The purpose of employment law is to promote and protect the rights of individuals working in a structured setting such as an employer-employee relationship. These laws aim to ensure that everyone has the right to fair compensation and to work in peace from unlawful treatment by other employees, employers, and government authorities. These laws are also there to prevent employers from discriminating against any person in the workplace. In fact, these laws, also known as labour laws, deal with matters that affect workers such as wages, working hours, and occupational hazards.
The most common function of such laws is to ensure that workers have a right to know their working hours and that their working environment is safe. The law also aims to protect employees from being subjected to harassment at the workplace and from coming into contact with dangerous substances, for example. Aside from this, it also requires an employer to ensure that workers have a minimum standard of living. Other than these legal protections, the purpose of employment law is also there to prevent any kind of abuse in terms of sexual harassment, physical harassment, discrimination, and other similar employment-related crimes.
The law can be quite confusing for those who do not have extensive background in it. As a result of this confusion, employers must take their time in understanding what the regulations contain so that they can comply with it. And if things go wrong, then they need to be able to give explanations to their employees regarding the interpretation of the laws. The first step in this direction is to familiarise yourself with the laws that affect your area of business. For advice regarding aspects of employment law, consider contacting a Solicitor Gloucester, and visit a site like www.deeandgriffin.co.uk
Aside from knowing your employees’ legal rights, employers should also make sure that their business and workplace is compliant with the legal requirements of the law. For instance, there are regulations on hours of work, overtime, and other issues. Each employee is also expected to adhere to the rules set forth by the various regulations.
Aside from knowing and following the requirements of employment law, an employer has to also remember the other responsibilities of being an employer. An employer has to ensure that employees are given lunch and break facilities and that the place where employees do their work is clean. If employees do not get proper rest breaks, they may face health problems later on, for example.
The above are just some of the important purposes of employment law. Thankfully, such laws exist to make working a fairer and more just experience for everyone, regardless of where they work and who they work for. Specialist solicitors can instruct both businesses and individual employees in matters where it is suspected that a breach of fair working conditions has taken place.