Legal Encounter 1 This encounter provides Pat with an opportunity to take legal action against NewCorp due to wrongful termination. Pat signed the employment contract provided by NewCorp stating that, “If the job performance of an employee is unsatisfactory, the employee will be notified of the deficiency and placed on a corrective action plan” (University of Phoenix, n.d.). However, Pat was not notified or warned about his performance and provided with a chance to improve based on a corrective plan. Thus, terminating Pat constitutes breach of contract and wrongful dismissal. According to Cheeseman (2010, chap.33, p. 513), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in “decisions regarding dismissal”, thus Pat can sue NewCorp as he signed the employment contract legally binding both parties.
Unit 2: Equality, diversity and rights in health and social care P4: explain how national initiatives promote anti-discriminatory practice Law or regulation | Areas covered | European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 | This is a European document relating to human rights; it is signed by all governments in the European Union, including the UK. | Sex Discrimination Act 1975 | This is to protect both men and women against discrimination or harassment on the grounds if gender in employment, education, advertising or in the provision of housing, goods, services or facilities. | Mental Health Act 1983 | The main purpose of this act is to allow action to be taken, where necessary, to make sure that people with mental health difficulties or learning difficulties get the care and treatment they need for their own health or safety, or for the protection of other people. | Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 | The Order provides the legal framework in northern Ireland for compulsory admission and treatment of patients suffering from mental illness. GPs can be involved in Mental Health Order assessments in community or hospital settings.
1.2) Direct discrimination in the work setting could be where someone is refused a job because they are in a wheelchair or because of their race or religion. Indirect discrimination in a work setting could be where a person could be told they have the job but they can only work on the bottom floor as there is no lift. 1.3) Practises that support diversity, equality and inclusion can reduce the likelihood of discrimination. By getting to know people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicity helps remove negative stereotypes. The problem that some people observe is that practices that cross over the line to provide preferential status to protected groups can result in less qualified people getting jobs and actually reinforcing negative stereotypes when compared to people who are fully qualified.
It is somewhat similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Our textbook defines this law as "In many respects, this law is the most sweeping antidiscrimination leg- islation since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The ADA went into effect in 1992, covering people with a disability, defined as a condition that “substantially limits” a “major life activity” such as walking or seeing. It prohibits bias in employment, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunication against people with disabilities" (Schaefer, 2012). The ADA addresses issues for the aging population by how our text book stated "basically, we can see it taking a civil-rights view of disabilities that seeks to humanize the way society sees and treats people with disabilities" (Schaefer, 2012).
Bemis “released” Bannister to seek employment with one exception—Mondi Packaging. Mondi declined to offer Bannister a job solely because of the covenant not to compete. In other words, Bemis asserted its rights under the non-compete provision as it related to Mondi and was thus obligated to pay Bannister his salary. She refused to pay him the 18 moth’s theses situation was a material breach of the agreement. They should pay him the 18 months to settle the case.
The issue before the court was whether “an employer has an obligation to reassign a qualified disabled employee to a vacant equivalent position when the employer has an already established policy to hire or promote the most qualified to the position” (Twomey, 2013, p. 566). The appeals court reversed and ruled in favor of Wal-Mart. The appeals court reasoned that automatic reassignment is not required and that the ADA is not an affirmative action statute. The employer had an established nondiscriminatory hiring policy that required everyone to compete so Huber was required to compete. The appeals court held that an employer is not obligated to reassign a qualified disabled employee over a more highly qualified applicant for the position.
Disability discrimination act 1995 - Made it unlawful for employers to discriminate against people based on a disability, it gave indeviduals a greater chance to live a full life and achieve what they would like to do. It also ensured that provisions for disabled people in employment are met. Mental Capacity act 2005 – Made sure that even if an individual wasnt able to make decisions themselves, they are protected by clear guidelines for those that make the decisions for them. It became unlawful for anyone to neglect or mistreat an individual who didn't have the capacity to make decisions themselves. Outcome 2 Understand the nature and characteristics of learning disability A condition making it difficult to gain knowledge and skills to the normal level expected of those of the same age.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed July 26, 1990 as Public Law and became effective on January 26, 1992. The ADA is landmark federal legislation that opens up services and employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities. The law was written to strike a balance between the reasonable housing of citizens' needs and the size of private and public entities to respond. It is not an affirmative action law but is intended to eliminate illegal discrimination for disabled individuals. The ADA recognizes and protects the civil rights of people with disabilities and is modeled after earlier landmark laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race and gender.
This law is set out to protect and employee against being disadvantaged or mistreated within the workplace. There are two different sectors under the Equality Act, direct discrimination and in-direct discrimination. Direct discrimination refers to a employee being treated less then others due to a characteristic, such as being ‘too old’ for a promotion. In-direct discrimination is when someone is disadvantaged by certain criteria, such as an advertisement for a job-role asking for only a certain age-group to apply. Certain cases can be justified but this is very rare.
For other employees, the employer had only to demonstrate the dismissal was for ‘operational reasons’ and there would be no right of challenge or redress. The removal of these rights resulted in clear hardship for many, and in real feelings of insecurity when workers realised they could be dismissed at any time for no reason. A new fair dismissal system The Government has established new laws regarding unfair dismissal that are fair to small business owners and their employees. The objective of these laws is to ensure good employees are protected from being dismissed unfairly, while enabling employers to manage under-performing employees with fairness and with confidence. Special arrangements for small businesses Within the overall unfair dismissal system, special arrangements apply for small businesses.