Business Research Task : Employment Issues

Wages: The act determines methods of wage payment and establishes the right for you to not suffer from unauthorised wage reductions.

To conclude, Employment Act 2008 also improves the areas of employment which includes minimum wage, holiday pay, equal opportunities and also contains trade unions. Holiday pay such as employees are entitle to 28 days of leave if they are working full time and 12 weeks of holiday pay if they are working part time rendering to the hours they are working. Trade unions are the representatives in a firm as they stand for all employees that are working and solve issues within the firm. Parents are entitle to ask for flexible working hours as they have a right which includes part time work or working during school hours, working from home, job sharing and finally shift working. They have permit to put in a request to work flexibly every 12 months.

The report marks the start of modern factory legislation. Sadler listened to those who lived through working those harsh conditions as children and investigate them in different aspects, including wage, working hours, working age, worker’s mental and physical health. These are related to the working rights that people are still striving for nowadays. For example, Hong Kong set up the standard working hour committee in 2013 concerning employees’ long working hours. The Sadler Report provide evidence that helped the factory legislation became achievable and raise the public awareness of labour

The main features of legislation relating to contracts of employment are outlined in the terms and conditions within a contract of employment. Information about this is included in the handbook for the NJC currently known as the Green Book. Contracts help to protect the rights and responsibilities of both the employer and the employee. Contracts must contain general information about the employee and the employment in which they have been employed: this includes information on the employee's name, date of commencement of employment, position appointed ,employment conditions, rights and responsibilities of the employee, expected duties and information on grade and point scale in relation to pay. Employees are expected by law to follow the terms set out in their contract until employment is terminated by either party.

For centuries, there has been a common relationship between employers and employees. Over the course of that time, the workplace and the jobs within it have evolved as new jobs were created, ways to execute tasks became more advanced and laws were enacted to put into place fair employment for those in the workforce. In 1938, congress would pass and President Roosevelt would sign the Wages and Hours Bill, more commonly known as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). This federal statute introduced a 44 hour, seven day work week, established the national minimum wage, guaranteed overtime pay in specific types of jobs at a rate of “time and a half”, and it defines oppressive child labor, which prohibits most employment of minors. The FLSA applies to those employees engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage.

Which of the following include any of a variety of programs that provide pay for time-not-worked, employee services, and protection programs?

After the global financial crisis in the 1970s, British labour market experienced a great shift in the organization and the new distribution of human resources (Hughes and Fergusson, 2004:95). It is undeniable that this economic recession had brought huge challenges to British economic development. The managers of organizations realized the significance of rising to the occasion in order to remain competitive power, which resulted in the emergence of flexible time work systems (ibid: 96). More specifically, zero-hour contracts have been applied. Pardey (2013:6) points out that zero-hour contracts are labour contracts between employers and employees which offer uncertain work and unfixed working hours. According to Tovey (2013), the study from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), nearly 3.1% of British labour force has

Working Time Regulations is the leglislation that impacts employees holidays, rest periods, working hours and night working.

Employers have legal obligations, when drawing up a job description. The law states that employers must not discriminate against a persons, age, race, sex, religion or disability.

* The importance of work life balance and related legislation concerning holidays, rest periods, working hours and night

The aim of this early conciliation is to encourage as many cases as possible to settle ‘compromising’ the claim through a settlement agreement (previously called a ‘compromise agreement’) an agreement achieved through Acas conciliation (a ‘COT3’). Appendix 3 is an early conciliation Flow Chart (ACAS)

It is certainly true that the current law defining the employment status of ‘workers’ is uncertain, as it is wholly inflexible to deal effectively with cases of non-standard forms of employment, atypical workers, for example: agency workers, part-time workers, fixed-term workers, as required workers and homeworkers. Thus, reform is necessary to redress the concerns of lack of legal certainty in relation to this area of the law.

Impact of Labor LawsLabors laws impact businesses the most because they dictate how businesses are run, their daily productivity, and expenditures. Federal labor laws protect the interest of employees by setting strict standards for organizations to follow. Regulations schedule breaks, wages, safe working conditions, unemployment insurance. There are federal standards that organizations must abide by and state regulations which never go below the federal standards. Federal laws set a minimum standard and state governments decide what is appropriate for their state (keeping in mind the cost of living standards). Federal and state regulations dictate the age of employees including hours and breaks. There are strict restrictions about the type of work environment children can work in; allowing children to work in hazardous conditions is strictly prohibited under federal law (US (Department of Labor, 2008.) Employers must abide by federal regulations to compensate employees for working more than 40 hours per week. At some organizations unions are established to defend the rights of employees. Unions are a powerful force in the United States and are able to negotiate further for wages; holiday pay, fight against disciplinary action, and other challenges employees deal with on a daily basis.

A worker’s working time, including overtime, shall not exceed an average of 48 hours for each seven days. It is currently possible for workers to sign a written agreement to opt out of the 48 hour weekly maximum. The agreement to opt out can be ended by the worker giving notice in writing. Under the Working Times Regulations 1998 the length of the notice required to opt out cannot be for a period of less than seven days or more than three months. Health and safety at work act 1974 also impacts on working time and breaks giving both parties time to recharge not being over tired. The employer has a more productive workforce if it they are not over worked.

Compensation (also known as Total Rewards) can be defined as all of the rewards earned by employees in return for their labour. This includes: