Introduction

• Author: Geoffrey England
• Pages: 1-15

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Employment law is concerned with rules that govern the relations be-

tween employers and employees: Who creates the rules that govern

the job? How are such rules administered and enforced? And what is

the content of the rules? Clearly, this def‌inition is extremely broad.

A worker’s terms and conditions of employment are determined by a

combination of processes:

           

terms of the employment contract;

 

express or implied terms of the employment contract;

 

through the implied terms of the employment contract;

 -

ployment contract, such as “reasonable” notice of termination and

“just cause” for summary dismissal; and

          

include

– substantive terms and conditions of employment (e.g., minimum

wages, maximum hours of work, and minimum leaves of absence

for designated purposes, such as childbirth or bereavement);

– safeguards against arbitrary abuse by the employer of its man-

agerial prerogatives (e.g., banning discrimination in hiring, pro-

motion, and f‌iring on proscribed grounds such as sex, race, and

disability, and requiring discharge to be for just cause);