The Gazette 1981

APRIL 1981

GAZETTE

similar legislation in England, it is a most arduous business trying to apply otherwise excellent academic and judicial comment to what is, at best, only "similar" legislation. There is, of course, the added difficulty in the U.K. that with every change of Government, there comes a change in this area of the law. It is with this prejudice heavily lying on my mind that I tackled a new series of publications under the generic title "Law at Work." There are to date, fourteen titles in the series, all by different authors but under the general editorial hand of Paul O'Higgins, a well-known and respected author in the field of employment law. Each publication runs to approximately 90 pages, and is written in a simple and concise form. The books are aimed at the wide market of employers, employees, trade unionists, and possibly lawyers. The back cover of each title specifies that the books "assume no previous knowledge of law" and have an "emphasis on everyday situations in the workplace." I could not, however, recommend any of the titles to practitioners in this field, as the subjects are not dealt with in sufficient depth. For those, however, who are not familiar with this area of the law, and wish to become so, I would recommend three of the titles as a useful starting point. These are: "Trade Disputes" by Patrick Elias: This book has a most useful and interesting history of the Trade Disputes Act, 1906, and the workings of the Act to date. The text is easily applied to the law in this country with the exception of one chapter dealing with the position from 1974 to date, consequent on the enactment of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act, 1974 as amended, and the Employment Act, 1980. The main fault as with all the titles in the series is the lack of depth, but for those interested in a potted history and background to existing law, this is as good a publication as any. "Discipline" by Brian Napier The book gets off to a good start with the cover illustration showing a smiling employer and a smiling employee shaking hands in front of a time clock showing five minutes to nine. The book itself is a useful guide to a subject, about which most practitioners of the law know little, the workings of discipline on the shop floor. "Dismissal" by Robert Apex With an increasing number of Solicitors involving themselves in Unfair Dismissals Act claims, there is a need for these practitioners to acquaint themselves with the industrial relations mechanisms which produce such claims. There are more comprehensive industrial relations publications dealing with this subject on the market, but they tend not to be attractive to the legal practitioner. This book is concise and easily read, and is a most useful primer. The subject of dismissals has become one of great interest to Solicitors, and for those seeking a concise clear introduction to the subject, I would recommend this book. There is the obvious difficulty that the text is dealing at all times, with U.K. legislation, and while our legislation is broadly similar, there are significant differences which should be noted. Chief among these differences are: those who work for less than 16 hours a week are not covered in the U.K., it is 21 hours here; retiring age specifically mentioned in the

U.K. Act, is not referred to in our Act; a claim in the U.K. must be made within three months of the alleged dismissal — 6 months here. There are also many differences in Tribunal procedure. These differences have become more significant with the recent publication in the U.K. of new procedural rules which are not referred to in this book. Nor is there any reference to the British Home Stores v. Burchell case which is to date the most important case dealing with the criteria to be applied in deciding whether or not an employer's actions were justified. This, I feel is a serious omission in any publication purporting to deal with the law of dismissals. Chapter 8 of this book deals with dismissals related to pregnancy, and is a valuable aid in anticipating the likely impact of our proposed new Maternity Protection Act, which became law on the 6th April, 1981, but here again, care should be taken where references are made to specific statutory provisions such as three weeks notice of intention to take leave whereas it is four weeks here. In all this is a useful guide to the law relating to Dismissals and as with all of these titles is recommended to those seeking an introduction to the subject. Of the five other titles which I have received "Job Security" by Colin Bourn is a useful guide to Redundancy, but not more so than the booklet on the Redundancy Payments Acts issued free by the Department of Labour. "Health and Safety" by Peter Rowe is based exclusively on the U.K. Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974, and is a useful indicator of the probable workings of our Safety in Industry Act, 1980, and in particular, part III thereof. "Sex Discrimination" by Shelley Adams is not recommended as, in this area, our legislation and U.K. legislation have too many points of difference for comfort, and our legislation is coloured greatly by the Employ- ment Equality Agency and its policies, decisions, and interpretations. The same can be said of the remaining two titles "Social Security" by Julian Fulbrook, and "Occupational Pensions" by Ian Smith. This latter publication deals with the U.K. State pension scheme, and may be of use when the Government here produce the proposed State pension scheme, but it appears that we are still a long way from the introduction of such a scheme. There are six titles which I did not have the benefit of reading, these are: "Employment Contracts," "Going to Law," "Safety Representatives," "Trade Unions," "Union Members," and "Wages and Salaries," Gary V. Byrne

Incorporated Law Society of Ireland

STARDUST ENQUIRY, BLACKHALL PLACE During the currency of the Enquiry, it is regretted that bccause of the demands on the available space, overnight accommodation cannot be provided for members. This facility will be reintroduced as soon as possible.

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