The Employment Status Of Workers Essay

Throughout the Twentieth Century, the evolution of workers’ rights in the workplace has drastically evolved. Through the utilization of constitutional freedoms, workers across the nation came together to support the goal of receiving fair treatment from employers when it came to wages, work conditions, and benefits. However, this wasn’t achieved without great sacrifice from the average man as standing up for their rights was a brave act that usually resulted in consequences.

The first legislation to try and weaken TU’s was the 1980 Employment Act which was targeting secondary boycotting and picketing. The Government wanted to limit the scale and scope of these activities, to individuals who were

In her book, Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz describes the lives of ten busboys, she referrs to as the Lions, living and working in the Chicago area. Gomberg-Muñoz provides an insight into the lives of these undocumented Mexican workers. They share their stories of crossing the border, the affects of their absence on family back in Mexico, and the daily struggles of living in a country without the benefits of citizenship. The Lions, as well as other undocumented Mexicans, have to face Americans stereotypes every day. Probably the biggest stereotype the Lions contend with is the belief that all Mexicans are hard workers.

Workers are entitled to some employment rights including the national minimum wage, holiday pay and protection against unlawful discrimination but not covered by all statutory rights.

In the case of London and North Railway Co v Berriman , the literal interpretation produced an injustice that Parliament in all likelihood under no circumstances purposely meant to. The legal issue in this case was the contrast in the nature work produces, which does not alter the level of risk employees are subject to.

In this chapter, the author points out the erroneous behavior of employers to their disowned workers. Employers reduce their accountability for their workers by cateogorizing them as “temp-workers” and “independent contractors” versus actual employees. In doing so, companies contribution to economic inequality and gender inequity is discernible. Employers thrive and retain funds for their personal gain by demanding a “flexible” worker. A flexible worker is subject to lose of wages, reduced or demanding hours, and unequivocal discrimination. Legislations such as the Family Labor Standards Act or Title VII, protects “employees” only and provides leeway for companies to avoid legal responsibilites and raise their profits. Temp workers may lose their job simply because employers neglect to provide training or vocational education--making the workplace unsafe for all workers (Fredrickson 135). Laws prohibiting temp workers and independent contractors to push for a wage increase, join an union and obtain benefits relieve employers financially and legally. The only way to ensure temp workers are protected, employers and temp agencies should be considered as “joint employers”; holding them liable for workplace violations. As techonolgy advances and independent contracting remains, these types of workers will continue to be disposable. Domestic workers, independent contractors, leased and temp workers should have legal rights because of their work ethic and not their job title. Employers defintely contribute to the

As someone who is passionate about issues of social justice; who enjoys engaging in a healthy debate; and whose life experiences have fostered an appreciation for legal protection, I am drawn to the academic study of law. Since graduating from my first degree, I have held a variety of jobs including some within the food service industry. It is in fact through my experience working in a field unrelated to law that has reinforced my interest in the study and practice of law. While employed as a waitress, I witnessed countless cases of employers unlawfully deducting workers' wages; ignoring workplace harassment; and refusing to acknowledge an employee's right to take breaks. Having personally submitted an employment-standards claim to the Ministry of Labour, I know how much time is involved in filing a claim against an employer.

Over the last two centuries the relationship between organizations and their employees have changed as the result of interactions between the two groups and in response to changing governmental legislation. During this period, labor unions arose to advocate for workers and address the inherent power imbalance between individual workers and organizations (Thornton, 2013). In workplaces were unions represent employees, Foss (2008), defines labor relations as the “ongoing interchange between the union and the employer that identifies their common and specific interests and creates mechanism to clarify, mange, reduce and resolve conflicts over their specific interests” (p. 1). The legal framework governing the practice of labor relations is

The definition of 'employee' and 'worker' differs slightly from one area of legislation to another, but generally workers have less rights

Employment or labor laws have been developed to facilitate smooth relationship between employers and employees. Employment laws provide rules and regulations that should govern both the employer and the employees in their places of work. Employment laws discuss issues related to child labor, wages and salaries, retirement, working conditions, compensations, incentives and employment benefits among others. The major objective is to ensure the employer does not exploit the employee and on the other hand, the employee honors the terms and conditions of the job as presented by the employer.

The EU law at issue is mainly the the Council Directive 2000/78/EC (the ‘Framework Employment Equality Directive’, referred to in general in what follows as ‘the Directive’), which establishes a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation.

/ This research attempts to clarify the extent to which the directive has effected the UK and to see if perhaps the claim is somewhat extravagant as far as the WTD is concerned in British labour market

Employment relations focuses on: the powers and interests of employees, employers, unemployed and government on regulations for employment conditions and workplace rights; employee, employer, unemployed and government strategies for influencing, regulating and controlling employment relationships; ‘cultural, social, economic, political, legal and institutional contexts’ of implemented employees, employers, unemployed and government powers and interests, and the design and implementation of employment relationship regulations (Rasmussen, Employment relations in New Zealand, 2009).

During Kohl’s chancellorship (1982-1998), the 1985 Employment Promotion Act created law that permitted employers to issue fixed-term contracts without valid reasons. This law was strongly opposed by trade unions and Social Democrats who were the government composition at the time. Kohl’s era has given many flexibility to ‘marginal’ workers (workers without secure employment). This includes the increased of take-up of part-time work at low weekly hours. Employers perceived these contract as strategic option to circumvent social insurance contributions an establish low wage segment of the labour market. In contrast, ‘core’ workers were hardly affected by this law.

This purpose of this report is to examine industrial relation issues that are combated in the workplace and relating these issues to industrial instruments and entitlements ( Thornthwaite & Sheldon, 2013). The chosen workplace for this report is WestPac it is one of the biggest leading banks in Australia which provide various financial services for their customers. The issues that will be discussed in this report outlines the conflicts of maternal/parental leave in Westpac, enterprise agreements of the workplace, comparisons between industrial instruments and if these requirements fit in with the National Employment Standards (NES). Moreover, under the Fair Work Australia Act 2009, it covers many industrial instruments particularly the one