UNIT 7. EMPLOYMENT LAW
Lead-in
1. Employment Law – how do you understand it?
2. What is the main function of this branch of law?
3. Does Employment Law protect employee or employer?
Part I. Introduction to Employment Law
Read the text, match each of these headings with the paragraph to which it best corresponds:
a. Filing an appeal e. Termination of employment
b. Protecting the disabled f. Sources of employment law
c. Courts and Tribunals g. Employment legislation
d. Labour Law
1. 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, race relations, disability, health and safety, and employee rights in general. Also, certain aspects of employment contracts are covered by Trade Union and Labour Relations Acts 1992.
2. The law protects disabled persons by making it unlawful to discriminate against such persons in the interviewing and hiring 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.
3. Matters related to termination of employment, such as unfair dismissal, discriminatory dismissal or redundancy dismissal, are governed by the Employment Rights Act 1996. Also, certain aspects of termination of employment 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.
4. Employment law relates to the areas covered above, while labour law refers to the negotiation, collective bargaining and arbitration processes. Labour laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and trade unions. These laws grant employees the right to unionise and allow employers and employees to engage in certain activities (e.g. strikes, picketing, seeking injunctions, lockouts) so as to have their demands fulfilled.
5. Employment law can be found in a number of different sources. The main sources are the common law, legislation and European law. Other sources include codes of practice and regulations, journal articles, the Internet and employment encyclopedias can also be an invaluable source of information.
6. Employment law disputes are initially heard either in the County Court, High Court or in the Employment Tribunal. Whether the aggrieved party brings his claim in a court or tribunal will depend on the nature of the dispute. Claims concerning breach of contract, wrongful dismissal and applications for injunctions are brought in the courts. Claims involving unfair dismissal, discrimination, equal pay, redundancy pay, deductions of wages, and maternity rights are heard in the Employment Tribunal. In other words, claims involving breach of the common law or contract are brought in the courts and claims involving a breach of a statute are brought in the Employment Tribunal. The exception to this is that there are some claims for breach of contract that can be brought either in the courts or a tribunal.
7. Any appeal against the County Court's decision would be heard in the Court of Appeal and then the House of Lords. Any appeal from the Employment Tribunal would be heard in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, from there in the Court of Appeal and then the House of Lords. If the case involved a question of European law, it might be referred to the European Court of Justice. Decisions of the ECJ are binding on other courts/tribunals and form 'precedents' for future cases, but the ECJ is not bound by its own previous decisions. The European Court of Human Rights hears cases made by either an individual or a contracting state. Either applies stating that they believe themselves to have suffered due to a violation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom, which includes the right to respect for private and family life; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression; freedom of assembly and association; prohibition of discrimination.
Active Vocabulary
to entail / влечь за собойto enact / устанавливать, предписывать в законодательном постановлять, принимать (закон)
disability / недееспособность; неправоспособность; ограничение право- и/или дееспособности
reasonable adjustments / разумные приспособления
to accommodate / приспосабливать
unfair dismissal / несправедливое [нечестное] увольнение
trade union / профсоюз
collective bargaining / переговоры о заключении коллективного договора
to unionise / объединять в профсоюзы; вступать в профсоюз
to seek injunction / добиваться судебного запрета
lockout / локаут
code of practice / зд. сборник практик
invaluable / бесценный, неоценимый
aggrieved party / потерпевшая, пострадавшая сторона
wrongful dismissal / неправомерное увольнение
redundancy pay / выплата при сокращении
maternity rights / права матери и ребенка
freedom of conscience / свобода совести
Vocabulary Focus
I. Match the words to form collocations as they appear in the text. Make your own sentences using these collocations:
1. specific a) rights
2. sex b) union
3. employment c) legislation
4. disabled d) process
5. trade e) discrimination
6. hiring f) adjustments
7. reasonable g) contract
8. discriminatory h) dismissal
9. collective i) persons
10. seeking j) bargaining
11. invaluable k) injunctions
12. aggrieved l) pay
13. redundancy m) source
14. maternity n) party
II. Match the terms to their definitions:
1. enact / a) the condition of being unable to perform a task or function because of a physical or mental impairment2. disability / b) supply or provide
3. adjustment / c) having great value that is impossible to calculate; priceless
4. accommodate / d) an association of employees formed to improve their incomes and working conditions by collective bargaining with the employer or employer organizations
5. trade union / e) feeling resentment at having been treated unjustly
6.collective bargaining / f) the act of adjusting or state of being adjusted; a control for regulating
7. invaluable / g) an enactment of a legislative body expressed in a formal document; a permanent rule made by a body or institution for the government of its internal affairs
8. aggrieved / h) negotiation between one or more trade unions and one or more employers or an employers’ organization on the incomes and working conditions of the employees
