What is Employment Law?

Employment law is a body of law governing the relations between employers and employees which has built up from:

• Statutes (laws) passed by Parliament
• EU regulations which have passed into UK law through statutes
• Common law - decisions by tribunals and judges on individual cases and complex points of law which were either unclear or not anticipated in the original legislation
  

Most employment cases are heard in specialist courts called Employment Tribunals, which are designed to be more accessible to employers and employees. However, some cases can also go to the Employment Appeals Tribunal and even be referred to the High Court

The presumption in employment law tends to be that the employee is the weaker party and hence needs protection from strong and supposedly sometimes abusive employers

As a result, employment law imposes a series of often onerous obligations on employers - for example, employers are in many instances obliged strictly to follow set procedures and failure to do so can result in cases being lost. Similar obligations are rarely placed on employees. In reality, the employer is often the weaker party and the law can be open to exploitation by unscrupulous employees

That is why it is very important carefully to follow employment procedures to ensure that you are in the right on what is called the "process" as well as the substance