Redundancy Law in Europe

The clear objective of European law in relation to redundancy—defined in the consolidated Collective Redundancies Directive (98/59) as ‘dismissals effected by an employer for one or more reasons not related to the individual workers concerned’ —is to promote industrial democracy. Thus, employees enjoy a consultative role in the decision making process, and a level of protection is provided to employees who are displaced. However, specific legal criteria vary when it comes to restructuring companies in different countries.

The procedure of redundancy is being taken in order to optimize the infrastructure of the company, exclude the position unnecessary for the company. This procedure may take place when the administration shortens the volume of works or wages fund or when some positions become unprofitable.

This procedure consists of the following actions:

· Taking the decision about the reduction of the staff. This action legalizes its status by the order of reduction.

· Forming the list of the positions to be reduced.

· The notice of the workers which are to be made redundant.

· The notice of the placement service about the redundancy of the following positions.

· Legalizing of the transfer to another position the ones who’ve been made redundant (by their approbation).

· Dismissal from the office those who denied to take new positions.

Notice of the state of being redundant is one month.

Entitlement payment is 3 month salary.

Find in the text synonyms for the following words:

1. to encourage, 2. to dismiss, 3. job, 4. official information.

Answer the questions:

1. In what cases is the procedure of redundancy being taken?

2. What is the role of employees in the process of redundancy? Give examples.

3. What protection is provided to the employees who are made redundant?

4. What actions does the procedure of redundancy consist of?

5. What privileges are guaranteed to the employees who are made redundant?

6. Does the labour legislation of our country provide redundancy schemes similar to those described in the text?

Read the text and match each of the headings below (a-g) with the paragraph (1-7) to which it best corresponds.

a) Termination of employment

b) Employment tribunals

с) Terms of employment

d) Employment legislation

e) Labour law

f) Protecting the disabled

g) Recruitment

TEXT 11

1. Employment law entails contracts between employers and employees which are normally controlled by specific legislation. In the UK certain laws have been enacted regulating the areas of sex discrimination, race relations, disability, health and safety, and employee rights in general.

2. In the recruiting processes, employers must take into consideration that it is unlawful to discriminate between the applicants for employment on the basis of gender, marital status, colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins. It is also unlawful to publish job ads which might be construed as discriminatory. It is unlawful for a person to discriminate against another based on sex, martial status in the hiring process and in respect of the terms and conditions of employment. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as where sex or martial status is a genuine occupational qualification.

3. The law protects disabled persons making it unlawful to discriminate against such persons in the interviewing and hiring process and regarding the terms of the offer of employment. Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments in the place of work to accommodate disabled persons. However, cost may be taken into account when determining what is reasonable.

4. After the employee is hired, protection is provided generally under the Employment Rights Act 1996 which requires the employer to provide the employee with a document containing the terms and conditions of employment. The statement must include the following identities of the parties: the date of employment, the amount and frequency of pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, job title and work location.

5. Matters related to termination of employment such as unfair dismissal, discriminatory dismissal or redundancy dismissal are governed by Employment Rights Act 1996. Also certain aspects of termination of employment are in some way related to the activities of a trade union.

6. The protections mentioned above are largely enforced through complaints to an employment tribunal. The tribunal has the power to render decisions and issue orders in respect of the parties’ rights in relation to complaints. It may also order compensation for loss of prospective earnings and injured feelings.

7. Employment law relates to the areas covered above, while labour law refers to the negotiation, collective bargaining and arbitration processes. Labour laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and trade unions. These laws grant employees the right to unionize and allow employers and employees to engage in certain activities (e.g. strikes, picketing, seeking injunctions, lockouts) so as to have their demands fulfilled.

Match the words to form collocations as they appear in the text.

1. sex 2. marital 3. ethnic 4. holiday 5. unfair

a) origins b) dismissal с) discrimination d) status e) entitlement

Match these key terms (1-4) with the examples (a-d).

discriminatory dismissal, redundancy dismissal, unfair dismissal, genuine occupational qualification

1. An employee is laid off because his employer had insufficient work for him to do.

2. Only female applicants are hired for jobs at an all-women hostel.

3. An employee is fired when she becomes pregnant.

4. A worker’s employment is terminated because he took part in lawful union activities.

Answer these questions:

1. What does the phrase construed as discriminatory in paragraph 2 mean? What do you think would be involved in proving that a job advertisement could be construed as discriminatory?

2. What do you understand by the phrase reasonable adjustments in paragraph 3? What factors do you think might be taken into account when deciding if an adjustment is reasonable?

3. What do you think compensation for [...] injured feelings in paragraph 6 refers to? What kinds of work-related situations do you think could result in such a claim fur compensation?

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23