An employer has a responsibility of care to provide for its employees a safe and professional working environment.

1. INTERESTING THINGS
YOU NEVER HEARD
ABOUT
EMPLOYMENT LAW
Lina Franco

2.  It is an unavoidable demand for running any
business that an employer must have a good
knowledge of employment law whether they are
self-employed and/or employ other staff.

3.  They should have an awareness of the rights of
the employee, the employer themselves and
where each party stands in the unfortunate event
that the normal working relationship breaks
down. This article addresses the three key areas
that employers and HR departments need to
consider when dealing with employment law in
the USA by Lina Franco.

4. HOW YOU DEFINE EMPLOYEES
AND EMPLOYERS
 It is important, before delving into the intricacies
of employment law to have a clear idea of the
parties that are involved and how their roles
should be defined.

5. EMPLOYED VS. SELF EMPLOYED
 This distinction can be less apparent than you
may think. If a worker has agreed to provide a
service/work under contract for an organization
then they will be a worker employed by that
organization unless the organization is actually
employing the services of that individual's
business, in which case the worker is self-
employed and thus not a direct employee of the
organization.

6.  An example of such a scenario would be a
contractor who offers his services to an employer
via his own business rather than agrees on a
direct contract of employment himself.

7. TYPES OF LAWYERS

8. PART-TIME VS. FULL TIME
 Lina Franco says this is a heavily
contextualized concept as the hours a full-time
employee works in one organization could be the
same as the hours worked by a part-time
employee in another. Once an organization has
set the hours that a full-time employee is
expected to work, a part-time employee is
defined as a worker employed on the same
contractual basis but for reduced hours.

9.  The key thing to remember here is that part-time
employees should not be treated any less
favorably in comparison to their full-time
counterparts purely because of the difference in
hours that they work unless their hours are a
justifiable factor in the decision process.

10.  For example, pay should always be awarded on a
pro-rata basis for part-time workers in
comparison to an equivalent full-time role.
Employees have the right to challenge and
demand written explanations if they think that
they are being treated differently on this basis
alone.

12. THE CONTRACT
 Perhaps the most important element of an
employer-employee relationship is the contract
of employment. All parties will have certain
statutory rights as mentioned above but the finer
details and practicalities of the relationship will
be contained in the employment contract.

13.  The contract will determine the procedures to
follow in the event of staff under-performance or
disciplinary proceedings, any employee benefits
and concessions above and beyond their
statutory entitlements (e.g., maternity leave,
compassionate leave) and ultimately the
conditions and processes of releasing staff either
through dismissal, redundancy or resignation.

14. HEALTH AND SAFETY
 An employer is obliged by common law to
provide a safe working environment and to
ensure that their workers are fully competent in
the roles they are filling. However, employers
are also bound by statutory requirements that
reinforce these obligations and the fact that all
employees must, at all times, be fully capable, be
trained in the safety procedures that they must
follow and be aware of the Health & Safety Act
1974.

15.  To this end, employers are also required to
perform regular assessments of the risk in the
workplace, not only to their own employees but
any other individuals who may be affected.
Employers of at least five members of staff must
document these assessments and are in addition
required to produce a documented health and
safety policy which is communicated to all
members of staff.

16. ROLE OF THE LAWYER

17.  There are many more requirements that an
employer must be aware of to fulfill these
objectives and specific additional regulations
which apply to particular industries and
workplaces.

18.  As you can see employment law is a very broad
and nuanced topic and it takes a fair amount of
effort and time to become familiar with it.
Therefore, if you are in doubt, or you need
guidance on a specific circumstance you should
seek advice from a qualified employment law
specialist, such as Lina Franco to make sure
you take the easiest and most economical path to
a resolution.