dismissal of workers

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Dismissal

A dismissal in general terms is the discharge of an individual or organisation from employment, or in other terms, the termination of employment against the employee’s will. For a dismissal to take place there has to be a determination that there existed an employment relationship (Chelliah and D’Netto, 487). Wrongful dismissal from work does not terminate the employment contact rather it is a repudiatory breach that makes the employee not to be bound by the terms of agreement with the employer, the employee is then forced to accept the repudiation and mitigates by seeking another employer, this act by the employee terminates the contract. This method however is not included in the contract laws but it is a discovery of the judges, it is based on the principle that employees are paid wages for the work that they do therefore if they do not work they should not be paid. When the employee accepts not to work for the employer even though he has the will and potential to work, it is deemed that he has accepted the repudiation, otherwise he would have stayed at home and sued the employer for payment of wages since the contract would still be valid (Akin, 569)

The topic of dismissal of workers is particularly interesting to me due to the large numbers of people who were dismissed from their job stations during the economic depression of 2009. A large number of employees who were not aware of the process of dismissal were dismissed from their job stations without prior warning or any form of compensation. The provisions for dismissal of employees explains that an employee should only be dismissed without notice under three situations, the first one is if the employee has not completed one month since he started to work for the employer. Second is if the terms of the contract have the provisions for dismissal without notice, and the third is when an employee act in a manner that acts to betray the confidence and trust that the employer had placed in him. The notice period before a dismissal is usually written down in the contract should be a minimum of a week and in case the contract does not state the notice period the common law is applied. Common law requires that the employer should give the employee a notice of at least one week for employment period lasting from one month to two years and then one extra week for any additional year above 2 years that the employee works up to a maximum of 12 weeks. However, common law can give an employee up to 12 months depending on the seniority, expertise and the length that the employee has been working for the employer. Some of the remedial options available for wrong dismissal include compensation in a tribunal and damages in a court of law, the employees will however be required to apply for the compensation within three months after they have been dismissed. The employer is liable to pay the dismissed employee the loses that include his notice period including any benefits or pay rises that he was entitled, otherwise in the case of wrongful dismissal the employee can only sue for lost earning and damages due to the spoiling of his reputation.

In discussing progressive labour laws regarding dismissal, the paper will discuss what the law says in other regions regarding how an employment contract comes to existence, this will be in comparison to our laws, which state that for an employment relationship to be considered to exist there must be objective condition. This means that the features that are existing in regard to the way the worker performs hid duties and how he is remunerated by the employer must be put into consideration (Bird, and Charters, 212). The rights of employers and employees depend on the duration of contract where the employee performs the assigned duties by the employer in return for her wages, if the employee fails to perform the assigned duties, and then he breaches the contract for employment and is therefore liable for dismissal.

In Jordan, the workers are protected by the labour act that stipulates that a worker be employed either indefinitely or for a specific period, in the agreement for a specific period, the contract is deemed to have been terminated at the end of the period. However if the employee continues to work after that period the law considers the contract to have been renewed and is considered to have been an indefinite contract from the beginning. For an employment contract to be terminated in Jordan, one of three conditions must be met, when both parties agree to terminate it or the duration of the contract has expired due to completion of the work or when the employees dies or is medically incapacitated to perform his responsibilities. The law also protects pregnant workers on maternal leave, those in the military reserve or those who are on any form of leave as agreed by the parties from being dismissed or being served with a notice of dismissal.

In the UK’s employment relation act of 1999, if an employer wishes to dismiss his workers he must inform them at least 30 to 90 days using the relevant channels such as their trade unions. The employer is bound by the law to pay compensation to them depending on their age, the length of time they have been working in the organisation and their weekly wages. This paper will use materials from a variety of sources, which will include governments acts and legal documents, in addition, the paper will also include previous studies that have been conducted in regard to labor laws and which specialise in contracts regarding employments and how employees can be dismissed. In addition, interviews conducted among individuals who have been dismissed from their job stations will supplement the information that will be gotten from previous relevant studies.

Potential sources

Akin, Levent. “Termination of Labor Contracts and Unfair Dismissal Under Turkish Labor Law.” Comp. Lab. L. & Pol’y. J. 25 (2003): 561. print

Bird, Robert, and Darren Charters. “Good Faith and Wrongful Termination in Canada and the United States: A Comparative and Relational Inquiry’(2004).” American Business Law Journal 41: 205. print

Chelliah, John, and Brian D’Netto. “Unfair dismissals in Australia: does arbitration help employees?.” Employee Relations 28.5 (2006): 483-495. print