2.5 Leglislation Flashcards
What is legislation?
Government laws made to control businesses in order to protect the needs of stakeholders
What is the employment law?
A set of rules that set out the rights and responsibilities of those people who work for a business
What is the national living wage?
An hourly rate of pay which is set by the government. All employees above a certain age must receive at least this rate of pay
What are the main aspects of the employment law?
- Recruitment
- Pay
- Discrimination
- Health and safety
What laws make up the employment law?
- Minimum wage law
- Equality act
What are the advantages of the employment law?
- Protects employees from exploitation and receiving unequal treatment at work
- Increased fairness and motivation
What are the disadvantages of the employment law?
- Business costs increase as implementing employee legislation is expensive and time consuming
What is discrimination?
The unacceptable treatment of any individual or group of individuals who are termed to be different
What is the equality act 2010?
A law that prevents discrimination against employees on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, and religion, as well as other grounds
What characteristics does the equality act protect?
- Age
- Disability
- Race
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Religion or belief
- Pregnancy or maternity
- Gender
- Sexual orientation
What is a part time employee?
An employee who works for a proportion of the working week
What is a trade union?
A group of workers who act together to improve their pay and working conditions
What are the rights of an employee?
- Maternity and holiday pay
- Allowed to join trade unions
- Pay employees as stated in the contract
- Provide suitable training
- Provide a safe working environment
- Allow employees time off for certain reasons
What is a contract of employment?
A legal document stating the hours, rates of pay, duties and other conditions under which a person is employed
How are businesses affected by employment laws?
- Increased costs
- Motivated employees
What is the health and safety act of 1974?
A law which lays out the responsibilities that employers and employees have to maintain a safe and healthy workplace
What can businesses do to cover the health and safety act?
- Installation and maintenance of safety equipment and clothing
- Maintenance of workplace temperatures
- Giving employees sufficient breaks during the working day
- Providing protection against dangerous substances
- Fitting guards on dangerous machinery
- Writing and displaying a safety policy
How does the health and safety law affect businesses?
- Increased costs due to training employees and investing in safety equipment
- Time taken for inspections
- Businesses may have to compete with businesses in other countries which have less safety laws
- Failure to meet the law results in fines and imprisonment
- Loyal and motivated workers
- Easy to attract employees
How can businesses treat customers unfairly?
- Selling products not as described
- Selling unsafe products
- Selling products at unfair prices, or which do not work
- Selling consumer information without permission
What are consumer laws?
Laws that have been introduced to prevent businesses from treating their customers unfairly
(Consumer rights act 2015 and the consumer protection act 1987)
What does the consumer rights act 2015 cover?
- Product quality
- Returning goods
- Repairs and replacements
- delivery rights
What are the laws surrounding product safety?
- Food act; lists what businesses can put in products, and makes it illegal to make food in unclean buildings
- Consumer protection act; prevents businesses selling dangerous products, and makes the business liable for any injuries caused
- Food safety act; makes it illegal to sell unsafe or unclean food
What are the laws surrounding product labelling?
- Labelling of food regulations; packaged food must contain the ingredients as stated on the label
- Weights and measures act; weights and measures must be stated correctly on packaging
- Unfair trading regulations; makes it illegal to give consumers incorrect information on packaging
What are the laws surrounding sale of products?
- Consumer rights act; provides customers with clear rights and protection when buying goods
- Consumer credit act; prevents businesses charging very high interest rates to customers when taking out loans
What are the laws surrounding using information technology?
- Computer misuse act; Prevents people looking at information stored on computers that they have no right to read
- Data protection act; Prevents consumers personal details being sold without permission
What are the disadvantages of consumer laws?
- Increased costs due to training employees
- Increased quality control may be needed
- Higher quality raw materials may be needed, which can be costly
- Additional production processes may be needed, which can increase costs
What are the benefits of consumer laws?
- Improved reputation in the marketplace can lead to higher sales
- Bad publicity is avoided
- Less costs on repair and replacement
- Avoiding high fines
What is the trade description act?
Legislation designed to prevent incorrect information being given on packaging labels and in advertisements
