The Q&A series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about employment status. Through a mixture of problem questions and essays, students are guided through some of the key issues on the topic of employment status including definitions of employee and worker, the common law tests for determining whether a contract of employment exists, and discussion on the changing nature of the labour market including the gig economy. Students are also introduced to the current key debates in the area and provided with suggestions for additional reading for those who want to take things further.
Chapter
2. Employment status
Chapter
19. Atypical workers
This chapter discusses the law covering atypical workers. These include part-time workers, fixed-term workers, agency workers and ex-offenders. The EU social policy was tasked with coming up with a number of directives to prevent discrimination against such workers, and to give them what is effectively a ‘floor of rights’. Under the law, part-time workers should not be treated less favourably than full-timers, unless this can be objectively justified. Fixed-term workers should not be treated less favourably than full-timers, unless this can be objectively justified. A fixed-term employee who has been with the same employer for four years is entitled to a permanent contract. An agency worker is entitled to comparable terms and conditions as a permanent employee after twelve weeks. Ex-offenders are entitled not to refer to their convictions in certain circumstances, depending on what they were sentenced to.
Chapter
2. Contracts of employment (1): status, formation, continuity, and change
Ian Smith, Owen Warnock, and Gemma Mitchell
This chapter discusses the way in which the law has had to keep up with changing models of ‘employment’. Even the old ‘employee/self-employed’ division is now complicated by increasing use in modern statutes of the term ‘worker’. Part-time, fixed-term, and agency workers have featured prominently in modern employment law and consideration is given to these specifically, along with even more topical areas of concern such as zero-hour contracts and the challenges of the ‘gig economy’ more generally. Three more technical areas are then considered. The first concerns the ‘section 1 statement’ of basic terms and conditions that has been an obligation on employers since 1963 but is still not always given. The second concerns the difficult question of the extent to which an employer can seek to impose limitations on an employee even after employment ends. The third concerns the whole question of how the terms of an employment contract can lawfully be changed by one or both of the parties to it.
Chapter
3. Barriers to employment rights
UK employment law does not give equal protection to everyone considered to be working for an employer. In fact, a substantial minority of people who work for private firms, companies and public sector organisations do not enjoy the protection of employment law in some significant respects. There are four types of situation that often deny people the opportunity to bring their claims to court: when a claimant is not considered to be an employee; when a claimant is not considered to be a worker; when a claimant (who is an employee) has not completed sufficient continuous service with their employer; and when a claimant is found not to be working legally in the UK. In addition, employment tribunals operate strict limits on how soon after someone is dismissed or suffers from an instance of unlawful discrimination they make a claim if they want it to be heard. For most tribunal jurisdictions this time limit is set at three months, meaning that after this period has passed a claim cannot be considered because it is ‘out of time’. In practice this rule can also act as a fifth type of barrier preventing people from accessing their employment rights. This chapter focuses on these five types of situations.
Chapter
2. Contracts of employment (1): status, formation, continuity, and change
This chapter discusses the way in which the law has had to keep up with changing models of ‘employment’. Even the old ‘employee/self-employed’ division is now complicated by increasing use in modern statutes of the term ‘worker’. Part-time, fixed-term, and agency workers have featured prominently in modern employment law and consideration is given to these specifically, along with even more topical areas of concern such as zero-hour contracts and the challenges of the ‘gig economy’ more generally. Three more technical areas are then considered. The first concerns the ‘section 1 statement’ of basic terms and conditions that has been an obligation on employers since 1963 but is still not always given. The second concerns the difficult question of the extent to which an employer can seek to impose limitations on an employee even after employment ends. The third concerns the whole question of how the terms of an employment contract can lawfully be changed by one or both of the parties to it.
Chapter
1. Employment status
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the concept of employment status. Topics covered include the reasons for distinguishing employees from other types of worker; statutory definitions of employee and worker; and the courts’ and tribunals’ approach to identifying employees. The tests for employment status are stated, concentrating on mutuality of obligations and personal service. Discussion centres on zero hours contracts, agency workers, and the gig economy.
