Employment law or Labour law is the set of laws that mediates a healthy relationship between the employer and the employees. Every company must follow these labor laws to provide their employees with a professional working place and protect their rights. An employee can file a lawsuit against the employer or the management of the company if any of the employment laws are not in the workplace.
It is the responsibility of the employee to have good knowledge about these laws to enjoy their rights and prevent themselves from exploitation by unsavory employers. Hence you should care about the employment laws and ensure these are followed in your workspace.
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The Reasons Why You Should Care About Employment Law
1. Workplace discrimination and harassment
Amongst many reasons, the one reason why you should care about employment laws because to protect yourself against workplace discrimination and harassment. Workplace discrimination and harassment can be done in several ways based on race, color, religion, sex, age, nationality, etc. If a company does any kind of partiality while hiring, promoting, or firing an employee, that can consider as workplace discrimination.
Also, if an employee is not treated professionally or ethically, then it can be termed as workplace harassment. Employment laws protect you from workplace discrimination and harassment by your employer. Workplace discrimination and harassment are taken seriously in many countries, and you can file a lawsuit against the company.
As an employer there are a number of things you can do to assure that you are protected against these types of legal claims. One of these is to record any disciplinary meetings or important conversations between you and your employees.
These recordings can be used as proof if an employee does try and make a claim due to being treated unfairly in your working environment. These audio files can also be transcribed by companies such as alphabetsecretarial.co.uk, by either the employee or the lawyer who is handling the case, and used as written evidence if it goes to court.
If you are going to be recording these types of meetings with your employees you need to make sure that they are aware that the conversation is being recorded. If you are recording them without their permission, or without them knowing that they are being recorded, this is illegal and an employee can also take legal action on this.
By having a transcribed copy of any audio or video evidence, not only makes it easier to take notes and analyze key aspects, it also makes the audio file easier to follow and understand by the people involved in the case.
2. Workplace safety and health
Every company must follow workplace safety and health norms. The key to efficiently work is to ensure the complete safety of the workspace and the health of the employees. The Employment Laws cover both. It’s important that you should care about employment laws because it ensures the company is following all the necessary measures and norms regarding workplace safety and health.
The Employment laws related to workplace safety and health covers protection against biological and chemical hazards, long work hours, work injuries, etc. The company should be responsible for providing a safe working environment and health benefits to its employees.
3. Worker’s Compensation
Another important reason why you should care about the employment laws because it carries the worker’s compensation insurance. A worker must be benefited from worker’s compensation insurance against any injuries occurring in the place of work. If the company doesn’t provide worker’s compensation and any injury happens, you can file a lawsuit against the employer for compensation and dereliction of duty.
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The insurance covers all the medical expenses and provides the worker with some amount of wage until he fully recovers from the injury. However, if the employee desire to not get benefits from worker’s compensation insurance, then the company will no longer be liable for any injuries to the worker, and the worker will not have any right to sue their employer.
4. Child labor
Child labor is an important aspect of employment laws. Making children work in hazardous places is illegal and strictly against the employment laws. These laws protect children from working at a very young age and prevents exploitation of children by unsavory employers. However, there are certain industries where you can employ children to work after following the minimum working obligations and guidelines.
The guidelines and standards to employ a child or teenager below the age of 18 are stated in these laws. If you are working with a child, you have to provide a minimum wage as per the regulations with the consultation of their parents.
5. Receiving minimum wage
The employment laws ensure that the workers are receiving a minimum wage. This makes it an important reason to care about employment laws to protect your rights against the low wage provided by the employer. Some employers exploit the workers by providing a low wage and make them work overtime.
With the knowledge of these laws, you can ensure that you are paid minimum wages and if extra wages in case of overtime. There are different minimum wage rates set by the government of different countries, and the companies are bound to pay the minimum wage to their workers in compliance with these laws.
6. Strikes and retaliation in the workspace
Another crucial reason why you care about the Employment Laws is that if there are any strikes or retaliation in the workplace, you can try to provide necessary judgments and help in solving the problems that caused strikes and retaliation amongst the workers in the workspace. A company must follow these laws so that there are lesser chances of conflicts and retaliation and the workers can work in a favorable working environment.
The employment laws also cover when an employee can strike or retaliate against the company. In cases like harassment, discrimination, minimum wages, and other rights, employees can oppose and retaliate to work, and in such cases, it is unlawful to take action against such employees.
Final words
The knowledge of employment laws is very important for an employee, and it prevents the unfair exploitation of the workers by their employers and management of the company. These laws protect against any kind of discrimination and harassment and also provides you with a safe working environment with health benefits.
It also ensures a fixed percentage of compensation in case of injury of an employee in a workspace, helps workers in getting fair wages, and reduces the chances of conflicts and retaliation. Overall, these laws provide a healthy industrial relationship between employer and employee and reduce work disputes arising in the workplace.
