A-Level商科-商法Business and the Law

Revision: Business and the Law

Explain why businesses should protect their employees

If a business fails to protect its employees to a 'reasonably practicable' level then they can be taken to court by the person who has suffered as a result of their negligence, obviously this is an incentive to ensure that such a situation does not occur. Furthermore, having a safe and controlled working environment provides a good base from which a disciplined, motivated and effective workforce can be built.

What constitutes fair dismissal?

For a business to be able to terminate a contract of an employees they must have valid grounds otherwise the employee/ex-employee may take the company to an industrial tribunal and claim a settlement that could be equal to up to his forecast earnings for the rest of his career at that company.

There are a variety of legal grounds on which a company could terminate the terms of employment. If the employee has been given an informal warning, a formal warning, a formal written warning and a last warning then the company may terminate the terms of employment. If an employee is found to be incompetent at their job, having been given chance to prove otherwise they may be dismissed. If the company is forced to make people redundant then it is fair dismissal provided a redundancy package is agreed upon. If the employee has been breaching company rules then he/she may be fired. More common is bringing the business into disrepute; for example, coming into work drunk/drugged/sending out email regarding other employees to friends can bring the business into disrepute. Gross misconduct is grounds for instant dismissal (which includes stealing). Assaulting a fellow employee or discriminating against them (on racist/sexist grounds etc.) is also grounds for fair dismissal.

What constitutes unfair dismissal?

Unfair dismissal can take place where a woman has her employment terminated because she is pregnant, where a person is sacked on racist/sexist grounds or where a person is bullied/blackmailed into leaving the business. An employee may take a company to an industrial if they are made redundant (job no longer needed) and then the job is kept on by the business with somebody else. An employee can no longer be sacked if they are found to belong to a Trade Union in order to protect their rights. If an employee is sacked without being given a fair hearing to explain his/her actions then they can be deemed to have been unfairly dismissed. Finally, if the company does not follow the procedure of giving the various levels of warnings to the employee then the employee can claim that they have been unfairly dismissed.

What are the aspects of the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty?

The essential essence of the social chapter of the Maastricht Treaty was to standardize working conditions for employees across the European Union. The Chapter guaranteed

workers across the EU the right to join a trade union if they so wished, to take industrial action against their employer if they felt it was called for, the right to be consulted and informed about company plans (e.g. they would have to be told about plant closures, expansions, redundancies etc.), the right to equal treatment for women and men, the right to a minimum wage and a maximum working week of 48 hours and the right to a minimum of 4 weeks paid holiday per year. The conservative government in 1993 did not sign the chapter fearing the consequences of extra costs on British business; however, the labor government elected in 1997 has decided to sign the chapter.

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