Employment Law and Relationship between Employees and Their Employers - Essay Example

?Employment Law XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX Employment Law Employment law basicallyrefers to the accepted manner in which every single form of employment is governed by. In some countries, the law requires that any contract of service offered or yet to be offered, that runs up to an aggregate of three months or more, must be put down in written form. Observation of these laws among others that govern employment is very necessary to facilitate the smooth flow of business and all related procedures (Moran, 2010, 234). Contracts as well as records are also very helpful when it comes to resolving of labor disputes and other emerging issues such as industrial accident claims, as this case-study research continues to reveal. Case study 1 shows a common instance of what could be termed to as a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of a situation within the business premises. In this situation, a seemingly stolen item that is a hard disk is found in the locker belonging to two employees of the same firm, namely Janice and Kelsey. Both are employees with a good reputation in the firm; however the case of a hard disk found in their locker tends to jeopardize their good resume. Following a different approach to confront the issue should show that neither Janice nor Kelsey could be held reliable; however this is not the case. Upon realization by the manager that the piece of hard disk has no entry in the stock records, both Janice and Kelsey are summoned by the manager in an attempt to discover the truth behind the recovery of such an item in their locker. Following basic human instinct, both culprits result to justification of their own cases against the allegations of theft. In a more detailed view of either employee, Janice has been an employee to the firm for a period not less than two years, within when, she has been able to maintain a clean resume without any implications proving otherwise. On the other hand, Kelsey has been working in the firm for a period just over a year, but similar to her co-worker Janice, has kept a clear record, throughout this time. Despite all this, both are considered guilty of the allegations of concealing the hard drive and face disciplinary measures that involve their immediate dismissal from their positions in the firm. Further information shows that the prior owner of the locker made claims of miss-placing his key to the locker some time back, this only making the decision to dismiss the two Janice and Kelsey somewhat inappropriate. Such cases are very common in the business world, and with their increase, the managerial departments of firms such as the one in question should come up with the appropriate procedures to solve such cases. With the increased lack of jobs, coming to a conclusion of dismissal like in this case should be the last option, and viable only, when the culprit is proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be guilty of the allegations. Janice to her defense had stated that she had used the locker as usual and upon noticing the bag that was later revealed to be containing the hard drive, had thought to hers self that it was Kelsey’s’ and had no business with it so just ignored it. Kelsey on the other hand had earlier on come to her defense stating that she had not used the locker lately, and thus had little information regarding the hard drive. It is evident that the procedure followed that resulted to the dismissal of the two was neither very clear nor convincing that either would have actually been considered guilty of the offence. Employment law governs that every employee in any organization of firm is subject to fair trial upon occurrence of such incidences. In this case, their cases of appeal against the dismissal came to a sudden crash, as the appeals were refused and both were dismissed. A working environment that has such personal property as lockers should have 24 hour surveillance, even making use of the latest technology in terms of CCTV cameras, which would have saved the situation that led to the dismissal of two employees from their job posts in this case. From the case, another issue relating to the terms and conditions governed by employment law in general is that, even upon dismissal, employees are subject to certificates of service. Termination of an employees work term is mainly due to cases as death of the worker, retirement, cases of completion of work whereby it is a contract or in cases of resignation of worker. Dismissal due to work issues such as in the case should not be a result reached at suddenly. It is provided that in cases where performance of obligations of any of the employees is temporarily halted. This could be due to specific reasons such as allegations and involvement in fraud or any other cases that go against the law. With both Janice and Kelsey resulting to submitting a case of unfair dismissal claims to the employment tribunal, the company is bound to receive notification from the tribunal in form of an ETI. From this point, law only accepts that the company is to respond by either refute the claim of unfair dismissal or prevent the case from going to the tribunal where the company deeply believes that the case against them by the two former employees is not in their favor: in that the case is weak on their side and are likely to lose in the tribunal. In this case, the firms’ case is somewhat weak, considering that there exists a loophole whereby there is emergence of the issue of a previous employee who had access to the locker in question, but lost his key. This alone leaves the company in a tough position to elaborate how it came to the conclusion that indeed Janice and Kelsey are to bare the blame over the discovered hard drive. There is the probability that the lost key might have fallen to the wrong hands, resulting to the use of the locker in question to carry out what would be referred to as a crime. The main legal issue involved in the scenario in these case study, is the issue concerning the procedure involved in laying the dismissal order for the two employees. As lightly as the company would take this issue to be, the process of dismissal of an employee involves proceedings escalating to high