Employment Law

Employment law has come a long way from agriculture to industrialization and nowadays we have specific legislation for employment law.

In employment law employees have more legal rights than self-employed because they are in a stronger economic position. The 1978 Employment Protection Act requires that employee must be given at least a week’s notice if he or she is going to be dismissed and if they are dismissed unfairly or made redundant – they have the right to compensation. In addition, the same Act gives woman the right to have time off for the period while she is pregnant and after having a baby she has a right to return to her work. However, men over 65 and woman over 60 can not get no compensation for redundancy because in this age people usually retire and get pension. People who are complaining of discrimination in their work have the right to take their case to an industrial tribunal as well as people who are complaining about unfair pay for work of equal value. It is also known that EC law gives better protection to employees than English law so sometimes it is better to bring an action to European court. However, Sunday trading in Britain gives a lot of headache for EC because most of all European countries allow business to open every day. It is necessary to mention that the one of the first employment rights recognized by law was the right to strike and this right was slightly different in different countries.

In Western countries employees have more rights than employees in Japan, but on the other hand in this country workers enjoy more security in their work than many employees in Western countries. To sum up, nowadays have a lot of rights to be protected in their work and to feel safe – that is why so many people feel happy about their work.