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INTRODUCTION

External forces governing the employment relationships are the employment laws. The

complexity of the employment relationship and changes in society make it impossible for one law to

cover all the issues that may arise. The scope of legal issues falling under the title employment law is

extremely large. Employment laws are among the emotionally and politically charged topics. The reason

tempers flare and even violence happens is that these laws go to the heart of how business makes

profits and how people make a living.

OBJECTIVES

i. What is employment law?ii. Challenges of employment laws adoption.iii. The evidence in the fieldiv. Factors that may affect effective adoption of the practices and their solutions for the same

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Employment law or the labor law according to Wikipedia is the body of laws, administrative rulings and

precedents which address the legal rights of and restrictions on, working people and their organizations.

It mediates many aspects of the relationship between the trade unions, employers and employees.

Employment laws is the large body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which encompass all

areas of the employer/employee relationship.

Employment law is governed by thousands of federal and state statutes, administrative regulation, and

judicial decisions.

Employment laws protects employees from any mistreatment by the their employers. Thanks to the

working conditions, laws establish fair wages, limit the number of hours worked in a week were among

the first components of employment law

Employment laws protects other rights of employees , too. Laws have been established standards that

employers must follow in providing benefits for instance health insurance to their employees .

Employment laws also include discrimination in the work place based on race gender, religion, disability

and makes provision for the employment of foreigners.

Employment laws is vital part of our governments effort to protect our rights as human beings.

Employment laws ensures that employees cannot be overworked, placed in an unhealthy or dangerous

environment or rendered unable to work without appropriate compensation.

Employment law is what stands between the modern employees and such crime as became widespread

during the industrial revolution.

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DISCUSSION

LAWS OF EMPLOYMENT: Individual rights

Human Rights Act, 1998

It came into force in October 2000, it is an overarching law, which means that other relevant pieces of

legislation must be interpreted in the light of its principles. In the respects of employment matters, it is

inconceivable that the Act will not affect all organizations that employ people. There are sixteen basic

rights protected in the Act , including the right to life and to liberty and security

Rights relevant to public sector organizations:

Right to a fair trial

Everyone is entitled to fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial

tribunal established by law .Disciplinary rules within organizations should make clear provision for a

right of appeal to an employment tribunal.

Right to respect for private and family life

Respect is paramount for their private and family, their home and their correspondence, clear guidelines

will need to be produced to show staff where the limits are to be set. This is especially important when

company rules require behavior to conform to security and other restrictions on personal

communication.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

For employers this right has to be considered in relation to the race relation Act, and clearly any exerciseby individuals of the basic right must not contravene legislation designed to restrict racial. With an

increasing reliance on the provision of service for twenty four hours a day, seven days a week such

considerations must be given appropriate place in employment conditions.

Freedom of expression

Individuals have the right to hold opinions and receive and impart ideas without interference by a public

authority. Managers now have to review disciplinary rules to ensure that any restrictions on an

employees right of expression is reasonable one in the circumstances for instance for safety and health

reasons.

Freedom of assembly and association

Specific right to join or not to join a trade union, and to hold union meetings during working hours. The

right to take industrial action is not explicit, but is strongly implied.

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Prohibition of discrimination

Access to the rights available under the Act should not be denied on any discriminatory grounds unless

they can be justified objectively. The effect of this right is to extend the scope of anti-discriminatory

measures to religious and political issues as well as those already in the force regarding sex, race and

disability discrimination.

The human resource have to review their existing practices in relation to grievance and disciplinary

codes and similar codes of behavior. Agreement with the recognized trade unions are to be reviewed in

order to ensure that they conform to the spirit of the human rights legislation.

When everyone has rights there have to be arrangements for deciding what is fair when one persons

right conflict with anothers.

EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION- INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

The right not to be unfairly dismissed, contained in originally in the Industrial Relations Act 1971, has

been retained ever since. In a move to reduce industrial conflict, governments began to introduce

legislation aimed specifically at the employment relationship .There is still a good deal of voluntary

action by way of collective bargaining between employers and trade union representatives, but it is now

firmly under the auspices of statutes covering both collective and individual concerns.

Individual rights are now brought together under the Employment Right Act 1996, amended by the

Employment Relation Act 1999.

