Online Resources Chapter D: Industrial Action and Statutory Immunities

This chapter examines the law of trade disputes and industrial action in the UK, i.e. the law which regulates action taken by members of a trade union which imposes restrictions upon employers when collective relations between the employer and the workforce have broken down. The position is analysed in the context of the legality of industrial action in European law and under the European Convention on Human Rights....

20. Collective Redundancies

This chapter examines the law on collective dismissals, which involves the large-scale lay-off of labour by an employer. It first considers the meaning of ‘collective redundancies’ and discusses the basic obligations of the employer, namely the provisions of information, consultation and notification. It then turns to the detail of Chapter II of Part IV of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA); the nature and extent of the employer’s obligations; and the consequences when the employer fails to comply with the statutory information and consultation procedures in section 188 of TULRCA.

19. Transfers of Undertakings

This chapter examines the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). It first assesses the legal position prior to the introduction of the European Acquired Rights Directive 2001, which is the source of TUPE. It then analyses the principal implications of TUPE and its provisions. It considers the circumstances when TUPE will apply and the extent to which TUPE has been interpreted progressively to include economic transactions and arrangements which transcend the transfer of an organization’s business and assets. The chapter also examines the impact of TUPE on the contract of employment, and discusses the information and consultation obligations imposed on transferors.

17. Procedural Fairness and Remedies

This chapter first examines the various conceptions of procedural fairness. It then underscores the diversity and adaptability of the standards of procedural fairness. It charts the approach of the tribunals and courts to the standards of procedural fairness and analyses the stages of a procedurally fair process. Finally, the chapter probes the remedies available in the case of a successful unfair dismissal, including the calculation of the basic award, the measure of compensation payable in the case of the compensatory award, and the orders of reinstatement and re-engagement. The chapter concludes with an overall assessment of the efficacy of the statutory unfair dismissal regime.

10. Introduction to Employment Equality Law

This chapter examines the pros and cons of interfering in the labour market via the promulgation of anti-discrimination laws. It evaluates the basic theoretical constructs which are relevant to a proper understanding of anti-discrimination law in the UK and the EU, including the possible policy responses (e.g. the distinction between formal equality and substantive equality). It briefly assesses the historical development of anti-discrimination laws in the workplace, and then analyses key statutory concepts such as direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment. Finally, the chapter considers victimization—an important issue since there is little purpose in statutory concepts if the employer can intimidate the employee, thus preventing him/her from bringing or continuing proceedings on one of these bases and/or by subjecting him/her to retaliation.

18. Redundancy

This chapter examines the statutory regulation of redundancy, together with the extent to which a statutory redundancy payment offers sufficient compensation for the loss of the employee’s job, and the financial and emotional disruption caused by the need to search for other employment. It considers other protections available to the employee who is about to be, or has been, made redundant. It then assesses the evolution of the present statutory regime and whether it strikes an appropriate balance between the personal financial costs and adverse social costs shouldered by UK taxpayers and the economy on the one hand, and the costs to the productive economy and the labour market on the other. The alternatives to redundancy are also addressed.

16. Introduction to Unfair Dismissal and Substantive Fairness

This chapter begins with a contextual and historical introduction to unfair dismissal law, which seeks to regulate arrangements pursued by employers that result in the dismissal of their employees. It covers the efficiency of unfair dismissal laws; the structure, nature, content, and shape of unfair dismissal laws; and the rationale for the introduction of the unfair dismissal laws in the UK. It then examines the statutory unfair dismissal regime contained in Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and the meaning of the ‘substantive fairness’ of the dismissal. In the final section, the chapter considers the response of the courts and tribunals to the provisions on substantive fairness of dismissals.

15. Wrongful Dismissal

This chapter examines the legal consequences where an employer lawfully or unlawfully terminates the contract of employment. It considers the competing elective theory of termination and automatic theory of termination, along with statutory intervention in the form of minimum periods of notice set out in section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Stress is placed on the importance of using the correct terminology in this area of the law and bilateral, unilateral, and non-lateral terminations are defined. Further discussion covers suspension of contract and the conduct of disciplinary hearings. Finally, the remedies available to employees in the case of a wrongful dismissal are addressed, including the circumstances in which a claim for damages is likely to be successful.

11. The Protected Characteristics

This chapter analyses the ‘protected characteristics’ in the Equality Act 2010. These include sex, gender re-assignment, pregnancy, and maternity discrimination; race discrimination; religion or belief discrimination; sexual orientation, marriage, and civil partnership discrimination; and age discrimination. It examines these protected characteristics in detail, including some of the ‘boundary disputes’ which arise in the case of some of them. It then explores the genuine occupational requirements exception; the mechanics of the reversed burden of proof in discrimination cases; and the law of vicarious liability in the context of discrimination. Finally, the chapter sets out the various remedies available where a claimant is successful in his/her discrimination complaint before an employment tribunal.

Online Resources Chapter C: Recognition of Trade Unions, Collective Bargaining, and Industrial Democracy

The statutory machinery for the recognition of trade unions is explored in this chapter. The purpose of recognition and the rights of recognized trade unions are elaborated upon, before the chapter goes on to address the role and effectiveness of collective bargaining within an industrial democratic framework. Finally, the status of collective agreements is considered....