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Employment Law

Law (LA)Law (LA)

Full Member Articles

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Discrimination

Discrimination against any employees on any grounds other than their ability to do the job is a bad idea - and could also be illegal.

Dismissing employees

Contrary to popular wisdom, fair-minded employers have little to fear from employment protection legislation. The issues are fairly straightforward and most problems can be avoided by following a few simple rules

Employment contracts

A contract of employment exists as soon as an applicant accepts your offer of employment. A clear, reasonable contract helps you to ensure that the employee understands what is expected, and to minimise the risk of disputes.

Employment law: the basics

Employment law is a complex area that is full of pitfalls. Getting it right means keeping in touch with developments, thinking out your policies and implementing them with care. Getting it wrong is easier, but could be extremely expensive.

Employment tribunals

Although employees and employers can now choose to follow an alternative dispute resolution procedure, most employee complaints are still heard at an employment tribunal. You need to take tribunals seriously. If you have well-thought- out procedures, and follow them, you can prepare good evidence, making it easy to defend your actions.

Maternity issues and SMP

Given the number of changes to maternity rights in recent years, employers could be forgiven for not knowing where they stand when one of their employees is pregnant. But with employment tribunals making large awards against employers who ignore the rules, you simply cannot afford to stick your head in the sand.

New employment law in 1999

This briefing provides an overview of the developments in employment law in the year 1999 that are most likely to affect small and medium-sized companies.

New employment law in 2000

This briefing provides an overview of the developments in employment law in the year 2000 that are most likely to affect small and medium-sized companies.

New employment law in 2001

This briefing provides an overview of the developments in employment law in 2001. It follows publications covering the same area for 1999 (LA 6) and 2000 (LA 8). Developments in business law more generally are covered separately, in New business law in 2001, LA 13. There are titles covering the same area for 1999 (LA 7) and 2000 (LA 9). These briefings identify changes that might affect your business, but do not deal with issues in detail. If you need to know more, talk to your professional adviser, or follow the cross reference to the appropriate Directors’ Briefing.

Redundancy

Redundancies are a fact of life in the smaller business, where carrying surplus staff is a short cut to disaster. A shift in the economic or business climate, a merger or a move to a new location can all make redundancies inevitable.

Sickness issues and SSP

Businesses lose a lot of money through sickness absence, not all of it medically justified.

Working time and the minimum wage

Regulations covering working hours and minimum wages apply to almost every business. Working time regulations aim to improve health and safety by controlling the hours employees work, while it is illegal to pay less than the minimum wage.

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