23. Regulation of the Conditions of Employment

Business Law ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Marson ◽  
Katy Ferris
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Contract Of Employment ◽  
Employment Legislation ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

This chapter continues from the discussion of the obligations on employers to adhere to the Equality Act (EA) 2010 and protect their workers from discrimination and harassment, to a wider consideration of the regulation of conditions of employment. Legislation places many obligations on employers, and they are increasingly subject to statutory controls that provide for a minimum wage to be paid to workers, for regulation as to the maximum number of hours workers may be required to work, and for the protection of workers’ health and safety. In the event of an employer’s insolvency, the rights of employees are identified, and finally, the mechanisms for employers to protect their business interests in the contract of employment are considered.

23. Statutory and Common Law Regulation of the Conditions of Employment

Business Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 612-644
Author(s):  
James Marson ◽  
Katy Ferris
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Contract Of Employment ◽  
Employment Legislation ◽  
Conditions Of Employment ◽  
Law Regulation

This chapter continues from the discussion of the obligations on employers to adhere to the Equality Act (EA) 2010 and protect their workers from discrimination and harassment, to a wider consideration of the regulation of conditions of employment. Legislation places many obligations on employers, and they are increasingly subject to statutory controls that provide for a minimum wage to be paid to workers, for regulation as to the maximum number of hours workers may be required to work, and for the protection of workers’ health and safety. In the event of an employer’s insolvency, the rights of employees are identified, and finally, the mechanisms for employers to protect their business interests in the contract of employment are considered.

Where Criminal Law Meets Labour Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-94
Author(s):  
Catherine Barnard ◽  
Sarah Fraser Butlin
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Time Limits ◽  
Employment Agency ◽  
Employment Agencies

This chapter provides a detailed examination of the politics of criminalization in four key areas: the enforcement of working time rights by the Health and Safety Executive, the enforcement of National Minimum Wage entitlements by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the enforcement role of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate, and the licensing regime administered by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. It examines these diverse regimes through an enforcement lens. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority regime provides for a system of licensing for ‘gangmasters’ in specific sectors of economic activity. The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate statutory framework specifies that a failure of employment agencies to comply with the certain specified standards itself constitutes a criminal offence. The National Minimum Wage framework provides for a composite mechanism of civil and criminal enforcement. Finally, the various working time limits in the Working Time Regulations are enforced through criminal offences.

scholarly journals Minimum wage and domestic workers right to basic conditions of employment: Are employers complying?

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (47) ◽  
pp. 11683-11691
Author(s):  
Gobind Jenni ◽  
du Plessis Graham ◽  
Ukpere Wilfred
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

Using overseas labour as part of a project workforce—integration, not segregation

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Chris Barton
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Skilled Labour ◽  
Transfer Of Skills ◽  
Proactive Management ◽  
Workplace Relations ◽  
Integration Strategies ◽  
Workforce Integration ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

The resources boom in Australia presents an unprecedented challenge to industry participants to find the skilled and semi-skilled labour they will need for projects, particularly in the construction phase, during the next few years. Wage pressures and critical labour shortages are major concerns for project owners, principal contractors, and other industry participants. Using temporary overseas labour is one option for alleviating these concerns; however, it brings its own challenges such as additional compliance obligations and the practical problems in integrating overseas workers into the workforce. Employers of temporary overseas labour will have ongoing sponsorship and access obligations that the Department of Immigration will scrutinise. Terms and conditions of employment, for example, must match those provided to Australian employees performing the same work. Employers must ensure their ongoing compliance with workplace relations and occupational health and safety laws as they apply to overseas workers. Training efforts must be directed to ensuring the transfer of skills from overseas workers to Australians where possible. These efforts must also be directed at Australians to take up employment opportunities and reduce the dependency on overseas labour across time. The integration of overseas workers to enable them to participate effectively in the workforce requires planning and proactive management. This extended abstract addresses the scope of the compliance obligations and the integration strategies to avoid the legal and industrial problems that will inevitably arise if overseas workers are segregated or isolated from the Australian workforce.

It May Cost an Arm and a Leg; Value on Workers and Occupational Fatality Rates in the U.S.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Shely Klos ◽  
Frank B. Giordano ◽  
Stacy A. Stoffregen ◽  
Miki C. Azuma ◽  
Jin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Workforce Flexibility ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Background The present study aims to observe how societal indicators of workers’ values at the state-level are related to health and safety outcomes, particularly major injuries and fatalities in the U.S. Underscoring workforce flexibility and workability over workforce stability and safety might be indicative of the worth of workers which can be associated with occupational safety and health concerns. Methods Multiple regression analysis was adopted to examine how the state-level indicators of values on workers in terms of 1) minimum wage, using the data from 2015; 2) average of workers’ compensations for the loss of an arm, hand, leg, or foot in 2015 were prospectively associated with occupational fatality rates in 2016 and 2017. Socioeconomic contextual variables such as education level, GDP per capita, income gap, and population at the state-level were controlled for. Results The present study showed that state-level quantitative indicators of how workers are valued at work, namely minimum wage and workers’ compensation benefits, were significantly and negatively associated with fatality rates in the following year. Workers’ compensation benefits were significantly and negatively associated with fatality rates two years later, implying the lasting effect of this particular type of indicator of values on workers. Conclusions The present study illustrates the gap in how workers are valued across the U.S.. The study speaks to the importance of fostering culture where workers are adequately valued, cared about, and protected to prevent and curtail occupational fatality.

