Employment law regulates the relationship that employers have with employees. It outlines both employer and employees rights and responsibilities. In the UK employment is regulated by three laws, Statue, Common and European. Statue law includes legislation like the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, or Equality Act 2010. Common law includes contracts of employment which set the ground for working relationship between employer and employee. European law help regulate things like workplace equality, working time or data protection. Businesses that fail to comply with employment regulations risk damaging their reputation and be subjected to prosecution and be ordered to pay large fines (Castle Associates, 2017). For example, in 2012 Conoco Phillips oil and gas company was fined £3 million for a breach of Health and Safety Act when the gas leak occurred and life of 66 employees was endangered (BBC, 2016). In 2018 total of 239 employers have been fined £1.97 million and ordered to pay £1.44 million in backpay for underpaying 22,400 workers the National Living and Minimum Wage (Gov UK, 2018). In broad understanding, the contract is a legally enforceable agreement giving rise to obligations for the parties to it. Not all agreements are legally binding contracts, for example, social and domestic agreements are presumed not to be legally binding unless there is clear evidence to suggest otherwise. In deciding if the parties have entered into a contractual agreement the law looks if there was an offer made by one party and whether the other party have accepted that offer. An offer is a promise made by one party to enter into a contract based on a set of terms with the intention of being bound by it as soon as the other party indicates the acceptance. An offer can be made to either single person, group of people or to the public and can be either written, spoken or implied by conduct and it can be more or less complexed. Acceptance is a final expression to the offer either by words or conduct. It is imperative that acceptance is final and unequivocal, and without varying or changing the terms of the offer. An acceptance must be communicated either by spoken/written words or by conduct to be effective and create a contract, an exception is a unilateral contract (Macdonald & Atkins, 2014, p.6-20). In Taylor v Furness, Withy & Co Ltd (1969), the dock worker was sent by the Dock Labour Board to his new employer. The employer sent him a welcoming letter and ID card to sign. When the dock worker arrived at work it turned out that he has let his union membership lapse and under the Dock Labour scheme it was impossible for his employer to employ him so he was sent home. The dock worker sued his employer for weeks wages and the employer argued that he had never worked so the contract wasn’t legally binding. The court ruled that by signing ID card the dock worker has accepted an employer’s offer therefore legally binding contract was created (Lockton, 1996, p23). Consideration in contract law can be defined as a bargained for exchange of value between parties of a contract. The contract is not enforceable without consideration, exchange of value can include money, property, promise or doing something. For example, if one party of a contract agrees to do something it can be presumed that this party has given consideration. However, agreeing to do something that is otherwise legally required is not presumed consideration to a contract. For consideration to be valid both parties of the contract must get something of value out of the contract (Donahue, 2018). Intention to create legal relations is another part of contract law and can be defined as an intention to enter a legally binding agreement. Intention to create legal relations signifies that both parties of the contract are ready to accept the legal consequences of entering into a contract. In commercial contracts, it is presumed that the parties did intend to create legal relations unless there is expressed statement to suggest otherwise (Law teacher, 2018). In the case, Edwards v Skyways Ltd Mr Edwards was informed by his employer Skyways that he is to be made redundant and promised Mr Edwards “ex gratia” payment equivalent to his contribution to the pension fund which Mr Edwards was a member of. Later the Skyways failed to make “ex gratia” payment. The case went into court when the Skyways defended their action that the company did not intend to create legal relations, court, however, ruled in Mr Edwards favour. The judgement stated that the payment was described as “ex gratia” therefore the Skyways intended to create a legal relation (Macdonald & Atkins, 2014, p86). There are many forms of employment contracts depending if the person is an employee, worker or self-employed. Employees have the most employment rights and the worker have fewer employment rights however both worker and employee will be employed on a contract of service. Self-employed people usually own their own business and they provide their services under contract for service. Self-employed individuals are responsible for paying their own taxes and national insurance contributions. Self-employed people also don’t have the same rights as employees or workers but their rights and responsibilities will be set out in a contract they have with their client (Acas, 2019). Depending on individual’s employment status there are many different types of employment contracts, most common are Full-Time Contracts based on the employee being paid an hourly rate or salary with set out working hours, job title, holiday entitlement and other working arrangements. Full-time contracts are for no less than 35 hours. Another type of contract is a Part Time Contract which is similar to a Full-Time Contract but with less working hours. This type of contract allows more flexibility to fit work around other commitments. Another type is Fixed Term Contract which is for a specific length of time and is similar to full and part-time contracts. Fixed Term Contract in some cases may lead to Full-Time Contract. Temporary Contracts are offered when work is not expected to last long or become permanent, but Temporary contract can be extended. Temporary workers have the same rights as other staff members. Agency Contracts are agreed and managed by the third party like a recruitment agency and are on a temporary basis depending on the employer’s demand and availability. An employment agency also ensures that employees rights are protected and after 12 weeks agency workers acquire the same rights as permanent staff members. Zero Hours contracts are based on staff only working when required by the employer. An employer is not obliged to provide set working hours to an employee and employee is not required to work hours proposed by the employer (Employment Law Contract, 2019). For an employment contract to be legally binding it must include all the basic elements as stated in the first part of this assignment. The core element of any contracts are the terms within it because they indicate parties’ intentions. An employment contract is different from any other contract