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Labour
Law
Labour law
(also known as employment or labor law) is the body of laws,
administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal
rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their
organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the
relationship between trade unions, employers and employees. In
Canada, employment laws related to unionised workplaces are
differentiated from those relating to particular individuals. In
most countries however, no such distinction is made. However,
there are two broad categories of labour law. First, collective
labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between
employee, employer and union. Second, individual labour law
concerns employees' rights at work and through the contract for
work. The labour movement has been instrumental in the enacting
of laws protecting labour rights in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Labour rights have been integral to the social and economic
development since the industrial revolution.
Labour law history
Labour law arose due to the demands of workers for better
conditions, the right to organise, and the simultaneous demands
of employers to restrict the powers of workers' many
organizations and to keep labour costs low. Employers' costs can
increase due to workers organizing to win higher wages, or by
laws imposing costly requirements, such as health and safety or
equal opportunities conditions. Workers' organizations, such as
trade unions, can also transcend purely industrial disputes, and
gain political power - which some employers may oppose. The
state of labour law at any one time is therefore both the
product of, and a component of, struggles between different
interests in society.
Individual labour law
Individual labour law deals with peoples rights at work place on
their contracts for work. Where before unions would be major
custodians to workplace welfare, there has been a steady shift
in many countries to give individuals more legal rights that can
be enforced directly through courts.
Contract of employment
The basic feature of labour law in almost every country is that
the rights and obligations of the worker and the employer
between one another are mediated through the contract of
employment between the two. This has been the case since the
collapse of feudalism and is the core reality of modern economic
relations. Many terms and conditions of the contract are however
implied by legislation or common law, in such a way as to
restrict the freedom of people to agree to certain things in
order to protect employees, and facilitate a fluid labor market.
One example in many countries is the duty to provide written
particulars of employment with the essentialia negotii (Latin
for essential terms) to an employee. This aims to allow the
employee to know concretely what to expect and is expected; in
terms of wages, holiday rights, notice in the event of
dismissal, job description and so on. An employer may not
legally offer a contract in which the employer pays the worker
less than a minimum wage. An employee may not for instance agree
to a contract which allows an employer to dismiss them unfairly.
There are certain categories that people may simply not agree to
because they are deemed categorically unfair. However, this
depends entirely on the particular legislation of the country in
which the work is.
Minimum wage
There may be law stating the minimum amount that a worker can be
paid per hour. Australia, Canada, China, Belgium, France,
Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxemburg, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Portugal, Poland, Romania,
Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States and others
have laws of this kind. The minimum wage is usually different
from the lowest wage determined by the forces of supply and
demand in a free market, and therefore acts as a price floor.
Those unable to command the minimum wage due to a lack of
education, experience or opportunity would typically work in the
underground economy, if at all. Each country sets its own
minimum wage laws and regulations, and while a majority of
industrialized countries has a minimum wage, many developing
countries have not.
Minimum wage laws were first introduced nationally in the United
States in 1938, India in 1948, France in 1950, and in the United
Kingdom in 1999. In the European Union, 18 out of 25 member
states currently have national minimum wages.
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Working time
Before the Industrial Revolution, the workday varied between 11
and 14 hours. With the growth of industrialism and the
introduction of machinery, longer hours became far more common,
with 14-15 hours being the norm, and 16 not at all uncommon. Use
of child labour was commonplace, often in factories. In England
and Scotland in 1788, about two-thirds of persons working in the
new water-powered textile factories were children. The
eight-hour movement's struggle finally led to the first law on
the length of a working day, passed in 1833 in England, limiting
miners to 12 hours, and children to 8 hours. The 10-hour day was
established in 1848, and shorter hours with the same pay were
gradually accepted thereafter. The 1802 Factory Act was the
first labour law in the UK.
Health and safety
Other labor laws involve safety concerning workers. The earliest
English factory law was drafted in 1802 and dealt with the
safety and health of child textile workers.
Anti-discrimination
This clause means that discrimination against employees is
morally unacceptable and illegal, on a variety of grounds, in
particular racial discrimination or sexist discrimination.
Unfair dismissal
of the International Labour Organization states that an employee
"can't be fired without any legitimate motive" and "before
offering him the possibility to defend himself". Thus, on April
28, 2006, after the unofficial repeal of the French First
Employment Contract (CPE), the Longjumeau (Essonne) conseil des
prud'hommes (labor law court) judged the New Employment Contract
(CNE) contrary to international law, and therefore "unlegitimate"
and "without any juridical value". The court considered that the
two-years period of "fire at will" (without any legal motive)
was "unreasonnable", and contrary to convention no. 158,
ratified by France.
Child labour
Child labour is the employment of children under an age
determined by law or custom. This practice is considered
exploitative by many countries and international organizations.
Child labour was not seen as a problem throughout most of
history, only becoming a disputed issue with the beginning of
universal schooling and the concepts of labourers' and
children's rights. Child labour can be factory work, mining or
quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having
one's own small business (for example selling food), or doing
odd jobs. Some children work as guides for tourists, sometimes
combined with bringing in business for shops and restaurants
(where they may also work as waiters). Other children are forced
to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as assembling boxes, or
polishing shoes. However, rather than in factories and
sweatshops, most child labour occurs in the informal sector,
"selling on the street, at work in agriculture or hidden away in
houses — far from the reach of official inspectors and from
media scrutiny."
Collective labour law
Collective labour law concerns the tripartite relationship
between employer, employee and trade unions. Trade unions,
sometimes called "labour unions" are the form of workers'
organisation most commonly defined and legislated on in labour
law. However, they are not the only variety. In the United
States, for example, workers' centers are associations not bound
by all of the laws relating to trade unions. Washington Birth Trauma Lawyers l
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