legal levels. As explained in the case study in question, before a company can result to finalizing a decision to lay-off an employee, certain steps are to be followed, as well as regarding certain considerations that govern the decision of dismissal. First and foremost, reference on the terms and conditions of employment critically implies. Before an employee is fully interned to join the company as a full-time employee, terms and conditions that may include the employer refraining from reinstating a particular worker. Moreover, it might bring suspicion, this act could be considered as an illegal dismissal, and the employee in question is considered to have the right to refer to the fact-finding board (Beam, 2010, 65). This is a major weakness on the side of the company’s case. These would mainly contribute to the company taking back the case, and re-hiring the dismissed persons as the conducted procedure of dismissal is termed to as elegit. With such an opportunity, the allegedlydismissed party is bound to make use of the opportunity to their favor and regain their positions in the firm. In some instances, compensation in terms of money or positions is necessary for the company to regain their client’s loyalty and trust in matters concerning business. In a separate scenario, there is the case of an employee who is involved in an accident while on work duty. However, this particular case has got further complications contributing to it. In a well elaborated situation, the employee in this case, who goes by the name Robert, is a regular drunk. He is allegedly known to drink from common hang out joints, and at know times of the day. With this, his day-to-day routine is well known by utmost everyone. However at the time of the accident it is not clearly known whether Robert had had a drink. On the other hand, the second accident victim, who is a driver in a lorry, is held guilty to be the main cause of the accident. It is said that he had fallen asleep while on the wheel. One thing leads to another as the drive of the lorry is fully held responsible for the accident as Robert faces no charges. This is however considered very controversial. He however does not escape the effects of the accident. He bares serious injuries that include a broken limb, a fractured arm, and damage to many other organs and tissues in the body. It does not augur well for Robert since after going through thorough medication; he suffers some physical defects as a result that consequently hinder his performance as a driver. Aside from all this is the sad fact that back at his place of work, serious cases await him. He is on the sideline of losing his job due to the resulted inability to carry out his roles effectively. Considering the harsh economic times affecting the economy, the firm from its side views it as being hard to sustain a non-reproductive employee, and the only options available are completely laying him off or demotion him to very basic working levels that seriously affects the amount of pay earned as compared to that previously earned. Information from the firm indicates that all these are consequences yet to be suffered by Robert, whom despite all this has been considered a top sales representative in the firm. In simple terms, his resume in terms of his work and services is just but brilliant. With deep consideration of the laws that govern the firm, the victim Robert should be entitled to maximum compensation, upon being proven an innocent victim of the accident. In view of the major injuries that he sustains, the company should indulge in deliberations concerningwho is to facilitate the compensation: whether the company or the lorry driver in term of his insurance, as he was the culprit behind the occurrence of the accident. In a case whereby Robert is considered responsible for the accident, then, the case against him as per the following of all legal procedures an laws governing employment and employees in general, then case is scarcely in his favor. This is because first and foremost, the company is at a position to accuse the victim Robert, of misuse of firm machinery or vehicles considering the fact that he is accused with the fact of using the company’s vehicle under the influence of alcohol. This alone is enough to render Robert liable to compensate the company. This is because he is considered the reason behind the damage of the company’s car, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This would result to drastic consequences towards the victim, as in addition to that, Robert is bound to cater for his own medical expenses through his own means. This tends to be very expensive on Roberts side as he is still in contemplation of a lost job. Law comes in here when the terms agreed upon on working facilitate equal justice to be seen on both the company’s side and Roberts’s side as well. Both case studies may be considered similar, mainly in the sense that, it is up to both the individuals firms on matters concerning the rules and regulations regarding the working in the firms. Employment law is one of the upcoming factors that have had the advantage of establishing itself in the contemporary world. This is from the amount of fame that this aspect has gained from people all around. Employment law has helped people gain reference by many people and created employment opportunities. This has been a role and thus helped people gained employment opportunities for people. It has thus seemed appropriate to go through all the factors in this field (Bell, 2009, 167). While considering both cases, it is not only evident, but proven that a situation in a working environment, that requires utter mediation as well as decision making from various sources is best dealt making use of the rules and laws that ought to govern the specific firm or organization. Similarly the head of all managerial duties bears the most responsibility in an occasion involving major decision making procedures. In the first case study, it is the manager himself who takes it upon himself to carry out the random search. As a result, we see that John Biggins makes certain discoveries that affect the firm in one way or another. Supposing the managerial officials don’t take it upon themselves to carry out such procedures though the basic employment laws provide them with