The principal rights contained in the 1996 Act are briefly as follows:

Right to receive a statement of employment particulars Right to an itemized pay statement Right not to have unauthorized deduction made from pay Right to a guarantee payment (where short-time working imposed) Right not to suffer detriment at work Right to time off for certain public duties Right to time off for ante-natal care Right to time off for dependants Right to maternity leave and to return to work after child birth Right to parental leave

Right to time off for trade union responsibilities Right to a minimum period of notice Right to a written statement of reasons for dismissal Right to a written statement of reasons for dismissal Right not to be unfairly Right to complain to an employment tribunal regarding alleged unfair dismissal

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Right to seek an order for reinstatement, re-engagement or to receive compensation for unfairdismissal

y Right to redundancy paymentThe above list confirms that there is a wide range of rights covering key aspects of work. In addition to

the above, there are also specific rights arising from other legislation on such issues such as sexdiscrimination, racial discrimination and the minimum wage. The principal legislation on these matters

tend s nowadays to permit the authorities to make further Regulations to deal with specific issues and

to update monetary limits.

Rights to receive a statement of employment particulars

The employee has the right within two months to receive basic information about his or her job

conditions.

Right to time off for certain public duties

The 1996 Act includes the right of the employee to reasonable time for the performance of certain

public duties. The time off is usually unpaid. The permitted duties include serving as a justice of the

peace, a local councilor or school governor.

Right to time off for ante-natal care

Maternity rights were first granted under the employment Protection Act 1975, but have since been

extended. The current law on time allowed to attend for ante-natal care is defined by the 1996 Act, as

amended by the Employment Relations Act 1999, and permits a pregnant woman to take paid time off

work to attend a clinic provided she has supplied documentary proof of her pregnancy.

Right to time off for dependants

This is to make work more family friendly. It permits an employee to take time off to assist a

dependant who falls ill, gives birth, or has an accident. Death of a dependent, the care of a dependant,

or dealing with an incident involving a child. There is no requirement on the employer to treat such

absence as paid leave, although it would be good practice to do so.

Right to maternity leave

An employee is entitled to ordinary maternity leave (unpaid) for not less than eighteen weeks, including

at least two weeks compulsory maternity leave from the date of childbirth. After her childbirth, theemployee is entitled to return of any woman on grounds on to the job she held before her absence

without suffering any loss of seniority, pension. Dismissal of any woman on the grounds associated with

her intention to return to work, automatically unfair, regardless of strength of service. It is not unlawful

for such a woman to be dismissed on other grounds, in which case she is entitled to her normal notice,

together with a written statement of the reason for the dismissal.

Right to parental leave

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A parent is entitled to a total of thirteen weeks leave for the purpose of catering for a child up to its

fifty birth day. This applies especially to the fathers. Evidence of his responsibility for the child has to be

supplied and he has to have been employed by the employer for one year.

21 days notice must be given to the employer and maximum amount of leave in any one year is four

weeks. The leave can be postponed by the employer for up to six months, where the employeesabsence would be disruptive, except when the leave is to be taken immediately after childbirth.

Right to minimum period of notice

Minimum period of notice to be given to an employee by an employer (1996 Act) depends on the

former length of service. Current minima are as follows:

At least one weeks notice if employed between one month and two years

At least one weeks notice for each year of continuous employment between two and twelve years

At least twelve weeks notice where employed for more than twelve years

The minima do not apply in cases where the employees conduct may justify summary dismissal.

Right not to be unfairly dismissed

An employee has a right not to be unfairly dismissed by his employer, according to 1996 Act. Dismissal

occurs when the contract is terminated by the employer with or without notice, or where a fixed term

contract is not renewed by the employer.

Dismissal is considered to be unfair in the following circumstances:

Solely on grounds of pregnancy Where the employee was not permitted to return to work after her childbirth, having given due

notice of her intentions

Where the employee was unreasonably selected for redundancy Where the employer has acted the circumstances unreasonable

Dismissal will only be regarded as fair on the grounds of:

b The employees capability or qualificationsb The employees misconduct or gross misconductb Contravention of a statutory duty or restrictionb Some other substantial reason

The qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims has been reduced from two years to one year of

continuous service, except in cases where no such period applies. The waiver on unfair dismissal clauses

in fixed-term contracts has been abolished, and this leaves it open for the employers position, then

some compensation may be sought on termination of the original contract.

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Right to redundancy payment

Where an employees work is no longer required, or where his or her employer has ceased to carry on

business at the employees place of work, a redundancy situation arises. Redundancy occurs where the

work has ended .. It is not concerned with the employees performance at work, although this may be a

factor if only some employees are to lose their jobs.

