The Most Important Things to Know About Employment Law.

 Employment laws are important because they help to assure fair play.

 If you are an employer, and have had to deal with workers for any length of time, you may well feel that the human race in general is lazy, deceitful and greedy. On the other hand if you have been in the work force as an employee for any length of time you may well suspect that a significant number of business owners would vote to repeal the amendment that outlawed slavery if they thought they could get away with it.

 Employers and employees don't always take such nasty views of each other of course. However, employment laws help to assure fairness in the work place by making it illegal to treat some people worse than others. It protects employers from incompetent or malicious employees. Employment law serves the country as a whole by trying to make sure that everyone is treated fairly in that place we spend so much of our waking hours; the work place.

 Individual states, and even local governments, can and do have their own laws regarding employment practices. For example, some localities may include sexual orientation or marriage status in a list of groups or classes protected against discrimination although the federal government does not, at this time do so. Still, over the years a number of significant acts pertaining to employment law have come out of Washington. Let's look at just a few.

 1) The Civil Rights Act of 1866. This prohibited discrimination based on race in regard to contracts entered between an employer and employee, specifically meaning hiring and firing. The date is significant, of course, since the civil war had ended just the year before. One result of the civil war had been the end of slavery. Many will tell you that the civil war was not about slavery but about state's rights. However, it could also be asserted that the bloodiest war in our nation's history had employment law as a core issue.

 2) Title VII The Civil Rights Act of 1964. This prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and national origin.

 3) Fair Labour Standards Act. This is the law that established minimum wage. It also provided for criteria to govern how old children needed to be before they could work. The requirement that overtime to be paid to a worker who exceeded 40 hours in a given week came from this act as well.

 4) Age discrimination act. Discrimination in hiring, firing and assigning work against someone over the age of 40 is prohibited.

 5) American's with Disabilities Act. This law, established in 1993 requires employers not to discriminate against a person based on a disability if the disability is the only reason they couldn't fulfil the job requirements of. It also calls for an employer to make reasonable workplace accommodations to make it possible for the individual to work.

There are several other federal laws which pertain to the work place. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act provides certain rights to employees who goes on military duty. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees of a year or longer in certain situations involving the employee or a close family member. Benefits that have been accrued cannot be lost and health care coverage must continue to be paid. Federal laws also require employees to verify an employee's right to work in the United States. The new health care laws also have items that affect employers and employees.

Employment law, can and does originate on the state and even the local level. All employers do well to get a good grasp on it Employees too need a basic understanding of their rights and obligations in the work place. This can be accomplished by each business or company compiling and passing out a booklet of the company’s policies.

Besides the various laws designed to prevent discrimination there are several other areas of employment law of which to be aware. These include:

 1) Laws pertaining to hiring and firing

 2) Regulations governing unemployment compensation and worker's compensation

 3) OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) rules that apply to your type of business.

 4) Compensation law.

 5) Record keeping.

 Employment law is important and must be followed.

Basic Information about Employment Law

It is always important to have a law that governs the relationship between employees and employers because it helps a great deal when it comes to solving disputes. The employment law includes a variety of components and some of them include health and safety, wages and hours, protection from discrimination, collective bargaining agreements, contract doctrines and individual employment contracts.   

The organization of social and cultural life at the work place requires a very powerful structure that can only be established when there is an employment law to guide and regulate the employee-employer relationship. It is important to point out that the exchange of labour and money should not in any way override the employment relationship. An employee’s performance, rewards and responsibilities are supposed to help them achieve accomplishment, satisfaction, dignity and self-worth.

The relationship between employees and employers is therefore governed a body of law that is commonly referred to as employee law. It is important to note that both the employer and the employee have specific employment rights that are supposed to be protected by employment law. An employee is entitled to sick pay, leave, proper remuneration and other benefits which are normally written into the law. 

Employees are supposed to be protected against discrimination and undervaluation and this can only happen when employers abide by a set of laws and regulations that constitute employment law. The law includes dismissal guidelines and therefore all dismissals should be justified. An employee has a right to argue their case in a court of law if they think that their dismissal was unfair.

Employees are also likely to face serious repercussions in instances where they fail to comply with employment law. Both parties can file for expensive compensation claims in case any of their rights has been infringed. It is therefore the responsibility of both the employer and employee to ensure that they strictly abide by employment law to avoid the serious repercussions that come with breaking the law. Disputes between employees and employers are a common occurrence in a place of work and the only way to solve such disputes is to call upon employment law. 

Employment related disputes that can not be solved without legal action are in most cases taken to an Employment Tribunal. Both sides are normally represented at the Employment tribunal with specialist employment solicitors that have a proper understanding of employment law and other labour related laws. 

It is always a great challenge for employees when they enter into a claim against their employers and that is why they need top quality legal representation in order to win any case against their employer. Most employers may not have the resources to hire top quality solicitors to represent them and that is the reason why there are some organizations that have come up to provide legal assistance to employees that face discrimination at their place of work. There is no way an employer or employee can avoid employment law because it is the interest of every nation to ensure that employment rights are well protected.