this responsibility in cases of ensuring smooth flow of job operations in the company. Considering a situation whereby the involved, namely Janice and Kelsey are proven guilty of the allegations held against them thatare involvement in the stealing of the found hard drive, the absence of governing rules and regulations may prove fatal. Case study two that involves a situation majoring on the compensation of a worker, Robert, the repercussions may be more or less the same if at all employment law is treated with minimal regard. If at all procedures to come up with the next step to be followed in such a case were absent, Robert is likely to end up as the suffering party, most especially if he is the innocent party in matters regarding the occurrence of the prior accident. As a result of this, the victim is likely to suffer no kind of compensation and similarly, the issue lingering above the state of his job and whether or not he is to retake his earlier position are among those that are likely to be foregone, leaving Robert with a huge burden, not to mention he would still have health issues pending that wholly rely on him and the steps that he decides to take next. Lack of proper procedures defining employee well-being might also not only affect the concerned individual, such as Robert, Kelsey and Janice, the victims in this case, but the company too is likely to suffer under mismanagement of the same, only in this case, the results would be even harsher. In such an occasion, the company however is likely to suffer more, as a situation implicating an individual victim does not proceed any further and this only implies that the company is to suffer any loss by itself; regardless of whether or not the entire blame is on the victim (Cihon, 2010, 49). This is because there lacks proper laws governing whom, between the firm and the victims could be held liable for the situation, and what is commanded to follow. It is very necessary that, like in the firms in question, any manner of business, governing laws should greatly apply. This enhances smooth flow as well as ensuring success of the relevant companies in terms of the return in investments realized. This not only plays a key role in dictation of workflow in the firm by employees, but also brings about internal independence in the firm, whereby the employees are self-guided on issues related to the working procedures and operation in the firm. Laws that relate to issues of employment, do not only focus on instances that involve negative issues in the firm are most important too (Griffin, 2011, 56). When it comes to matters such as promotion, issues of wage and salary increment, as well as digging deep to particular employees information, that proves useful when it comes too extra-curricular occasions. Basically, it’s the laws that facilitate the existence of each and every firm and see to it that success is the main aim of these. For instance, in the case of Janice and Kelsey, who are considered to be exemplary workers with no bad record in the firm such as involvement in theft or any other activity negatively implicating them, these should not be taken lightly but instead, used to their advantage, whereby it is likely that they are indeed innocent of the allegations against them. On the contrary, in a case such as that of Robert, who is not exactly the innocent type, known to abuse alcohol to some levels, it is thus to the firms benefit that the situation is to their favor. Negative reputation will work against the victim, as the firm is likely to use this to derive it’s all from the liable victim, leaving on his or her side, much to lose. Good reputation may tend to work in favor to the victim, as such consideration, even in a situation where the issue escalates to high levels (Malone, 2008, 119). This is because, certain terms and provisions of employment law are recognized in the highest of legal case scenarios and proceedings. However, all victims in the provided case scenarios are liable to fair judgment. It is provided that following the required procedures, justice prevails, seeing to it that the right conclusions are met, regarding each situation (McFadden, 2012, 93). Employment law is a field that brings with it various aspects of human resource management. The manner through which the various officers in the field go about execution of tasks makes employment law rather reputable in the contemporary corporate arena. Gender awareness has been received a lot of credit since the early 1960s especially after the equality movement overwrote the Law of Contract in the United Kingdom. This ensured that people of both sexes got equal employment opportunities. This revolutionized the labor system in Britain and thus the various developments seen in the country (Tichy, 2008, 96). The labor law has been effective to ensure that the relationship between employees and their employers is quality and that the trade unions present represent the rights of the workers. With the unions, employment law has found meaning and people have managed to work even harder assured of safety and proper governance (Turner, 2011, 77). It is important to appreciate all the developments made in the field in an effort to understand the current situation in the labor market. References Beam, B. 2010. Federal Tax Compliance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Bell, A. 2009. Employment Law. London: Oxford University Press. Cihon, P. 2010. Employment and Labor Law. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers. Griffin, R. 2011. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. New York: Cengage Learning. Guerin, L. 2008. Employment Law: The Essentials in Human Resource. New York: Cengage Learning. Malone, W. 2008. Cases and Materials on Workers’ Compensation. New York: Palgrave Publishers. McFadden, J. 2012. Employee Benefits. London: Oxford University Press. Moran, J. 2010. Employment Law: New Challenges in the Business Environment. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Selwyn, N. 2009. Selwyn’s Law of Employment. New York: Cengage Learning. Turner, J. 2011. Pay at Risk: Compensation and Employment Risks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Tichy, N. 2008. Strategic Human Resource Management. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Read More