This module aims to provide students with a cutting-edge and critical awareness of employment rights and duties. It seeks to attract students who want to improve their understanding of business practices, labour market norms and of the power relationships that define contractual relations of employment. The module is designed to enable students to develop knowledge and skills needed to apply employment law to a range of workplace scenarios, as well as to understand the limits of law. It seeks to equip students with a critical awareness of the relevance of employment law to public health and wellbeing. It aims to offer insights about the future direction of employment law in the context of devolution, contemporary economic challenges and new forms of work.

(LO1) Students will be able to explain how statutory instruments, common law doctrine and case law provides protection for work, wages and workers in the context of their employment in the UK.

(LO2) Students will be able to apply relevant sources of law to answer questions and draft legal advice in response to legal problem scenarios.

(LO3) Students will be able to critically engage with the social and political functions of employment law, including the promotion of public health.

(LO4) Students will be able to design and effectively communicate evidence-based criticism and defence of an aspect of employment law of particular interest to them.

(S1) Research Skills

(S2) Legal problem solving

(S3) To effectively communicate complex information clearly for a variety of audiences

(S4) Skills of argument, written and verbal

(S5) Presentation skills

(S6) Organisational Skills

Introduction. Relations of Employment
(indicative content)
Contractual status and the hierarchy of employer duties; Employment rights and public health.
Part A: Protection of work
(indicative content) Law of dismissal and discipline; Duties and rights in redundancy situations; Right to strike.
Part B: Protection of wages
(indicative content) Unlawful deductions and bringing a claim; Minimum wage law; Rights to paid leave (holiday pay; maternity and paternity pay; sickness pay)
Part C: Protection of the worker
Fair work, decent work and devolution; Disability rights and employer duties to make reasonable adjustments; Rights and responsibilities for safety at work.

Teaching Method 1 – Live lectures
Directed teaching hours. 10 hrs in. 5 x 2hr timetable slots delivered to the whole cohort.
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 2 – Bespoke video content
Description: Pre-recorded content, each of approximately 30-minutes duration, posted on Canvas for students to view independently.
Self-directed learning hours: 3
Attendance Recorded: No
Notes: Bespoke Video content covers relevant material in advance of small group seminars or case classes.

Teaching Method 3 – Case classes
Description: Group-based teaching
Directed learning hours: 6 in 3 x 2hr classes.
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: Students are required to undertake preparation work in advance of each case class, based on questions and tasks issued in advance. There are 3 x case classes in total for each student. The case class format combines a lecture element and a workshop/practical component in which students appl y knowledge gained by working through scenarios that draw on relevant case law as well as other relevant material. Each case class ends with a group feedback section.

Teaching Method 4 – Seminars
Description: Small group teaching
Directed Learning hours: 4.5
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: Students are required to undertake preparation work in advance of each seminar based on questions and tasks issued in advance.

Self-directed learning
Description: Research activity, developing academic writing skills, wider reading to support the module, preparation for seminars.
Self-directed hours: 126.5

Students will have a formative assessment opportunity in this seminar.