9. statute / i) to make into an act or statute; to establish by law
III. Fill in the gaps with prepositions:
1. Employment law entails contracts ………….employers and employees which are normally controlled ……specific legislation.
2. Some aspects …………..employment contracts are covered …….Trade Union and Labour Relations Act.
3. Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments …………the place ……..work to accommodate disabled persons.
4. Cost may be taken ………….account when determining what is reasonable.
5. Matters related …………termination of employment are governed ………….the Employment Rights Act 1996.
6. Claims concerning breach ………….contract, wrongful dismissal and applications …
7. ………injunctions are brought ………the courts.
8. The exception …………this is that there are some claims …………breach of contract that can be brought either ……….the courts or a tribunal.
9. Any appeal …………the County Court’s decision would be heard ……..the Court of Appeal and then the House ……..Lords.
IV. Choose the correct answer:
1. What is wrongful dismissal?
a) Dismissal was because the employee did something wrong
b) Dismissal occurs when the employee had less than 1 years service
c) An employer is in breach of contract when they attempted to terminate the contract
d) Dismissal was because an employee was a Trade Union member
2. What is unfair dismissal?
a) Someone is sacked for being unable to continue with their job
b) An employee’s post has clearly become redundant
c) When an employee is sacked because of their links with the Trade Union
d) An employee is sacked for misconduct
3. When is it unlawful to discriminate against someone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation or disability?
a) When recruiting them
b) When promoting and paying them
c) When dismissing them
d) All of the above
V. Answer the following questions:
1. What do you understand by the phrase reasonable adjustments in paragraph 2?
2. What factors do you think might be taken into account when deciding if an adjustment is reasonable?
3. What does the phrase nature of dispute in paragraph 6 mean?
4. In what circumstances can an employer lawfully discriminate against a disabled person at the recruitment stage?
5. What steps would you advise an employer to take before rejecting an application from a well-qualified, but seriously disabled job applicant?
Grammar Focus
THE COMPLEX OBJECT
The Complex Object consists of a noun in the common case or an objective pronoun, which is the doer of the action expressed by an infinitive or an –ing form: Trade union expects the employees to sign the contract tonight.The Complex Object with the infinitive is used after the verbs of:
- mental activity: to know, to think, to consider, to find, to expect, to suppose, to imagine, to feel, to trust, to mean, etc. We expect the collective bargaining to start soon.
- declaring: to pronounce, to declare, to report, to teach. The court declared the law to be unconstitutional.
- wish and intention: to want, to wish, to desire, to mean, to intend. He intended me to go with him to the European Court of Justice.
- order and permission: to order, to allow, to ask (for), to command, to encourage, to forbid, etc. He asked the disabled person to be hired.
- feeling and emotion: to like, would like, to dislike, to hate. Tell me what you would like me to do.
- sense perception: to hear, to see, to watch, to feel, to observe, etc. After such verbs the bare infinitive is used: I felt the blood rush into my cheeks. If the meaning is passive, we use Participle II.
The Complex Object with an –ing form is used after the verbs of sense perception if the process is expressed: The employer saw a disabled person coming.
VI. Identify the Complex Object in the following sentences. Translate the sentences into Russian:
1. The Employment Rights Act 1996 requires the employer to provide the employee with a document containing the terms and conditions of employment.
