2.1.1 Legislation

Question 1

What is legislation?

Answer 1

A set of rules that governs the way society operates. It is another term for ‘law’.

Question 2

What is employment law?

Answer 2

refers to any piece of government legislation designed to protect employees from exploitation.

Question 3

What are the areas of employment legislation that form the basis of employee rights in the workplace?

Answer 3

● Recruitment
● Pay
● Discrimination
● Health and safety

Question 4

What is the area around recruitment, in the employment legislation, designed to do?

Answer 4

● What employers can and cannot do when recruiting staff,
● What their responsibilities are once a job offer has been made.

Question 5

What is the area around pay, in the employment legislation, designed to do?

Answer 5

● Covers pay
● Designed to ensure that the pay workers receive is above a set minimum level

Question 6

What is the area around discrimination i,n the employment legislation, designed to do?

Answer 6

● Ensure that employers treat all people fairly

Question 7

What is the area around health and safety, in the employment legislation, designed to do?

Answer 7

● Keep employees safe while they are at work

Question 8

Benefits of employment legislations.

Answer 8

● Ensures employees are treated fairly so that they wont leave due to mistreatment.
● Prevents conflict + stops businesses from getting bad reputations/in trouble with the law
● Guidelines on how you should treat employees
● Ethical
● Motivates employees
● Less likelihood of industrial unrest (strikes)

Question 9

Drawbacks of employment legislation.

Answer 9

● Must pay employees even when not working (maternity leave) increasing costs
● May need to get temporary employees to replace non-working employees increasing costs
● Redundancy can create a bad reputation + repel new workers - people wont want to work there if the job is not secure
● If law is ignored, will be taken to court
● Increases costs
● Takes time and effort to monitor

Question 10

What are two legislations that you need to be aware of for employment law?

Answer 10

● The Equality Act 2010
● National Minimun Wage 1998/The National Living Wage

Question 11

What does SPICED stand for?

Answer 11

Strong
Pound makes
Imports
Cheaper and
Exports
Dearer

Question 12

What does WPIDEC stand for?

Answer 12

Weak
Pound makes
Imports
Dearer but
Exports
Cheaper

Question 13

What does The Equality Act 2010 do?

Answer 13

● legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society

Question 14

What are the 3 types of legislations?

Answer 14

• employment law.
• health and safety law
• consumer law.

Question 15

What is meant by the term “discrimination”?

Answer 15

Treating one person differently from another without good reason to do so.

Question 16

What is meant by the term “national living wage”?

Answer 16

An hourly rate of pay which is set by the government.

Question 17

What is meant by the term “piece-rate pay/piecework”?

Answer 17

A system under which employees are paid a fixed amount for each unit of output that is produced.
E.g. Apple picker may be paid £4 for each box of apples they pick.

Question 18

What factors may cause discrimination?

Answer 18

• age.
• gender.
• religion.
• disability.
• race.
• sexual orientation.

Question 19

What is meant by the term “contract of employment”?

Answer 19

A legal document stating the hours, rate of pay, duties and other conditions under which a person is employed.

Question 20

What is meant by the term “trade union”?

Answer 20

A group of workers who act together to improve their pay and working conditions.

Question 21

What is meant by the term “unfair dismissal”?

Answer 21

Ending a person’s contract of employment without good reason.

Question 22

What is meant by the term “motivation”?

Answer 22

The range of factors which influence the way a person behaves at work.

Question 23

What 5 main areas does the Consumer Rights Act, 2015 law cover?

Answer 23

• the product or service
• returns
• repairs and replacement
• delivery

Question 24

What is a disadvantage of the Consumer Law on a business?

Answer 24

Increase costs of production as they will have to ensure products are safe, perhaps by using expensive resources.

Question 25

What is an advantage of the Consumer Law on a business?

Answer 25

Consumers can be more confident that products have been manufactured to a high level of quality and quality.