5OS01 Specialist Employment Law explores key areas of employment legislation and the legal framework, highlighting how people professionals must consider and apply legal requirements across different jurisdictions when carrying out the diverse aspects of their role.
Assessment Questions
AC 1.1 A fellow people management officer estimates that 20% or so of her working days are taken up with activity that is created as a result of regulations. She states this is time she would prefer to spend more productively improving the employment experience that the Trust provides. To help her understand why it is important to spend time dealing with issues that relate to employment law, send a reply that includes an evaluation of the aims and objectives of employment regulation.
Thank you for your email. I understand that managing regulatory compliance alongside your broader responsibilities can feel burdensome. However, the time invested in employment regulation is not unproductive; it is fundamentally protective and strategically valuable for the Trust.
The primary aim of employment regulation is to protect employees from exploitation, unfair treatment, and unsafe working conditions by establishing enforceable minimum standards that all employers must observe. The Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) provides foundational protections including unfair dismissal rights, the right to written terms, protection against unauthorised deductions from wages, and redundancy entitlements. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination on the basis of nine protected characteristics, ensuring that employment decisions within the Trust are based on merit rather than prejudice. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 imposes a duty of care to ensure the physical and psychological safety of our workforce, which in a clinical environment is directly connected to patient safety.
A second aim is to balance the inherent power imbalance in the employment relationship. Without regulation, the employer’s superior bargaining position could lead to exploitative practices. Employment regulation creates a floor of rights that ensures employees are treated with dignity, paid fairly through National Minimum Wage legislation, provided with reasonable working conditions under the Working Time Regulations 1998, and given voice through the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 (Lewis and Sargeant, 2023).
A third aim is to promote social justice and economic stability. Regulation addresses systemic inequalities, advances equal opportunities, and contributes to a productive economy by maintaining consumer spending power through fair wages and reducing the social costs of workplace injury and unemployment. The CIPD (2024) emphasises that effective compliance also protects the organisation from costly employment tribunal claims, reputational damage, and the operational disruption of legal proceedings.