English Employment Law



English Employment Law

Aims and Objectives of the Study

Although laws regulating the actions of organizations predate the 20th century, regulation governing the relationship between employer and employee grew dramatically over the last 50 years. Unlike most previous legislation that addressed industry-specific problems, modern employment law affects all industries and all but the smallest employers. State and federal laws now regulate many human resource functions. This regulation takes many forms and offers many protections for both employees and organizations. This paper discusses English employment law in a concise and comprehensive way.

Grievance & Discipline in the Context of Performance Management in Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Speaking generally and in the context of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust over the course of time, employment laws have addressed numerous problems. Early laws focused on fostering labor unions and collective bargaining, whereas later laws focus much more on employee rights and direct protection of each employee. Almost no domain of regulation is determined by only one law or executive order. Rather, the regulatory process usually results in several laws or orders that together determine the protection provided. Nevertheless, laws addressing a particular social problem are grouped together conceptually and known by the major law (often not the first) addressing the problem.

When the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (Office of Public Sector Information 2006) came into force late last year, a raft of legislation designed to promote equal opportunities in workplaces across the UK was completed.

The purpose of the regulations is to ensure that no worker is disadvantaged in the workplace, and all workers are given equal access to training and promotion. To ensure that older workers are not disadvantaged, the upper age limit for claiming redundancy rights or challenging unfair dismissals has been removed, which means that older workers now have the same rights in these areas as younger workers.

Employees meanwhile have been granted a statutory right to request to work beyond the age of compulsory retirement, although employers have a duty to consider such employees' abilities to work before doing so. Other new responsibilities have also been given to employers, managers, trustees of occupational pension schemes, providers of vocational training including further and higher education institutions, and private training companies.

NHS Employers, which was established in November 2004 with the main goal of establishing the NHS as an employer of excellence, is responsible for this workforce agenda.

NHS Employers' work on age diversity in the workforce concentrates on the implications of workforce strategies. It provides healthcare organisations with briefings, support materials and information to ensure that they can develop age friendly policies and practices (NHS Employers 2007a).

The Age Diversity Reference Group was set up by NHS Employers to oversee and steer its age diversity work, and to develop and implement a national strategy to promote age diversity in the NHS workforce. It also supports employers to meet the requirements of The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 and to address other issues pertaining to demographic change (NHS Employers 2007b).

This age discrimination legislation will not affect healthcare practice immediately, ...