Employment Law Law Coursework Research Coursework Paper

Employment Law
Name
Institutional Affiliate
Employment Law
Introduction
Sustainable growth and development is a common objective for both small and corporate business organizations across the different sectors of the global economy. The achievement of such an objective takes different forms and depends on the ability of the business organizations to address the demands of their internal and external business environments. The legal factors, for instance, makes for one of the integral elements within the external business environment that influence or dictate how the business entity carries out various aspects of its daily operations. Among the demands of the legal factors affecting business organizations across different sectors of the economy is adhering to the different legal provisions concerning the employment of employees and labor policies. Employment and labor laws function to control, monitor, regulate, and govern the relationship between the employer and the employees. The infringement of such provisions may lead to adverse repercussions on business organizations and thus limiting their ability to achieve sustainable growth and development. Hiba Khan’s business entity, Spotless Limited, presents some of the legal issues facing business organizations around the world and whose mitigation provides an informed understanding of employment law and its application across different situations or scenarios. Provided herein is the identification of some of the legal issues arising from Hiba Khan’s business and proposed mitigation using relevant legislation for the same.
Verbal Contract of Employment
One of the major challenges Hiba Khan faces is setting up her business in the cleaning services industry is coming up with a contract for prospective employees. The start-up business faces financial constraints that limit its ability to offer more benefits than stipulated by the statutory rights of employees. Establishing an effective agreement that defines the employer’s relationship with the employees plays a significant role in avoiding and mitigating disputes whenever they arise within the business setting. Such an agreement is referred to as a contract of employment, and it takes the form of a written or a verbal agreement between the two parties. An employment contract, therefore, functions to protect the employer’s business by setting out the terms and conditions of employment for prospective employees and thus defining the relationship between the two parties. In essence, it is an agreement that states establish the fact that an employer will work for the employer for a financial reward from the latter.
Hiba Khan can choose to draft a written contract for her prospective employees or enter into a verbal agreement on the terms and conditions of employment that would dictate their relationship. Both types of employment contracts highlight the basic information concerning employment with the validity of the agreements determined by unique elements of a contract. The basic information contained in the contract of employment includes the name of the company or employer, the location of work, working hours, as well as the job description or job title. Other information contained in the agreement includes the salary and benefits offered, information concerning sick leave, holidays, and the disciplinary procedures embraced by the company. It is, however, important to take note of the fact that the validity of both written and verbal contracts is dependent on the presence of various key elements. These elements function to make a verbal agreement to be a legally binding contract and include the presence of an offer and acceptance of the same, lawful purpose, lawful consideration, as well as completeness and certainty of terms of employment. Other elements that determine the validity of a verbal contract include free or unforced consent of the parties involved and the capacity to enter into the said agreement. A verbal contract is thus considered valid based if it takes into consideration the outlined factors or elements determining the legality of such agreements. An employer wishing to make verbal agreements with prospective employees should make an offer to the latter and whose acceptance of the same validates the oral contract. Hiba Khan, for instance, can make an offer to a prospective employee for a cleaning position at a given fee for a certain number of hours worked. The acceptance of such an offer by the prospective employer makes for one of the elements that validate or makes it a legally binding contract. The purpose of entering into the oral agreement should also be within the legal grounds for it to be valid or legally binding. Spotless Limited offers employment opportunities involving cleaning services, and thus the verbal contract between the employer and prospective employees build around a lawful purpose, which makes it a legally binding agreement. The reward or consideration offered by the employer, salaries, and benefits, also validates the verbal agreement between the two parties as it is a lawful consideration. The outlined terms and conditions of employment should also be complete and certain to avoid any disputes arising from misinterpretations of vague or incomplete terms. Prospective employees should not be coerced into agreeing to the terms and conditions of employment, but both parties should have the freedom to consent or disagree with the terms.[ICLG. (2020, March 30). United Kingdom: Employment & Labour Laws and Regulations 2020. Retrieved from ICLG: https://iclg.com/practice-areas/employment-and-labour-laws-and-regulations/united-kingdom] [Slater & Gordon Lawyers. (2019). Employment Law: UK employment laws. Retrieved from Slater & Gordon Lawyers: /employment-law-solicitors/uk-employment-laws/] [Slater & Gordon Lawyers. (2019). Employment Law: UK employment laws. Retrieved from Slater & Gordon Lawyers: /employment-law-solicitors/uk-employment-laws/]
Working Hours Regulation
Regulating the working hours of employees makes for another area of concern among employers. Hiba Khan’s scenario, for instance, presents a situation where the employee wants to work more hours for increased pay and thus making the employer consider the legality of the proposed amendments to the existing work schedule at the company. The employer, Joe Jackson, is working an average of 40 hours across five days in a week and seems dissatisfied with the income generated from the schedule. The employee prefers to be working for 8 hours in across the seven days of the week, which brings the average working hours per week at 56 hours. According to the provisions of the United Kingdom’s Working Time Regulations 1998, employees are supposed to work an average of 48 hours in a week with entitlements to rest and annual leaves. The Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998 states that an employee must not work for more than 48 hours in a week unless they have agreed to do so in writing. Employees aged between 16-18 years, on the other hand, should work for not more than an average of 40 hours a week CITATION Sla19 \l 1033 (Slater & Gordon Lawyers, 2019). The WTR 1998 further entitles employees to 28 days paid leave for full-time workers annually and a 20-minutes break for working days that are longer than 6 hours. Employees should also not work for more than 8 hours on night shifts and have a right to a day off. It is evident that the employee’s preference and proposal to make changes to the working hours contradict the stipulations of the Working Time Regulations of 1998. Failure to adhere to the set regulations of the employee’s working hours and entitlements may expose business organizations to legal disputes due to infringement on the basic rights and protections provided by the WTR. Such infringements of the employee’s basic rights also invalidate the verbal agreement entered between the employer and the employee as it would entail forcing the latter to take on an offer made by the company or employer. Hiba Khan’s scenario, however, represents a case where the employer wants to work for more hours, and she seems to have the financial resources to facilitate the extended working hours. It is possible to accommodate longer working hours that the stipulated average of 48 hours in a working week if the employee agrees with the same. According to the Working Time Regulations 2018, employees can agree or choose to work more than the set average of 48 hours a week in what is referred to as opting out. Employees have to agree in writing by signing an opt-out to work the extra hours without any form of coercion or intimidation. Hence, failure to sign or agree with the offer to work extra hours should not lead to disciplinary measures such as dismissal or termination of employment. Such occurrences may expose the employer to liabilities resulting from injury to feelings as witnessed in South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service v Mansell & Ors UKEAT/0151/17/DM, where the firefighters accused the company of breaching the WTR 1998 by transferring them to other workstations for refusing to new changes to their working hours.[CIPD. (2020, August 10). Employment Law. Retrieved from CIPD: /knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law] [Shulman, M. (2018, February 12). Working time-Case Round-up: February 2018. Retrieved from Employment Cases Update: /site.aspx?i=ed36867]
It is, therefore, possible for Hiba Khan to accommodate the longer working hours as per the request of the employer but take into consideration the health and safety concerns of the employee. The provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 function to enhance the health and safety of employees, and thus any offer to work extra hours should be guided by the concern for the overall well-being of the employer. Though it is possible to make and accommodate Joe Jackson’s preferred changes to the working ho...