United Kingdom's Employment Law and Relationships

Given the culture these days of “No Win - No Fee” solicitors, the majority of employers have legal expenses cover that allows them to be guided through all employment issues by professionals who have the expertise in employment law. Owners/managers are advised to use this service for even the smallest employment issue as not following due process can prove costly for employers. In addition, these experts and the advice they give are non-biased and in accordance with current employment legislation.

- After working for a least a month you must be given notice for dismissal

The employment act of 2008 is about making provision about the procedure for employment e.g. holiday pay entitlement as in, an employer must tell their staff that the dates of their statutory leave year as soon as soon as they start working, e.g. certain date within a time frame of work. The employment act provides compensation for financial loss incase for unlawful underpayment or non-payment. The impact that the employment act of 2008 has enhanced the areas of employment law that already exists. It looks at the enforced of minimum wage by introducing a new penalty for employers who underpay their wage and it focuses on trade union memberships where were members of different unions have been asked to leave because they are members of a political

After the abolition of slavery, the resentment which former slaves felt at their exploitation and the low wages plantation managers were prepared to pay, (which were below what a family could live on), turned the former plantation workers against work in agriculture. This refusal to continue to work on the plantations became, in an industrial relations context, the first "withdrawal of labour" or strike action. Eaton (2002) purports that the industrial relations response by the state, which was coeval with the mercantile class, co-operated in defeating the workers' protest action by

Before one can begin to explain the history of labor unions it is best to describe the mission of unions for all types of industries and their main priorities. Trade unions are associations of employees that seek to improve the economic position of their members primarily by bargaining with employers within the framework of the existing economic system. (3) Their priority is primarily, though not exclusively, engaged in advancing the interest of its members through wage increases, hours worked, and working

It’s typical to divide employment law into two sections namely individual labour law and collective labour law. Individual labour law is the main law which involves contractual relationships between each employee and their employer. Collective labour law is the interaction between groups of employees and their employers. Both individual and collective labour law focus on the manner in which disputes are prosecuted and conducted. Labour relations is an important consideration for society that it is common to find specialist courts and tribunals that only deal with labour

In providing further context it is useful to consider the origins of employee protection. Originally in the UK, it was common law based and terminated upon cessation of the business, regardless of any subsequent continuation, Ready Mixed Concrete (South East) Ltd v. Minister of Pensions and National Insurance, [1968] 2 QB 497 (MacKenna, 1968). The right to choose an employer was further explored in Nokes v. Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd [1940] 2 QB 497 with the conclusion that the right to choose should be restated, which individually may have been advantageous but could also jeopardise employees’ jobs

Employment law. S230 (1) of the ERA an Ee as ‘an individual who has entered into work or works under a contract of employment.’ How the court decide: 1) they use control test-Yewens V Noakes [1880] ‘A servant is a person subject to the command of his master as to the manner in which he does his work.’ 2) Walker V Crystal Palace Football Club [1910] Emphasis changes- court looks at does the Er control the background arrangement; where and when work done; holiday arrangements. Held; footballer was employee. 3) Stevenson Jordan & Harrison V Macdonald & Evans [1952] Denning LJ posed- is their work integral; are they part of the business or an accessory to it. Are they part and parcel f the business? 4) Economic reality test, court look

Trade union is an important aspect in protecting workers rights and improving their working conditions. According to Sidney and Beatrice Webb (1920), trade union is “a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their working lives” (Sidney and Beatrice Webb, 1920). For many years, trade unions in most advanced market economies like UK, US, German, Italy, have been on the decline and faced increasingly challenging conditions in representing their members. The declining of trade union would influence over the government and employers; Howell (2005) argued these factors would contribute to diminishing revenues and pushing many unions into financial crisis and the lack of labour

Great Britain is currently recovering from one of the worst economic periods since the 1930s. Everyone is feeling the pinch. As companies try to compete in this new economic environment, and the government tries to reduce national debt, many industries are finding themselves in situations where they must find ways to improve employee relations on an industry wide basis. In the past, employee relations formed an important part of the competitive advantage for individual firms. After falling out of favor for some time, trade unions are now becoming more popular as a way of bolstering entire sectors of the economy or industries. This research will explore the role of employee relations in both unitary and pluralistc environments within certain industries.

‘Employee relations’ is a term used to refer to a study of the rules, regulation, and agreements used to manage workers either as a collective group or as individuals (Leat, 2008, p. 3; Waiganjo & Nge 'the, 2012). Conflict at the workplace is the inevitable issues that stem from interaction between employees and employers. On the other hand, a strike is an industrial action and a collective way in which employees voice their dispute once negotiations do not bear fruits. According to Odhong & Omolo (2014, p. 147), employee relations examines various facets of correlation between employees as well as with their employers. The concept of employee relations is utilized to formulate ways of resolving conflict and aid in increasing the productivity in an organization by motivating the employees (Nikoloski, et al., 2014, p. 118). The issue addressed in this essay is whether the observed decline in strikes activity in Britain translates to lesser disputes cases in the workplace stemming from employer-employee correlation. This paper apparently shows that it does not seem to be the case. In this paper, the essay will explore the issue of conflict within employee relation. Then, the paper looks into the conflict patterns, specifically with respect to the trend of strikes in Britain over the years. Once the pattern has been established, the paper will discuss the rationale behind the observed trend and what it meant for conflicts in the workplace. Then, the article will

Trade Unions was set up in the late 60s which turned out to be a great

The 1938 Trade Union Ordinance and the 1973 Trade Union Act marked the centrality of State regulations in Trade Union development. In-between these periods serious industrial conflicts (strikes) broke out and were mismanaged but the power of the

The law essentially provided for the registration of trade unions, outlining certain requirements about their rules, trusteeship, accounts, amalgamation, dissolution and the filing of annual financial statements to a Registrar. The law however, unlike its counterpart British law at the time, did not give the right to “peaceful picketing or the common law disability of action in tort whereby trade unions could be sued for damages in consequence of strike action was not removed by the Trade Union Law in Jamaica.”  Conventional wisdom even at that time is that this omission was not accidental, and the expressions by the then Governor of Jamaica on that occasion were the Jamaican workers were not ready for trade unionism, acted as confirmation. (Henry 1982).

The issues of industrial relations come from the early times. Today, these issues form part of the day to day management activities within private, public and all other types of organizations. Week in week cases are made at industrial courts that related employer employee relations matters. The statutory instruments such as industrial relations laws, dispute acts, public service acts, disciplinary hearing procedures, processes and standards to manage the conditions of service between the employer and employees. Mary Davis reminds the world of some odd scene that took place in 1834, otherwise commonly