scholarly journals Protection for Migrant Workers under Evolving Occupational Health and Safety Regimes in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mankui Li
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Regulation Model ◽  
Employment Legislation

Migrant workers in China are a distinctive group due to the existence of the hukou system under which they continue to face restrictions on housing, education, and health care in urban areas. The equal employment legislation does not solve the discrimination problems. Compared with their urban counterparts, migrant workers are more vulnerable, in terms of both precarity of employment and the occupational hazards that they are exposed to, and badly need OHS protection. Any weakness of OHS regime will have a disproportionately adverse effect on migrant workers. China’s OHS regime has been through constant evolution. The old prevention structure, which separated occupational health from occupational safety, was proved to be less effective in protecting migrant workers. In recognition of its deficiencies, China’s top legislature made adjustments to the OHS legal framework by enacting and updating a series of laws. The new prevention structure, unifying the occupational health administration and the occupational safety administration, represents a step forward in terms of OHS protection for migrant workers. According to worker citizenship theory, China’s OHS regime can be categorized as a direct state regulation model. It carries with it both the strengths and weaknesses of direct state regulation models. On the participation rights dimension, the lack of consultative joint OHS committees and the lack of effective collective bargaining shut migrant workers out from the decision-making process on OHS matters. On the social rights dimension, the gendered and aged-based approach becomes a hindrance for female migrant workers and young migrant workers. Furthermore, levels of enforcement vary considerably across different periods and areas, subject to the ever-changing priorities on the government’s agenda. Migrant workers are still facing tremendous obstacles and challenges in obtaining access to adequate protection under the current OHS regime in China. Future reform measures should focus on delivering OHS protection for migrant workers in the informal sector, strengthening participation, and centralizing OHS administration, especially enforcement.

Once More into the Sunset? Asian Clothing Firms after the National Minimum Wage

10.1068/c0136 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monder Ram ◽  
Mark Gilman ◽  
James Arrowsmith ◽  
Paul Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Clothing Industry ◽  
Longitudinal Change ◽  
Regulatory Change ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Work Intensification ◽  
Working Practices ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Employment Legislation

Intense global competition and the advent of a raft of employment regulations (notably, the national minimum wage, or NMW) have placed the UK garment industry under severe pressure. The prospects for a significant segment of this sector—ethnic-minority-owned businesses—appear to be extremely gloomy, although earlier predictions of its demise proved to be unduly pessimistic. Drawing on case studies of eighteen firms, we present an examination of longitudinal change in the Asian-dominated West Midlands clothing industry. In particular, the aim is to examine the responses of manufacturers to market and regulatory change (in particular, the NMW). The findings clearly illustrate that the sector is in decline, with firms finding it increasingly difficult to cope with cheap imports, labour shortages, and employment regulations. A range of responses was evident and included firms that resorted to operating in ‘grey’ markets; manufacturers that ‘retrenched’ their operations; ‘work intensification’; and businesses that attempted to move ‘up-market’. Finally, potential policy responses are considered. In particular, the case of the Coventry Clothing Centre is examined. The Centre worked with the grain of employment legislation, and appeared to have experienced some success in encouraging local firms to accommodate the NMW and improve working practices.

Creating value and mitigating harm: Assessing institutional objectives in Australian industrial relations

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel E Cutcher-Gershenfeld ◽  
Joe Isaac
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Industrial Disputes ◽  
Employment Legislation

The degree to which legislation on labour relations and other societal institutions creates value and mitigates harm is explored in this article through a framework designed to guide both the authoring and the analysis of objects of such legislation. Creating value and mitigating harm are typically explicit in the objects of public policy and implicit in adjudication, administration and adherence under public policies. Although conceptually distinct, creating value and mitigating harm can be both complementary and detrimental to each other. This article reviews various combinations of legislative objects over more than a century of Australian labour and employment relations policy. The objects examined include the prevention of industrial disputes, the introduction of a social minimum wage, the expansion of enterprise bargaining, expansion or curtailment of tribunal powers by government and other developments. Questions of ‘for whom?’ value is created or harm is mitigated are key. As an inductive study, the article concludes with hypotheses to guide future research, including implications that reach beyond Australia and employment legislation. JEL Codes: K31; K38; M14; M52

Wages, Salary, and Remuneration—Towards a Social Wage

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-164
Author(s):  
Zoe Adams
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Contract Of Employment ◽  
Minimum Wage Legislation ◽  
Wage Regulation ◽  
Social Wage

This chapter traces the development of minimum wage legislation through the early to mid-twentieth century. It demonstrates the significance of the concept of ‘remuneration’ in shaping the legal environment in which workers’ right to payment was coming to be conceived. The first section begins with a discussion of this concept, tracing it from its origins in the concept of the salary. The second section builds on this analysis to explore the role of these concepts—the wage, the salary, and remuneration—in experiments in wage regulation. The third section explores the link between these different concepts and the emerging relational model of the contract of employment. The fourth section shows how these changes influenced the way in which minimum wage legislation came to be conceived in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in the context of the wages councils system of the 1940s. The fifth section then explores the broader implications of these changes, returning to the example of dock work and the various ‘decasualization’ policies of the era.

8. Variation, breach, and termination of employment

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Michael Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Essential Information ◽  
Contract Of Employment ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses variations of terms and conditions of employment. Theoretically, neither employer nor employee can unilaterally alter the terms and conditions of employment. A unilateral variation that is not accepted will constitute a breach and, if serious, could amount to a repudiation of the contract. A repudiation does not automatically terminate a contract of employment. In order to justify summary dismissal, the employee must be in breach of an important express or implied term of the contract.

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