Employment Practice

Key points §   Every employee has an implied contractual duty to co-operate with his (or her) employer, to carry out his duties to the best of his abilities, and to obey the lawful and reasonable orders of his superiors. If he is lazy and insubordinate, and refuses to do as he is told, he is liable to be dismissed. §   This is not to say that an employee can be required by his employer to carry out tasks that he is neither employed nor paid to do; or to work repeated and excessive overtime; or to transfer willy-nilly from one location to another. A great deal will depend on the existence or otherwise of an express or (less frequently) an implied term in the individual contract of employment, and on the circumstances at the relevant time. §   For instance, there may be a customary or long-standing arrangement in certain companies and businesses (notably those dealing directly with members of the public) for employees to share each other 's duties or to work overtime during...

Key points §   Section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 allows that there will be occasions when it may be fair to dismiss an employee for reasons other than those relating to his (or her) capability, qualifications, conduct, redundancy, or the illegality of continued employment. §   However, whether a dismissal for 'some other substantial reason' was fair or unfair will depend on whether, in the circumstances (including the size and administrative resources of his business), the employer had acted reasonably or unreasonably in treating that reason as a legitimate reason for dismissing the employee in question ( ibid. section 98(l)(b)). Business reorganisation §   For example, an employer may need to restructure or reorganise his (or her) business in the interests of efficiency, profitability or survival. This could involve a change in working methods and related manpower arrangements. At such a time, the employer would ordinarily discuss his problems and his proposa...

Data Protection Key points §   Under the Data Protection Act 1998, employers who store and process personal data about their employees – whether in a computerised, paper-based or other relevant filing system – must ensure that the data in question serves a legitimate purpose; that it is kept under 'lock and key'; and that it is not deliberately or unwittingly disclosed to unauthorised third parties. Employees, for their part, have the right to be informed of the nature and scope of the data held on their personal files, the source of that data ( Who provided it? ), and the names or job titles of the people to whom that data has been or may be disclosed. They have the right also (on payment of a fee of up to £10) to inspect and take copies of most (if not all) of the documents concerning personal data about them that is held in their employers' filing systems. Although the term 'employee' is used throughout this section, it is as well to point out that the 'data...