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IMm
Working Within the Law
A Practical Guide for Employers
and Employees by Frances Meenan,
Oak Tree Press, Dublin, 1994, 430
pp, paperback, £24.95, hardback
£45.00.
The subtitle of this book gives an
accurate description of the type of
book it is. By aiming at employers and
employees, Ms Meenan has produced
a very readable book which is an
admirably comprehensive account of
practical employment law issues
contained in 398 pages of text.
The author's approach is typified by
the first chapter which is entitled
"Recruitment and the Contract of
Employment" which gives a step-by-
step guide to the consummation of a
contract of employment including
references to the main categories of
terms and conditions that might be
specifically included in a written
document. The author has, however, a
dilemma in aiming at the audience she
has chosen. Should she be
comprehensive or merely offer
guidance? This dilemma is shown to
some effect in the commentary on
notice clauses in this chapter.
Employers are not told about the
common law remedy of wrongful
dismissal and how vital notice clauses
are in that regard, nor are employees
told how exposed they may be in law
during the early stages of an
employment relationship terminable
on notice. Even in the full chapter
dealing with the subject of notice,
which is of itself well written and
comprehensive, the exposure to a
wrongful dismissal claim and the
limitations of making such a claim are
not sufficiently highlighted. There is
reference made in the chapter on
unfair dismissal but again not
enough to sufficiently enlighten an
employer or an employee. Also the
reference to non-competition clauses
is both useful in referring to the
Competition Authority but lacking in
not dealing fully with the common
law position.
Given the author's choice of audience,
is this book going to be of use to
lawyers? I believe it will. Ms. Meenan
has used her practical experience in
the field of employment law well and
addresses many day to day issues that
solicitors are asked to advise on which
are either ignored by other authors or
buried too deep in the treatment of
wider and more complex issues. The
first step in any problem solving
exercise is to know where to look for
the answers. As a first step to finding
answers this book will be useful. In
the chapter on temporary employment,
reference is made to "casuals". Clients
often come to a solicitor with pre-
conceived ideas about their employees
and their status, or employees arrive
believing they are somehow
disadvantaged by the use of labels
such as "casual" and here the author
usefully focuses on the term and
explains it in its legal context.
However, in explaining that a so-
called "casual" employee may have
legal rights, no mention is made as to
what rights the "casual" employee
may have.
In 25 chapters, the author covers all
aspects of practical employment law
practice with particularly helpful
treatment of the topics of redundancy,
taxation of termination payments,
employer insolvency, the work of the
Labour Relations Commission and, as
would be expected from the co-author
of a recent authoritative book on Irish
Equality Law, equal pay, equal
treatment and the work of the
Employment Equality Agency.
The law relating to unfair dismissal is
given broad treatment, a book of this
sort cannot be expected to offer a
sufficiently comprehensive treatment.
It is, nonetheless, useful and contains
references to many Employment
Appeals Tribunal cases that might be
otherwise difficult to unearth. The
author gives a particularly good
account of how the Tribunal views the
operation of fixed term contracts
which State and semi-State
organisations in particular would be
well advised to study. She, however,
incorrectly states that the Unfair
Dismissals (Amendment) Act, 1993
incorporates the principles laid down
by the Tribunal. The Act certainly
supplements the Tribunal's treatment
of fixed term contracts, but the
Fitzgerald
case, which is well referred
to in the book, still constitutes the
state of the art, as far as the Tribunal
is concerned, regarding the operation
of fixed term contracts within the law
of unfair dismissal.
The book contains an excellent
dissertation on holidays, maternity
leave and payment of wages
legislation, collective bargaining and
trade disputes. Throughout all of the
chapters, most the day to day
employment problems to be
encountered in each area are identified
and guidance is offered. The flavour
of the month in employment law, for a
long time now, has been the transfer
of undertakings or acquired rights
regulations. Hardly a month goes by
without some new interpretation of
the European Directive issuing from
the European Court of Justice and it is
a brave person indeed who seeks to
give a definitive dissertation of the
current law. When the volume of case
law eases and the situation becomes
clearer, we can then expect a whole
new Directive. Ms. Meenan in her
treatment of the regulations, gives
only a short and very general
treatment, probably sufficient for
her target audience but too basic
for lawyers.
A particularly helpful feature of this
book is the inclusion of appendices to
the chapters consisting of the
necessary forms for completion in
respect of matters dealt with in the
text.
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