Employer Rights and Responsibilities

Question 1

What are rights?

Answer 1

What every human being is entitled to, no matter who they are. E.g. Food, clothing, freedom of speech.

Question 2

What is responsibility?

Answer 2

Something that you have a duty to do or should do. It affects our lives and the lives of others. E.g. Follow the rules of the school and treat others with respect.

Question 3

Who is the employer?

Answer 3

A person or business that pays employees for their work.

Question 4

Who is an employee?

Answer 4

A person contracted to do paid work

Question 5

Outline the rights of employee’s.

Answer 5

Receive a fair wage
Safe and healthy working conditions.
Join a trade union
Treated equally i.e. no discrimination

Question 6

What are the responsibilities of employees?

Answer 6

Honest and Trustworthy
Do a fair days work
Be on time for work
Respect the property of the employer
Follow rules and regulations of the workplace

Question 7

What are the rights of the employer?

Answer 7

To decide on the objectives and aims of the business
To receive a fair days work for a fair days wage
To fire staff for legitimate reasons

Question 8

What are the responsibilities of the employer?

Answer 8

To ensure safe and healthy working conditions
Not to discriminate e.g. Gender/Age
To keep records on all staff
To pay the minimum wage to employees
To hire suitably qualified staff

Question 9

What are the rights and responsibilites of employers and employees in relation to the following?

• Legal
• Social
• Environmental
• Ethical

Answer 9

Legal-Employers and employees have to follow laws.
Social-An employer has a social responsibility to its employees to pay decent wages and offer good working conditions in return for respectful and honest employees.
Environmental-From an environmental perspective employers and employees should consider how their actions impact the planet qbd animals. E.g. Recycle and reduce pollution.
Ethical-Just because something is legal does not make it ethical. Employers and employees must consider the rights of all humans when making decisions not just their own rights.

Question 10

What is the reason for employment legislation? Name and explain three such laws.

Answer 10

Employment legislation exists to protect employees in the workplace and to ensure they are treated fairly.

• Young Persons Act 1996: ensures young people are not exploited in employment and sets out the breaks and rules for working during school term.
• Employment Equality Act 2011: ensures no discrimination when hiring based on gender/race/age/religion/traveller/ disability.
• Unfair Dismissals Act 2007: ensures employees are not fired (dismissed) unfairly from the workplace.

Question 11

What is Industrial Relations? What are the effects of positive/negative industrial relations?

Answer 11

It is important that there is a good relationship between Employers and Employees. This is called Industrial Relations.
Good Industrial Relations=Employees are motivated and hardworking=more sales and more profits.
Poor Industrial Relations=Employees are unmotivated and will do bare minimum=loss of sales or industrial action e.g. Strikes.

Question 12

Explain four principals which help achieve good industrial relations.

Answer 12

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.-Employee and Employer must respect each others rights in the workplace.
Working Conditions-Employer must provide safe and healthy working conditions for employees.
Fair Pay-Employer must provide fair pay for a fair days work.
Communication-Good communication exists between employer and employee.

Question 13

What is a trade union?

Answer 13

Trade Union is an organisation that represents the views of workers and speaks to the employer on their behalf on issues such as pay and conditions.

Members pay an annual subscription fee to join the trade union.

Question 14

Name and explain four reasons to join a trade union.

Answer 14

To improve working conditions-to make sure the workplace is safe and healthy.
To try and increase members pay-When workers see businesses increasing their profits the union will argue that employees pay should increase.
To support memebers during disagreements-if a member is being punished unfairly by an employer e.g. discrimination, then the union will support the employee to correct the action taken by the employer.
To protect the jobs of their members-to help prevent redundancies and unfair dismissals from the workplace.

Question 15

What is the role of a shop steward?

Answer 15

Shop steward is a spokesperson elected by employees as their official union representative in the workplace.

The shop steward is responsible to:
Encourage new members to join and collect membership
Communicate and negeotiate with the emplouer on behalf of employees
Offer advice and help workers solve any disputes they may have.

Question 16

What is Industrial Action?

Answer 16

When a disagreement occurs between an employer and an employee in the workplace that cannot be solved through communication employees may decide to take action.

Question 17

Name the two types of Industrial Action and explain them.

Answer 17

Official Strike: Employees hold a secret ballot and the majority vote in favour of a strike. The union are notified and the employer is given seven days notice about the strike.
Work to Rule: Workers stay in work but only do the basic duties they are paid to do. E.g. Teachers only teach and don’t do extracurricular activities.

Question 18

Explain the role of the Labour Court in resolving industrial relations disputes.

Answer 18

The labour court can help resolve disputes that weren’t solved by the Workplace Relations Commission. It investigates disputes and recommends a solution in a process known as arbitration. It is the last resort in an Industrial Relations dispute.

Question 19

Talk about the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2011.

Answer 19

Discriminating against people because of:
Age
Gender
Race
Sexual Orientation
Religion
Family Status
Maritial Status
Disability
Membership of the Traveller Community

Question 20

Talk about the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2007.

Answer 20

Firing people because:
Age
Becoming pregnant
Religious beliefs
Political beliefs
Race
Sexual orientation
Traveller
Being in a trade union
Taking part in a strike
Taking legal proceedings against employer

Question 21

State two rights of employees under the Industrial Relations Act 1990.

Answer 21

Employees engaging in official industrial action cannot be stopped or sued by the employer for losses suffered as a result of Industrial Action, provided the employees had followed proper procedure.
Employees also have the right to join a trade union without discrimination.

Question 22

Name four ways people can be legally fired.

Answer 22

Incompetence
Misconduct
Redundancy
Not having the neccesary qualifications needed for the job