized employees to determine the conditions of employment.
b) Negotiations between a lending institution and a borrower to determine the circumstances of the repayment of a loan.
c) Negotiations between the directors of a museum and an artist to determine the conditions of an exhibition.

4. Nominee
a) A person who drafts laws.
b) A person who is proposed for an office.
c) Someone whose whereabouts are unknown.

Whistleblower

a)A judge of inferior rank.

b)A civil officer (such as a sheriff or police officer) appointed to maintain public tranquility and order.

c)An employee who reports employer wrongdoing to a governmental or law-enforcement agency.

6. Unconscionability
a)An advanced state of unconsciousness.
b)Extreme unfairness.
c)The actions of a mentally incompetent person.

Ex. 6.Read the following article and retell it in English, give your point of view on the suggested problem.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 4356