Everyone that works and employs people in the USA and the United Kingdom are required to abide by a set of rules which are called employment law and apply to anyone who is engaged or engages anyone to perform any type of work within our country. This type of law maintains a set standard between trade unions, employees and employers alike and in many cases is used to mediate disputes between these parties in regard of the law.
The biggest issue for Workers of an older age is that discrimination is often used by employers all over the world, however the facts are that senior citizens are often more reliable, more experienced and on the whole hold more in-depth communication skills. This type of Life Experience is sometimes more important than qualifications with the majority of basic level jobs, which should be a measuring element when Recruiting.
The reason we see this type of law in the UK and also in the USA is that in days gone by there was a need to enforce better working conditions for employees as before this law was introduced many people worked in sub standard conditions which could be harmful to their well being and health. It also ensured that people were paid to a set standard for the service the performed for an employer to eliminate discrimination between certain individuals performing the same job. In every job in the United Kingdom and the USA these days the employer is obliged to provide a contract of employment to employees stating the terms of their employment such as wage, holidays and sick pay.
One of the most recent changes to employment law we saw in the United Kingdom and the USA was that of the national minimum wage which was implemented back in 1998 to provide equal opportunities and recompense for services performed for an employer. The minimum wage is set to ensure that no employee is exploited by an employer as in days gone by we had seen a large amount of people put on sub standard wages compared to other workers. A recommended course of Law in general is highly recommended to anyone whatever there age, as knowledge in this field is more important than age etc.
There is a very informative video on UK Employment Law, please take a look below:
This was especially true for those people who had just arrived in our country who would be forced to perform work for an employer for much less in regard of wages than the current British employees which was neither fair nor beneficial to the business as it was the cause of many arguments and disputes among employees. As our government rightly thought the process of exploiting people in such a way was wrong so the minimum wage scheme was implemented to protect these people and offer equal rights to all employees no matter what their nationality. We have other resources for people looking at studying in the UK here.
Employment law also covers many other aspects with one being the termination of an employee’s contract when the employer wishes to dispense with their service for whatever reason. This ensures that employees are provided with adequate notice as well as ensuring they are paid the money they are due from the employer which would include any holiday pay they are due. One of the most used forms of employment law these days is that of those employees who feel they have been treated badly or harassed in the work place as this under the law is completely intolerable. Many a case each year goes to court where an employee has found themselves on the end of being treated badly or have been exploited unfairly within their jobs. Check out the latest Visa News on our news section here.
These cases include issues such as sexual harassment, bullying as well as issues where monies are owed by the employer to the individual. Employment law also ensures that employees are not forced to work an extreme amount of hours as we have a revolutionary working time directive which ensures that employees can not be forced to work more than 48 hours a week unless they are prepared to do so. This is of great benefit as many employees were forced to work longer hours for virtually the same pay which is both unfair and can be damaging to health. Employment law is a huge array of laws and we advise if you are having difficulty with any issues of employment that you visit the excellent website we have listed below.
Additional Resources for your perusal: ACAS Resource page