The role of ACAS and employment tribunals in individual claim

Individuals having a complaint to make against their employer, they are entitled under several Acts of

parliament to complain to an employment tribunal. Due to substantial increase in employment related

legislation, the work load on ACAS and tribunals has been increasing year on year

ACAS attempts to conciliate between employee and employer in order to achieve a mutually

satisfactory outcome, and part of the services performance is judged on its clear up rate, that is the

number of cases which are either withdrawn by the complainant or are settled by mutual agreement.

HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK

It is important to remember that an employer has a common law duty to provide a safe place of work

for his employees and reliable at common law for accidents caused by his employees in the cause of

their employment.

Employers common law duties are usually categorized into:

i. The provision of a safe place of employment, so far as is reasonable in the circumstancesii. The provision of safe means of access to workiii. The provision of safe systems of workingiv. The provision of adequate equipment, materials and clothing to enable employees to carry out

their work safely

v. The provision of competent fellow workersvi. A duty of care to ensure that employees are not subjected to any unreasonable risks in the

workplace

Each category the courts are likely to assess what is reasonable in the circumstances of a particular

employers safety provision. A breach of a duty could result both in a common law claim by the

employee and a criminal prosecution by the Health and safety inspectorate.Where an employee makes

a common law claim for damages as a result of injury at work, he may be liable to counter claim of

contributory

Work evidence in the field (KPLC)

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The employment laws are followed to the very end since these are the laws that binds the employer and

the employee. For instance, in all cases attempts to place a redundant employee elsewhere in the

company if not possible, then due to termination must be given in writing with copies to the manager,

human resource and the administration. Payment is done based on the time period the employee has

spent in the company before he is made redundant.

The disciplinary procedure is in place thus ensuring that the company communicates to what is expected

of the through the ethical code and staff regulations, in order to maintain cordial working relations. The

essence of this is to rehabilitate, align and mold the staff into achieving the corporate objectives.

An established system of adequate documentation is made available, this consist of job description and

personnel manual

CHALLENGES OF EMPLOYMENT LAW ADOPTION

Wages and allowances

Demand for increase in wages and allowances is the most important case of employment law adoption.

Due inflation and rising cost of living, workers and their unions periodically put up demand for increase

in their remuneration so as to maintain their real income.

Bonus

Workers and trade unions want a share in the profits of the industry. The refusal of the employers to

share the profits makes a challenge in the adoption of employment laws.

Personnel and retirement

Victimization of workers, refusal by employers to recognize trade unions, communication gap between

employers and employees suspension and dismissal of workers fall in the category.

Leave and hours of work

Poor working conditions and violation of factories Act, 1948 provisions concerning leave and working

hours is another challenge.

Indiscipline and violence

Lack of discipline among workers and violence on the part of employers, trade unions leaders and

workers results to a challenge of adoption of the laws.

Other reasons

Multiplicity of unions, political pressure on workers and inter-union rivalry.

Solution to the above challenges

Model standing orders

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This prescribes guidelines for regulating relationships between employers and employees under the

industrial employment (standing orders), Act, 1946. Every factory employing 100 or more workers is

required to frame standing orders in consultation with the workers. Standing orders define and regulate

terms and conditions of employment and bring about uniformity in them. These also specifies the duties

and responsibility of both employers and employees and regulate standards of their conduct.

Code of industrial discipline

The code voluntarily binds the employers and workers to settle all grievances and disputes by mutual

negotiation and conciliation.

Collective bargaining

A process in which the representative of the employer and of the employees meet and attempt to

negotiate a contract governing the employer employee union relationship.

Joint consultative

Service conditions in the government sector are dealt with at National council, departmental councils

and regional or office councils.

Tripartite bodies

These bodies play an important role in reaching at agreements on various labor matters.

Labor welfare officer

The factory Act, 1948 provides for the appointment of labor welfare officer in every factory employing

50 or more workers. He looks after all facilities in the factory provided for the health, safety and welfareof workers, he keeps liaison with both the employers and the work and serves as industrial relations.

CONCLUSION

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Employment laws are only as good as the effective action they produce. Formulating them is the easy

part, the difficulties begin when they have to be implemented.

In the vast majority of workplaces that nature of the relationship that is established between employers

and employees, and rules that govern it, owe far more to the requirements of employment law than to

the demands of trade unions.

REFERENCES

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Gupta . C. (2008) , Human Resource Management. 9th ed

Reed & Shedd (1999) , The Legal and Regulatory Environment of Bussiness

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