Business Acts - Leaving Cert Business
If you are taking business for Leaving Cert, these 6 acts are absolutely essential. One of them comes up every year in Q1 and they really are an easy way to gain a few marks.
Consumer Protection Act
- Protects consumers from unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices.
What does it do?
1. Prohibits false product descriptions
- eg. second hand cars sold as new
2. Prohibits false prices
- This includes past, present and future prices.
- Goods must be on sale for at least 28 consecutive days at a higher price before they go on sale
3. Prohibits false or misleading advertising
- eg. advertising acrylic jumpers as 100% wool
4. Prohibits businesses from engaging in aggressive practices
- eg. demanding payment for unsolicited goods
5. Established the National Consumer Agency
What is the National Consumer Agency?
The National Consumer Agency is the State Agency that promotes consumer awareness of their legal rights and ensuring consumer legislation is obeyed by businesses.
Functions:
- Enforcing consumer law: they can give fines, take businesses to court or enter business premises.
- Provides information and advice to consumers on their legal rights: this is mainly done through their website www.consumerconnect.ie
- Provides information to businesses about their legal responsibilities towards consumers
- Advises the government on how to protect consumer welfare
- Publishes a 'Consumer Protection List' of businesses found to have breached consumer law
Industrial Relations Act 1990
- Sets out rules concerning industrial disputes and strikes
States:
1. Disputes must be legitimate
- Can dispute over pay, conditions, work duties, dismissals, union recognition or employment policies
- Can't dispute over how the business is run or over political issues
2. Unions must hold a secret ballot to get majority approval for a strike
- how each person votes is confidential
3.Unions must give at least one weeks notice to management before going on strike
4. Official disputes are legitimate disputes that have majority approval in a secret ballot and support from ICTU and a trade union
5. Immunity: Employers cannot sue unions/employees for loss of earnings during an official dispute
6.Unofficial disputes do not have union or ICTU approval
- They are illegal
- Wildcat strike: An unofficial dispute with no advance warning given to management
7. Picketing: employees and trade union officials walking up and down outside the workplace during a strike
- Primary picketing outside the employers workplace is allowed as long as it is peaceful
- Secondary picketing of another business is illegal
8. Established the Labour Relations Commission
What is the Labour Relations Commission?
The Labour Relations Commission is the state agency that helps to resolve industrial disputes. They provide:
- Conciliation Services: Industrial Relations Officers at the LRC hep employers and union representatives to come to a solution. Any suggested solutions are not legally binding.
- Rights Commissioners: help resolve disputes involving one person or a small group of workers concerning unfair dismissals, maternity leave or disciplinary procedures.
- Industrial Relations Advisory Services for queries about employment law and good human resource practices.
- Codes of practice: recommended voluntary rules set out by the LRC that are used to resolve industrial disputes.
Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 to 2007
- Law preventing employees from being unfairly dismissed from a job that they have been employed in more for more than one year
Fair Dismissals:
1. Employee was incompetent or incapable of doing their job properly
2. Employees conduct was unacceptable
3. The job was made redundant
- workers are let go because there isn't enough work for them to do
- can be voluntary or compulsory
4. The employer followed proper dismissal procedures
- includes giving warnings for breaches of company law
Unfair Dismissals:
1. Employer didn't follow proper dismissal procedures
2. Employer can't prove the employee was incompetent or incapable of doing the job
3. Employer can't prove the employees conduct was unacceptable
4. Employer can't prove the job was made redundant
5. Employer engages in constructive dismissal
- employer makes working conditions for the employee so bad that they are forced to leave the job
6. Dismissed after any period of time for:
- need to take maternal, parental, adoptive or carers leave
- joining a trade union or going on strike
- complaining about breaches of minimum wage laws
- religious or political opinions
- their age
- their race, colour, gender or sexual orientation
Employees rights after dismissal:
1. To know reasons for dismissal
2. To reply to those reasons
3. To have a fair hearing of dismissal and to be accompanied by a trade union representative
Penalties for unfair dismissals:
1. Financial compensation of up to 2 years pay
2. Reinstatement in the job and financial compensation for loss of earnings
3. Reinstatement in same or similar job with no financial compensation
- occurs if employee contributed to the dismissal
What is the Employment Appeals Tribunal?
The Employment Appeals Tribunal is the state agency responsible for ensuring the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 to 2077 is obeyed by all businesses.
Employment Equality Act 1998
- Law that states it is illegal to discriminate at work on the basis of:
- Gender
- Marital status
- Family Status
- Age
- Disability
- Race
- Sexual Orientation
- Religious beliefs
- Being a traveller
- Discrimination: when one person is treated less favourably than another person in a comparable situation
- Covers job applicants, employees and customers
- Set up The Equality Authority and The Director of Equality Investigation
What is The Equality Authority?
The Equality Authority is the state agency responsible for ensuring businesses do not break equality laws.
Functions:
- Monitors the operation of equality legislation
- