You arrived at this page by selecting:Fear of Law (YEP 28/02/08)
Employment Law is something that can send shivers down the spines of many employers. There is a booming fear industry out there and some people are in the business of scaring people half to death over one law or another to secure their own services and charge exorbitant rates for the privilege. Employment Law and Health and Safety Law are two of the main areas that spring to mind and frighten businesses most.
You do get some cases where people try it on. There was a case recently where a woman worked through an employment agency for a local council. She had worked there three years in total when the council decided that they no longer needed her and they terminated her services through the agency.
Needless to say the woman was not happy that her services were no longer required and she proceeded to take the council to court for unfair dismissal. The woman claimed that she had worked within the council building for three years and was effectively employed by the council. She claimed it didn't matter that she originally went through the agency she believed she effectively had a contract with the council itself.
A judgement was finally made in favour of the council and it stated that just because the woman was physically placed within the council building it did not mean that the council had a contract with her or directly employed her. If you work through an agency then that generally is your employer not the establishment you are doing work for. This particular woman's issue therefore was with her direct employer, the agency. The agency however cannot be accused of unfair dismissal as they were not responsible for her services no longer being required by the council.
If you are employing agency workers this judgement will certainly go in your favour and you will have less responsibilities to those workers than if you employed them directly. As long as you treat people fairly, conduct your business in a responsible way and can prove you have done the best you can to your ability the law should look after you.
Don't be frightened into paying thousands for what some business offer as 'essential expert advice'. They could be experts in merely misrepresenting the law and you might just be paying for common sense, which I am sure you already had in the first place. These people just confuse the public and actually do more harm as people get wise to their scare mongering, turn off and do nothing to protect themselves.
If you are worried however make sure you do seek out the real facts from a solicitor. For some people the peace of mind is worth paying for.
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