Employment Law: A Very Short Introduction

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In today's society, work takes up a vast proportion of the time and energy of ordinary people. Although use of the phrase 'work-life balance' is now commonplace in the media and ordinary conversation, people work longer hours than ever before. However, rather than purely a means to an end in terms of supporting oneself financially, the workplace is a place to develop skills and talents and build lasting friendships. For these reasons, people want to know about their rights in the workplace. Issues of equal pay, discrimination, discharge/dismissal, and redundancy are prevalent within the media, and there is a growing public appetite for knowledge of the law governing the employment relationship.

This Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the main kinds of employment rights and labour laws found in many countries. It unpicks and evaluates some of the assumptions underpinning contemporary attitudes to such rights and laws in order to measure whether they are warranted. Throughout it also considers the economic, political, sociological, and social justifications for employment rights and laws.

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David Cabrelli, Professor of Labour Law, University of Edinburgh

David Cabrelli is a Professor of Labour Law at the University of Edinburgh, and a solicitor qualified in Scotland (non-practising). He is also a visiting professor at Pavia University, Italy. He has written five books, two of which cover employment law, Employment Law in Context (2nd edition, 2016) and Law Express: Employment Law (6th edition, 2018). He is also the assistant editor of the Edinburgh Law Review

1. Employment law: Background, origins and sources
2. The employment relationship and the employment contract
3. Statutory employment rights
4. Equality law
5. Dismissals/discharges
6. Business reorganisations
7. Collective labour law 1: Trade unions
8. Collective labour law 2: Industrial action
Further Reading
Index