Legal Controls Over Employment
Business: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 2.2.4
Legal Controls Over Employment
The government can create laws which force businesses to not discriminate between recruits.
Equal opportunities
- Legal controls prevent businesses from discriminating against potential employees based on:
- Gender (the Sex Discrimination Act, 1975).
- Race (the Race Relations Act, 1976).
- Disability.
- Religion.
- Sexual preference.
- Age.
- Through these legal controls, everyone is given an equal opportunity to apply for a job.
- Furthermore, companies are obliged to pay employees who do equal work, equal pay (Equal Pay Act, 1970).
Gender pay gap
- In 2018, medium and large businesses were required to publish information on how much they pay employees.
- This exposed the gender pay gap.
- Out of the 10,000 firms which published their details, 78% paid men more.
- This is largely because men are in higher-paid positions.
- Men also, on the whole, received higher bonuses than women.
Minimum wage
- Under the Employment Protection Act, 1978, all employees must receive a contract in writing. This prevents employees being unfairly dismissed.
- All companies must pay their employees at least the minimum wage.
- In 2018, the minimum wage for over 25s is £7.83 per hour.
- This legislation prevents businesses from exploiting workers.
Test yourself on Legal Controls Over Employment
Out of the 10,000 companies which published their gender pay gap details, how many paid men more?