Employment Law for Employers: Every Employer Needs to Know janets.org.uk/employment-law-for-employers 13 February 2021
Nobody ever thinks about employment law when hiring an employee. Being an employee myself, I didn’t think of it as well. You consider thinking about it until the law has been acted upon to you. As an employee, you would want and trust your company to stick to the conditions that they have agreed to. Moreover, you want them to stick to the terms and conditions till the end of the bargain. Whereas, as an employer, you would want to work for the employees best interest. But, you will also consider what is best for you and your company. At least that’s what you will consider at first. With that being said, as an employer, you need to know the procedure and regulations of it before applying it. Today we will be discussing employment law for employers. There will be a time when you will have to implement it. And to do that you need to know everything related to employment law for employers. We will learn more about employment law for employers later. But first, we should know what is employment law? As an employer, you should have enough knowledge about all the laws related to employment. 1/8
What is Employment Law? Almost every well-known business follows some sort of employment law. Employment law contains a set of laws. It guides the relationship between employers and employees. A business or company is more likely to follow employment laws. Employment law tells you how much an employer can expect from a certain employee. It also states about employee rights and many more. It states all the legal boundaries that you can expect from this field.
How does Employment Law get breached? As the years have passed, breach of employment law for employers is increasing. Both employers and employees violate the law. But, the number of employment law violations in these five sectors are more than in the others.
Bullying Sexual Harassment Discrimination Redundancies Tribunals There are a few recent statistics mentioned below. It will show you in what percentage these violations are taking place.
Bullying
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There are significant cases of bullying in the workplace. In recent events over 23% of people in the UK were victims of bullying in the workplace. The report also further states that 25% of people are the victim of passive bullying. And almost 12% of people stated that they face difficulty to make friends in their workplace. Employees are not comfortable to share their bullying experience with their HR teams. Over 25% of the employees felt that employers usually ignore complaints. Most of the complaints related to workplace bullying are not considered as a complaint. Around 22% of reports are being ignored even after reporting. And only 11% of people stated that they saw some improvement after reporting.
Sexual Harassment
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Around 60% of women were victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. There are different categories of sexual harassment in the workplace. Starting from blowing whistles, passing rude or sexual comments, and many more. Verbal harassment takes place the most in the workplace compared to physical harassment. Approximately 8% of the people in the workplace were victims of physical harassment. Any kind of harassment, be it physical or verbal is very dangerous. Physical harassment leads to worse consequences. Research by Stockholm University stated a fact. They found a link between suicide rates and workplace sexual harassment.
Discrimination Discrimination is a very common breach of employment law. Around 55% of employees have stated that they have experienced this. Most of them are discriminated against based on their race, gender and age. These statistics vary from country to country. However, London has the highest rate of discrimination. Discrimination often varies from the type of job sector you belong to.
Redundancies The year 2020 was a very difficult year for all the working-class people. Many people around the world lost their jobs. The redundancy rate in the UK is the highest and increasing at the fastest rate due to COVID-19.
Tribunals Another area that got affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is the employment tribunals. The rate increased very fast from July 2020 to September 2020. From July to September 2020, 13% of individuals claimed employment tribunals. Over the years the number of employment law breaches has increased vigorously. That’s why to avoid these kinds of problems every employer should study these statistics. Studying these statistics will help you to make sure that you are careful. Moreover, you will not violate the employment law for employers. As time goes by the number of breach of employment law for employers is increasing. Moreover, as a business grows the violation of employment laws grows too. And the consequences of violating these laws are devastating. The consequences can be severe. You either have to pay a huge sum of money or they might take legal actions against you. That’s why to be in a safer zone, it is better to come up with best practices. That way you can avoid such severe circumstances. And you can also think about your employees and the company’s well-being.
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The four documents an employer should follow to avoid violations of the employment law for the employers.
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The Importance of Employment Law Employment law will help to prevent discrimination in the workplace. Discrimination comes in various forms. It can be in the form of age, race, colour and many more. If you include a certain discrimination law then the crime will also reduce. There are a lot of employers who pay their employees very less salary. Sometimes, even lower than the minimum wage, which is very unfair. That’s where employment law comes in handy. If you have a law based on this topic then you will be fair to all the employees. Employment law will give your employees a clear view of their rights. The employees will know their rights to holiday pay, maternity and paternity leave. They will also know how much sick leave, the compassionate leave will they get and many more. There are several reasons why employment law is important. These three reasons are why it is crucial for you to include employment laws in an organization. Employers should keep the work environment comfortable for their employees to work there. In fact, you can consider this suggestion as employment law for employers. There are several employment laws. But following this particular suggestion will be more than enough. There are a few more employment laws or rights that you can include. Especially for the betterment of the employees. And, also to ensure a healthy workplace environment. Read the following points to know more about it! In order to ensure the best practices on employment laws, employers must have the following 4 documents and their records.
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1. An Employee offer letter This is the first step towards an employment relationship. However, no legal requirements are necessary when the employee takes the offer letter. It is the very first step towards the agreement or for any sort of negotiations. The offer letter will include relevant information about the company. It will also contain the employee’s job description, rules and regulations of the company. They will also have information on salary, work benefits and many more. These are some important points that make an offer letter.
2. An Employee Agreement
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A very small business does not need many formalities. But, as a business or a company grows larger, it becomes crucial for them to include a legal agreement. Especially between an employee and the company. Most of the time it feels like an unimportant task. Signing a piece of paper does not seem to be an important task all the time. But overlooking this task can be a terrible mistake for both the employees and employers. That’s because it is the most important and powerful document of a company’s hiring process. Not including this document in the procedure will be a huge mistake. This agreement is a legal document that protects the rights of both the employee and the company. It also provides security to both employees and the company. The document includes information about payments, termination policy, benefits. And also about the protection of property and non-solicitation of all the clients. This particular document structures the entire agreement process in a rightful manner.
3. An Employee handbook Every business, be it a small one or a very big one, should have an employee handbook. This is the best possible way to educate your employees. Especially, on the values and expectations, a company holds. As your business grows and so should the employee handbook. You have to keep your employee handbook updated with all the relevant information.
4. The Termination Letter The termination letter is the final document. It contains vital information and that’s why you should handle it carefully. The key elements of this letter are the termination date and reason for termination. There is also other information mentioned in the letter as well. Such as compensation, the return of office equipment and many more. It can be difficult to end the work relation, but a termination letter will put a proper closure to it. There are various ways to prevent violations of employment laws for employers. But these four documentations are the main ones. These four documentations provide a proper framework between the employee and employer relationship. Every business or a company needs to follow employment law, be it a small business or a very big one. They need to have one. There are several reasons why an organisation needs employment law. Read the four points to know more about the importance of employment law.
Basic employment rights a healthy work environment Ensure the following 3 basic employment rights to have a healthy work environment for the employees:
1. Provide proper training
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The employers must give the employees proper training. The training must be on every prospect of the company. This way the employees will know better about the company. Moreover, they will think twice before making any mistakes. This way will also lead to the betterment of the company.
2. Develop a sense of belonging on employees You must involve your employees in the decision-making process. That’s because it will make your employee feel like he or she belongs to this company. You should give your employees a sense of belonging. If you do that, then you can conclude yourself as a successful employer!
3. Ensure proper safety As an employer, you should make sure that in which field your employees will feel safe to work in. As an employer, you should ensure proper safety to your employees. You don’t want your employees to face bullying and discrimination.
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Closing Note Employment law violations are increasing day by day. To avoid punishments every employer should know everything about employment law. Read this content to ensure a proper guide towards employment law for employers. But, if you want to know more about the UK employment law then do not forget to click the link below to join the course!
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