Employment Law

Employment laws comprise of a comprehensive collection of laws, verdicts and precedents that serve to establish the rights, duties and restrictions of employees and employers. These laws can apply to a tripartite consisting of the employee, employer and trade union.

The Main Aspects of Employment Law

The demand for improved working condition and restrictions on worker power led governments across the world to formulate employment laws. The details of employment laws vary across the globe. However, the common objective of these laws is to protect the interests of workers by eliminating all kinds of discrimination. Some important aspects of employment laws are:

• Minimum wage: This is the minimum amount that an employer has to pay employees on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Countries such as India, the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and China have specified minimum wages. This law is yet to be implemented in several developing countries, since most workers are employed in informal or officially unregistered industries.
• Working hours: The demand for a limit on working hours intensified in Britain during the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. Today, the acceptable working period is eight hours a day in several countries.
• Occupational health: This term was jointly adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 1950. Occupational health aims at maintaining the highest degree of social, physical and mental well-being of workers. This law provides protection to employees working in unhealthy or dangerous conditions.
• Fair dismissal: According to employment laws, employees cannot be fired without any legitimate motive or without being offered a chance to defend themselves.

• Child labor: Employment laws aim at ensuring that children below a certain age are not placed in employment. It also aims to protect the physical, mental and psychological well being of children who often have to work in exploitative environments.
• Maternity provisions: Employment laws may have a provision for maternity leaves, cash benefits, health protection post childbirth and protection against hazardous work during or after pregnancy.

While employment laws encompass all aspects of the employer/employee relationship, they usually exclude negotiations between the two parties, which is an area covered by labor laws.

 

 

 

• Employment
• Employment Market, Jobs Market
• Employment Security
• Employment Department
• Employment Data, Jobs Report
• Labour Force, Labor Force
• Working Population