Dismissal, redundancy and employment law Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies revision
Not started
Learn it
In plain words
Losing a job can happen in two quite different ways. If the worker did something wrong, such as stealing, it is dismissal. If the job itself has disappeared, because a machine now does it or the orders have dried up, it is redundancy.
Laws protect workers in both cases, and in much else: pay, safety and fair treatment.
6 things to know
- Dismissal: employment is ended because of the employee's behaviour or inability to do the job.
- Redundancy: employment is ended because the job is no longer needed. It is not the employee's fault.
- A workforce may have to be cut after automation, a fall in demand, a factory closing or a merger.
- In choosing who to make redundant, a business may look at skills it will need in future, length of service, or ask for volunteers.
- Legal controls cover the contract of employment (pay, hours, holidays in writing), unfair dismissal, discrimination (on grounds such as gender, race, religion, disability and age), health and safety, and the legal minimum wage.
- For employers the laws add costs and procedures. In return they get safer, fairly treated and better-motivated workers, and avoid fines and bad publicity.
Tips and tricks
- Redundancy is about the job, dismissal is about the person. If a question says "demand has fallen" or "new machinery", it is redundancy.
- Laws affect both sides. For a full answer give the effect on the employer and the effect on the employee.
It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.
Dismissal, redundancy and employment law: 5 questions and answers
These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.
A factory installs robots and no longer needs twenty assembly workers. Their jobs end through
The jobs have gone. The workers have done nothing wrong.
An employee is repeatedly caught stealing and loses her job. This is
It is because of her own conduct.
Which is covered by discrimination law?
Equal opportunities laws forbid unfair treatment on such grounds.
What must a contract of employment include?
It sets out the terms on which the person is employed.
Which is a benefit to an employer of obeying health and safety law?
A safe workplace keeps people at work and working well.
Quiz
5 questions
Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.
Worksheet
3 questions, 8 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.
Dismissal, redundancy and employment law
Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies 0450 · 8 marks · papermunch.org
Name ______________________________ Date ______________
Explain the difference between dismissal and redundancy.[2]
Show answerHide answer
Dismissal is when a worker loses the job because of their own conduct or poor performance. Redundancy is when the job is no longer needed, which is not the worker's fault.
Explain two situations in which a business might make workers redundant.[3]
Show answerHide answer
New automated machinery may do work that people used to do. A fall in demand for the product may mean that fewer workers are needed to produce it.
Explain how health and safety laws affect a manufacturing business.[3]
Show answerHide answer
It must provide safe machinery, protective clothing and training, which adds to its costs. But there are fewer accidents, so fewer days are lost and workers feel safer and more motivated.
Answers: Dismissal, redundancy and employment law
- 1. Dismissal is when a worker loses the job because of their own conduct or poor performance. Redundancy is when the job is no longer needed, which is not the worker's fault.
- 2. New automated machinery may do work that people used to do. A fall in demand for the product may mean that fewer workers are needed to produce it.
- 3. It must provide safe machinery, protective clothing and training, which adds to its costs. But there are fewer accidents, so fewer days are lost and workers feel safer and more motivated.