2. Some laws allow employees to unionise and engage in certain activities.
3. The directives might allow people to bring claims against governments and other state employers, such as local councils.
4. European law-makers have provided for legislation to forbid any discrimination on the basis other than sex.
5. In the UK, the law provides for sex-discrimination cases to be brought before an employment tribunal, which has the power to award compensation to the claimant.
VII. Write 10 sentences using the Complex Object with the infinitive and the –ing form and your active vocabulary.
VIII. Render the texts:
1. Трудовое право - это отрасль права, которая регулирует порядок возникновения, действия и прекращения трудовых отношений, определяет режим совместного труда работников, устанавливает меру охраны труда и порядок рассмотрения трудовых споров.
Предметом трудового права являются трудовые отношения между работником и работодателем. Источники трудового права представляют собой акты, содержащие правовые нормы, посредством которых регулируются трудовые отношения. Источники трудового права подразделяются на федеральные и локальные. Особое место среди источников трудового права занимают акты Международной организации труда (МОТ). Российская Федерация признала действие на своей территории пятидесяти двух конвенций МОТ.
2. Одной из особенностей современного трудового права Великобритании является значительная роль коллективных договоров в регулировании важнейших аспектов трудовых отношений: условий труда, заработной платы и т.д. В Великобритании именно коллективные договоры, а не законодательные акты, определяют основные параметры труда, в том числе размер заработной платы и продолжительность отдыха. Для рассмотрения споров, возникающих из коллективных договоров, действуют специальные трибуналы, поэтому судебная практика является одним из важных источников трудового права. К особым источникам трудового права Великобритании можно отнести кодексы практики, которые составляются государственными органами. Такие кодексы содержат ряд важных предписаний и рекомендаций. Содержание этих кодексов учитывается судами и другими государственными органами при применении норм права, хотя формально они не являются правовыми документами и их несоблюдение не влечет за собой каких-либо санкций.
3. Локаут — это увольнение по инициативе работодателя работников в связи с коллективным трудовым спором и объявлением забастовки, а также ликвидация или реорганизация организации, филиала, представительства (ст. 19). На практике он может означать временное закрытие какого либо предприятия его владельцем под предлогом экономических трудностей, но практически является реакцией на готовящуюся или уже начавшуюся забастовку работников.
Одним из примеров может служить локаут в гражданской авиации Франции, когда дирекция трех главных авиационных компаний «Эр Франс», «УТА» и «Эр-Интер» в ответ на объявленную профсоюзами трехдневную забастовку в целях улучшения условий работы летного состава отменила полеты самолетов на всех линиях, лишив таким образом работы 35 тыс. человек. Однако под давлением общественности она вынуждена была отменить локаут и вступить в переговоры с представителями профсоюзов об урегулировании конфликта.
Additional Reading
Text 1. Read the following text. Choose the best phrase to fill each of the gaps:
Is your Company Adequately Protecting its Rights?
This article provides a checklist for employment matters.
Make certain your employment agreements and any employee handbooks specify employment is “at will”. 1 ……….
Avoid non-competition clauses with employees (and with your customers) stating that employees cannot compete with you or work for your competitors or customers after they leave your company. In California, these restrictions on employees are generally invalid and can lead to lawsuits by employees alleging restrain of trade. Confidentiality agreements, on the other hand, are generally upheld.
2 ……… . One rule of thumb: they must earn at least one-third of their income from sources other than your company or be incorporated. Have a written agreement with each independent consultant stating that he/she is an independent consultant and is responsible for his/her own taxes etc.
Apply your company policies consistently to all employees. An employee handbook is advisable; this should make it clear what the exact rules are and ensure consistency. If you have one, follow its provisions and have it reviewed periodically for changes in the law and in business conditions. The handbook should state that it may be amended by the company at any time. 3 ………… Consider having employees enter a separate agreement to arbitrate (rather than litigate) all disputes regarding employment. If you do this, either have them sign it at the time when they first start work or give them additional consideration (small amounts of stock or money) for signing. Where existing employees are not given additional compensation to sign, the agreement may not be enforceable.