because it contains not only expressed terms but also terms that are implied. Expressed Terms are the ones that the parties have agreed to like salary or working hours and other details of the job. Expressed Terms ensure certainty so both parties know where they stand. That means that if an employee was to refuse to perform the duties he agreed to, the employer can take court action against an employee for a breach of contract. In Wiluszynski v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (1989) the employee took a part in industrial action and refused to perform a small part of his duties as a part of that action. Before the action started the council informed Mr Wiluszynski that if he doesn’t perform all of his contracted duties they will be in a repudiatory breach of contract and he would not be paid. The Court of Appeal upheld the council’s action, as the duties he refused to perform were a material part of Mr Wiluszynski’s contract (Lockton, 1996, p24). In employment contracts, parties will not often deal with every detail under the contract. Sometimes things are too obvious to cover it with the express term. When an issue arises, which has not been covered expressly in the contract then it may be argued that the term can be implied. There are three types of implied terms, terms implied in fact, terms implied by law and terms implied by custom. When implying terms, in fact, the courts are looking to find the objective intention of the parties. Term Implied, in fact, are individual gap fillers and they depend on the circumstances of a particular contract. Statutes imply terms into certain types of contract, for example, the Sales of Goods Act 1979 implies a term into a contract for the sale of goods stating that goods need to be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. Terms implied in law are an incident attached to the standardised contractual relationship. Terms implied by custom are terms implied on the basis that they are customary in particular trade or profession (Macdonald & Atkins, 2014, p89 - 109). The implied terms are specific to an individual contract and individual parties. The courts rely on tw3o tests to determine the content of the missing term: the term is necessary to give the contract business efficacy and the term is so obvious that it goes without saying so that if anyone would to ask a bystander if the term should be in, he would answer “of course”. In Mears v Safecar Security Ltd the Court of Appeal refused to imply a term that the employee was entitled to sick pay because sick pay had never been paid in the past. If there is no evidence of past conduct, the courts will imply a term they feel is necessary. The courts may also imply the term into the contract of an employee by reference to the nature of the profession. For example, in sim v Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (1986) the High Court implied a term that teachers should cover for absent colleagues as this would be seen by people outside the profession as a part of the duties of the teacher (Lockton, 1996, p39 -40). Concept of the duty of care is that all employers have a legal and moral obligation to ensure that all people associated with the business are fully protected from any personal, physical or emotional harm while on the business premises or while engaging in activities associated with or related to the business. Duty of care concern areas of health and safety, food safety, personal safety, safeguarding children and adults, equality, bullying, violence, harassment, stress and discrimination (Educare, 2019). For example, in Paris v Stepney Borough Council (1951) the employee had one eye and he lost the sight of his only eye while removing rust from underneath a bus. Despite the fact that it wasn’t a legal obligation for the employer to provide an employee with googles, the court held that a reasonable employer would have provided this employee with googles, knowing that any injury to his eye would leave him totally blind therefore an employer was held liable (Lockton, 1996, p59). There are different types of damages that can be awarded to employees in Employment Tribunal depending on a type of the claim. Basic awards are usually a fixed amount of money awarded to employees in cases of unfair dismissal. The compensatory award can also be awarded to the employee if they suffered financial loss as a result of unfair dismissal. The court can also award a fixed sum of money for unpaid wages, redundancy, unpaid holidays or sick pay or unlawful deduction from wages. The court can also award compensation to employees who have been discriminated against or suffered financially because the employer has breached their employment contract. Compensation payment known as a detriment can be awarded to employees who have been treated unfairly by their employer but haven’t been dismissed. An example of this kind of discrimination can be not giving an employee promotion because they are a trade union member. The court can also order an employer to re-employ an employee or recommend such an action as well as order employer to take other action, for example, to prevent discrimination in the workplace happening again (Citizens Advice Organisation, 2019). References: Acas, (2019). Employment status. Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5071 (Accessed: 13/04/2019) BBC, (2016). ConocoPhillips fined £3m for Lincolnshire coast gas leak. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-35526617 (Accessed: 05/04/2019) Castle Associates, (2017). The importance of keeping up to date with employment law. Available at: http://castleassociates.org.uk/blog/importance-keeping-date-employment-law (Accessed: 05/04/2019) Citizens Advice Organisation, (2019). Employment tribunals - valuing a claim - where to start. Available at: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/problems-at-work/employment-tribunals-from-29-july-2013/employment-tribunals-valuing-a-claim/employment-tribunals-valuing-a-claim-where-to-start/ (Accessed: 24/04/2019) Donahue, L. (2018). What is Consideration in Contract Law? Available at: https://www.l4sb.com/blog/what-is-consideration-in-contract-law/ (Accessed: 12/04/2019) Educare, (2019). What is Duty of Care? Available at: https://www.educare.co.uk/news/what-is-duty-of-care (Accessed: 17/04/2019) Employment Law Contract, (2019). Different Types of Employment Contract. Available at: http://employmentlawcontract.co.uk/employmentcontracts/ (Accessed:13/04/2019) Gov UK, (2018). Record 22,400 minimum wage workers to receive millions in backpay. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-22400-minimum-wage-workers-to-receive-millions-in-backpay (Accessed: 05/04/2019) Law Teacher, (2018). Intention to create legal relations and consideration. Available at: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/contract-law/intention-to-create-legal-relations.php (Accessed: 12/04/2019) Lockton, D.J. (1996). Employment Law. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Macdonald, E. Atkins, R. (2014). Koffman & Macdonald’s Law of Contract. 8th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Marta Pedley