Comparison with Japan

There are fewer employment laws in Japan than in many Western countries. Few workers are given clear job descriptions or written contracts and it is unusual for an employee to take legal action against his employer. The main law about sexual discrimination simply asks employers to make efforts to reduce discrimination, without imposing clear duties or penalties. However, as in other aspects of Japanese society, it is not clear if the low level of legal activity necessarily means that employees have fewer rights. It certainly seems to be the case that workers have to work very long hours and often do not ask for overtime payment. Despite the current labor shortage, which has encouraged employers to hire women to do more responsible and better paid work than before, very few women enjoy equal employment opportunities. In addition, many jobs remain closed to workers of non-Japanese origin, even those who have lived all their lives in Japan. On the other hand, Japanese workers enjoy more security than many employees in western countries. Once hired, they are unlikely to be dismissed. Insurance benefits and recreational facilities are usually made available to them by their companies, and many workers are able to live in big cities only because their employers provide low-cost accommodation for them. One legal development in Japan which has yet to spread to western countries is law suits against the employers of workers who had died of karoushi-not a specific accident in the workplace or industrial-related disease, but general stress brought about by overwork. In 1992, the widow of a Mitsui Company employee was awarded ¥30 million in compensation after a court learned that her husband had been spending 103 days a year away from home on stressful business trips before his sudden death.

Post-reading tasks:

1. List eight employee rights which have developed in industrialized countries.

2. True or false?

a) Small companies in Britain need not rehire an employee who leaves to have a baby.

b) EC law is of no benefit to workers in Britain.

c) All EC workers have minimum wage laws.

d) Striking workers cannot be dismissed in Britain if a majority of them have agreed to the strike in a secret vote.

3. What disadvantages do many Japanese workers face?

4. What benefits do many Japanese workers enjoy?

5. Choose the best answer:

1. Before the industrialization most people worked on

a) the factory

b) the land

c) on the land and some craft connected with agriculture

2. Employment rights depended upon

a) formal agreements

b) strict father morality

c) employers and informal agreements

3. Governments began to see the need for legislation in order

a) to recognize the rights of farm workers

b) to standardize rights and conditions

c) to limit working hours and ages

4. English law makes a clear distinction between

a) workers and farmers

b) employees and self-employed people

c) men and women

5. People complaining of discrimination have the right

a) to take their cases to the Appellate Court

b) to take their cases to the Crown Court

c) to take their cases to the Industrial Tribunal

6. Finish the following sentences:

a) EC Law didn’t prevent member countries from…..

b) Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act requires that…..

c) Sex Discrimination Act attempts to ensure…..

d) Unfair Dismissal Tribunal sometimes rules…..

e) European Court ruled that although different ages for receiving retirement pension were legal…..

f) Shops Act limits Sunday trading in Britain partly for…..

g) When Britain had a high record of strikes in 1970s, it was sometimes said that there were …..

Listening 2. Listen to the lecture on types of employment and answer the following questions.

a) What are the two types of employment?

b) What are the methods to differentiate types of employment?

c) What are the advantages of being an employee?

Reading 2. INTRODUCTION TO EMPLOYMENT LAW.

Key vocabulary: employment; recruitment; dismissal; sex discrimination; disability; to be construed as discriminatory; marital status; genuine occupational qualification (GOQ); reasonable adjustments; holiday entitlement; termination of employment; unfair dismissal; redundancy; trade union; labour union; employment tribunal; collective bargaining; arbitration process.

Read the text quickly, then match each of these headings (a-g) with the paragraph (1-7) to which it best corresponds.

a) Termination of employment

b) Employment tribunals

c) Terms of employment

d) Employment legislation

e) Labour law

f) Protecting the disabled

g) Recruitment

This text provides an introduction to concepts related to employment law and recruitment, including factors to be taken into account when drawing up employment contracts, when dismissing employees and when resolving disputes.

Employment law entails contracts between employers and employees, which are normally controlled by specific legislation. In the UK, certain laws have been enacted regulating the areas of sex discrimination, disability, health and safety, and employee rights in general. Also, certain aspects of employment contracts are covered by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992.

In the recruiting process, employers must take into consideration that it is unlawful to discriminate between applicants for employment on the basis of gender, marital status, color, race, nationality, or ethnic or national origins. It is also unlawful to publish job advertisements, which might be construed as discriminatory. It is unlawful for a person to discriminate against another based on sex or marital status in the hiring process and in respect of the terms and conditions of employment. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as where sex or marital status is a genuine occupational qualification (GOQ).

The law protects disabled persons by making it unlawful to discriminate against such persons in the interviewing process and regarding the terms of the offer of employment. Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments in the place of work to accommodate disabled persons. However, cost may be taken into account when determining what is reasonable.

After the employee is hired, protection is provided generally under the Employment Rights Act 1996. In particular, this Act requires the employer to provide the employee with a document containing the terms and conditions of employment. The statement must include the following: identities of the parties, the date of employment, a statement of whether there has been continuation of employment, the amount and frequency of pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, job title and work location.

Matters related to termination of employment, such as unfair dismissal, discriminatory dismissal or redundancy ((US) layoff) dismissal, are governed by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 when the decision to terminate employment is in some way related to the activities of a trade union ((US) labour union).

The protections mentioned above are largely enforced through complaints to an employment tribunal. The tribunal has the power to render decisions and issue orders in respect of the parties’ rights in relation to complaints. It may also order compensation for loss of prospective earnings and injured feelings.

Employment law relates to the areas covered above, while labour law ((US) labor law) refers to the negotiation, collective bargaining and arbitration process. Labour laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and trade unions. These laws grant employees the right to unionize and allow employers and employees to engage in certain activities (e.g. strikes, picketing, seeking injunctions, lockouts) so as to have their demands fulfilled.

Ex. 2. Match these key terms (1-4) with the examples (a-d).

1. discriminatory dismissal 2. redundancy dismissal 3. unfair dismissal 4. genuine occupational qualification

a. An employee is laid off because his employer had insufficient work for him to do. b. Only female applicants are hired for jobs at an all-women hostel. c. An employee is fired when she becomes pregnant. d. A worker's employment is terminated because he took part in lawful union activities.

Ex. 3. Answer these questions.

1. What does the phrase construed as discriminatory mean? What do you think would be involved in proving that a job advertisement could be construed as discriminatory?

2. What do you understand by the phrase reasonable adjustments? What factors do you think might be taken into account when deciding if an adjustment is reasonable?

3. What do you think compensation for (...) injured feelings refers to? What kinds of work-related situations do you think could result in such a claim for compensation?

Ex. 4. Match the words to form collocations as they appear in Reading 1.

1. sex 2. marital 3. ethnic 4. holiday 5. unfair

a. origins b. dismissal c. discrimination d. status e. entitlement

Ex. 5. What laws govern employment in your jurisdiction? Do they regulate the same areas (sex discrimination, race relations, disability, health and safety, and employee rights in general) that the UK laws regulate?