What is the employment law?
Employment law is that area of law related to employment. Also known as “labor law,” it encompasses judgments and precedents designed to protect the rights of workers and the organizations they work for. This helps regulate relationships between unions, employers, employees, and business candidates.
Labor law can be divided into two categories. These are “individual labor law” and “collective labor law”, respectively. The first here refers, of course, to the laws relating to the rights of an individual in his workplace, while the second refers to the relations between employees, companies and unions.
Much of this will revolve around what are known as ’employment standards’, which are the established standards that are legally expected of employees for any employee and include things like minimum wages, working hours, and more.
There are many organizations and individuals involved in the regulation and maintenance of employment law. For example, the United States Employment Standards Administration is a United States agency charged with ensuring that labor laws are developed and followed. Meanwhile, employees and unions can use labor lawyers as mediators and consultants, or to help them present cases and represent them in court. If, for example, you felt that your working conditions did not meet labor standards, or that your contract had been illegally terminated or that you suffered some form of harassment or abuse in the workplace, then you could hire the services of an employment lawyer . to receive some kind of compensation.
The main characteristic of labor law in most territories is that the rights of both parties and their obligations will be detailed in the employment contract. From this moment on, both employers and employees will try to fulfill their obligations in the contract and any breach can be disputed in court.
However, there are legislations and laws regarding what is written in the contract and there are certain things that cannot be agreed according to common law. For example, many states require that the employment be ‘at will’, which means that they will be able to terminate their contract if they resign at their discretion.
Therefore, if you feel “trapped” in your job, your employers may not have the legal right to keep you in your job and you are free to leave. In such a situation, it would be wise to use an employment attorney to help yourself out of the situation.
At the same time, organizations are often required to include what is known as the ‘essentialia negotiaii’ (or ‘essential terms’) in any contract to ensure that the employee knows things like the length of their employment, their salary, your vacation allowance, etc. Therefore, an employment lawyer can be useful not only in fighting with your employers or in contesting their claims, but also in deciding whether or not to accept the terms of a contract initially.
