Module SXL-3128:
Employment Law

Module Facts

Run by School of Law

20 Credits or 10 ECTS Credits

Semester 1

Organiser: Mr Ian Winrow

Overall aims and purpose

Labour Law is an optional module in the LLB programme. The module discusses three interrelated aspects of employment law, namely the law relating to the recruitment of staff, the law relating to the workplace and the law relating to the termination of employment. It begins by exploring how the relationship between employer and employee is created and thereafter focuses on issues of equality, safety, employment protection, and collective action. The module will also require students to adopt a comparative perspective in that they will be required to undertake independent research into aspects of employment protection in other jurisdictions.

Course content

The module provides a historical outline and an evaluation of the rules of the various institutions involved. The substantive content includes contract formation, equality rights, family friendly policies, employment protection, collective action, and comparative analysis.

Assessment Criteria

threshold

An answer which, while predominantly correct in its presentation of material, contains a significant level of error and is therefore not entirely reliable.

good

A comprehensive answer, containing all the material relevant to the question and no irrelevancy, all the material and references being accurate and correct, there being no inaccuracy or error, the whole presented in an argument which, while clear, logical and critical, leaves room for improvement in its construction and presentation. An answer which shows complete competence in the subject.

excellent

An outstanding, possibly brilliant, answer, containing all the material relevant to the question and no irrelevancy, all the material and references being accurate and correct, there being no inaccuracy or error, the whole presented in a clear, logical, critical argument with little room for improvement. An answer which demonstrates a complete mastery of the subject.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the history of legal intervention in the context of employment law, including the development of the unions, together with an appreciation of the role of the key institutions involved in practical and judicial dispute resolution.

  2. Critically discuss the nature of a contract of employment, employment status and the concept of Flexicurity in the workplace.

  3. Outline and evaluate how the law has developed in order to try and ensure equality in employment.

  4. Explain and analyse the duties placed on employers and employees in the context of securing a safe and healthy place to work.

  5. Identify, apply and analyse the rights and remedies to which employees may be entitled on dismissal and/or redundancy and/or TUPE Regulations.

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
Written assignment 1
Final examination 2

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
Private study 156
Seminar

The module will be delivered by seminars of four hours per week over one semester. The seminars will include lecture-style teaching as well as interactive workshops in which students will be required to engage individually and in groups in acquiring, commenting upon and applying the principles and details of the subject under the guidance and instruction of the tutor

 44

Transferable skills

  • Literacy - Proficiency in reading and writing through a variety of media
  • Computer Literacy - Proficiency in using a varied range of computer software
  • Self-Management - Able to work unsupervised in an efficient, punctual and structured manner. To examine the outcomes of tasks and events, and judge levels of quality and importance
  • Exploring - Able to investigate, research and consider alternatives
  • Information retrieval - Able to access different and multiple sources of information
  • Inter-personal - Able to question, actively listen, examine given answers and interact sensitevely with others
  • Critical analysis & Problem Solving - Able to deconstruct and analyse problems or complex situations. To find solutions to problems through analyses and exploration of all possibilities using appropriate methods, rescources and creativity.
  • Teamwork - Able to constructively cooperate with others on a common task, and/or be part of a day-to-day working team
  • Mentoring - Able to support, help, guide, inspire and/or coach others
  • Argument - Able to put forward, debate and justify an opinion or a course of action, with an individual or in a wider group setting
  • Self-awareness & Reflectivity - Having an awareness of your own strengths, weaknesses, aims and objectives. Able to regularly review, evaluate and reflect upon the performance of yourself and others

Subject specific skills

  • Develop the ability to interpret legal rules and employ techniques of legal reasoning competently and efficiently in order to offer a range of solutions and conclusions to actual or hypothetical complex legal problems, all supported by relevant academic literature, jurisprudence and legislative research. Such solutions will be clearly communicated and presented
  • Develop the ability to analyse complex legal issues, set against the background of the political, social, economic or cultural contexts in which they may arise
  • Develop those skills which are necessary for scholarship and research in legal subjects, namely the ability to identify relevant primary and secondary legal sources and to retrieve accurate legal information using paper and electronic sources

Resources

Reading list

Honeyball & Bowers' textbook on employment law / Simon Honeyball Discrimination law / edited by Malcolm Sargeant Selwyn's law of employment / Astra Emir Labour law / Simon Deakin ; Gillian S. Morris Employment law : an introduction / Stephen Taylor, Astra Emir

Pre- and Co-requisite Modules

Courses including this module

Optional in courses: