module specification

Employment and Equality Law. This module will focus on the legal relationship between employers and workers as well as the law related to the prohibition of discrimination both within and outside of the employment context. It examines the diverse nature of the individual employment relationship, the content of the contract of employment, remedies available on it’s termination and the development of and issues arising from Equality Law both within and outside the employment context.     

Contract Law; Legal System

To outline the domestic and EU statutory and common law provisions governing the individual employment relationship between employers and workers; To critically examine domestic and EU statute and case law related to the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex, race, disability and other protected characteristics; To facilitate the development of a practical understanding of employment and equality law through independent research and application to hypothetical problem questions; To enable students to develop a critical understanding of employment and equality law through analysis of the social and economic context in which the law has developed; To enable students to develop their oral presentation skills  in a supportive atmosphere in seminars; To enable students to develop their professional skills through completion of the initial stages of preparation of a submission to an employment tribunal.  

*General introduction and overview of the employment relationship;
*the distinction between the contract for services and the contract of employment;
*implied and express terms and variation of terms in the contract of employment;
*termination of the contract of employment: redundancy, unfair and wrongful dismissal; Completion and submission of claims to the employment tribunal;
*observation and written report of a tribunal hearing;
*history and theoretical basis of equality law including the relationship between English and European equality law;
*background and introduction to the Equality Act 2010;
*Equality of Terms; *EU and English statute and case law on Sex, Race, Disability, Sexual Orientation, Religion and Belief Discrimination;
*English statute and case law on Positive Action and the Public Sector Equality Duty;
*Enforcement of Equality Law including exceptions and defences. 

The module will be taught through a combination of weekly lectures and seminars. Students will be required to prepare answers to problem questions for discussion in groups and presentation in seminars. All students will also be required to observe a tribunal hearing and prepare and submit a written report of the hearing. All students will be required to complete an ET1 claim on the basis of a hypothetical employment/equality problem.   The module website will include podcasts of key topics e.g. direct and indirect discrimination, also a student ‘blog’ and multiple choice quiz.  Seminar classes will be split into groups to discuss and present answers to pre-prepared questions. At the end of each seminar each group will award itself a mark out of 100%. This will be recorded on the module website.

On successful completion of the module students will have the knowledge and skills to:  Identify and apply relevant statute and case law to provide appropriate solutions to given legal problems.  Demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical basis and historical development of Employment and Equality Law.  Critically evaluate current developments in both law and policy at domestic and European level. Complete the initial administrative stage of application to the Employment tribunal;
Clearly and confidently present an oral argument.  Benchmark skills/outcomes:  Accurate identification and application of the law in problem solving; Analysis, synthesis and critical evaluation of the relevant law within it’s social context; Clear and confident oral presentation; Knowledge and understanding of the process of submission of a claim.

Summative assessment will be in two parts. At the end of the first semester students will be required to observe a case at the employment tribunal and submit a written report of no more than 2,000 words. At the end of the second semester students will be required to complete a piece of coursework of no more than 3000 words based on three problem questions from a choice of five.  The tribunal observation report wilt be weighted at 25% and the problem based coursework at 75% of the overall mark for the module.  Formative assessment will be through self-assessment of group work in seminars, each group will award itself a mark out of 100% and also outline their main strength and weakness. This self assessment will be published on-line. In addition individual students will be encouraged to complete a multiple choice quiz on-line.

Honeyball & Bowers OUP “Textbook on Employment Law* (*recommended text) Blackstone’s Statutes on Employment Law *(*recommended text) Selwyn’s “Law of Employment”  Taylor & Emir “Employment Law An Introduction”  Upex , Benny & Hardy “Employment Law”
Smith & Wood “Employment Law”  Painter & Holmes “Cases & Materials on Employment Law”
B. Doyle , Equality and Discrimination: The New Law, Jordan’s Publishing.  Michael Duggan , Equality Act 2010 A Guide to the New Law. The Law Society John Wadham, David Ruebain, Anthony Robinson and Susie Uppal (Eds),  Blackstone’s-Guide to the Equality Act 2010 OUP  Banforth. N., Malik. M. and O’Cinneide, Discrimination Law: Theory and Context, Text and Materials. Sweet&Maxwell Ltd.  McColgan. A., Discrimination Law: Texts, Cases and Materials,  Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, Oregon,. Palmer. C, Cohen. B, Gill. T, Monaghan. K, Moon. G, Stacey. M. McCvolgan. A. (Ed), Discrimination  Law Handbook. Legal Action Group. Rubenstein. M, Discrimination, A Guide to the Relevant Case Law, . Michael Rubenstein Publishing. Fredman. S, Discrimination Law, OUP,  Tessa Wright and Hazel Conley (Eds) The Gower Handbook of Discrimination at Work, Gower.
  Websites: The Government Equalities Office  http://www.equalities.gov.uk/Default.aspx
ACAS http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1363
Equality and Human Rights Commission http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/home/
Disability Alliance  http://www.disabilityalliance.org/
Stammering Law http://www.stammeringlaw.org.uk/changes/sea.htm
Fawcett Society  http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/
RADAR  http://www.radar.org.uk/
Joseph Rowntree Foundation http://www.jrf.org.uk/
Runnymede Trust http://www.runnymedetrust.org/
Discrimination Law http://www.discriminationlaw.org.uk/links