Business Level 2 Unit 13 P2

BizNow
Edition 2
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Laws and Regulations in the Workplace
There are hundreds of laws and regulations in the UK which are in place to protect all aspects of the workplace, from employees to employers. Ranging from the unwritten ethical issues, to the discrimination act of 1997. Every legal employee will be protected by the acts and laws put in place. The UK is governed by two key areas of legislation; laws passed within the UK; and laws passed within the EU. All 25 European states must abide to the laws passed by the EU as well as their own individual laws.
The Sex Discrimination act of 1975/97 makes it law the men and women are treated equally in the work place. Both direct and indirect are unlawful in the Sex Discrimination Act. Direct discrimination means a less qualified man could not be given a job over a more qualified woman. Indirect discrimination is when a job has requirements that one sex is unable to perform, for example, a job advertised for a person with long hair would be indirect discrimination because not many men have long hair. This act also protects workers from sexual harassment, and also protects people who have helped other colleagues in sexual harassment situation, for example, someone who was a witness to a colleague being sexual abused, and testifying against their boss, both would be protected against future, biased behavior in the workplace.
Race Relations act of 1992 makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone due to their race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin or national origin. They can use an industrial tribunal to force employers to change the way they operate in order to make sure that everyone is treated fairly. The same way that sexual harassment can be direct or indirect, still applies to racial harassment. Direct discrimination would be a job being advertised as only suitable for someone of black skin, so it would discriminate against anyone with white skin. Indirect discrimination would be when a job requires someone to only be fair haired so it would be discriminating against people who do not have fair hair.
The UK was the first industrialised country in the world to introduce a piece of legislation which entitled men and women to equal pay and conditions. This was due to the aftermath of the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike and was a landmark labour-relations dispute in the United Kingdom. Which ultimately led to the passing of the Equal Pay act of 1970. When the Act was brought into force the gap between the pay of men and women was 37 per cent. This Act made sure that men and women were paid the same amount of money when they are doing; the same jobs; equivalent jobs; and jobs of an equal value.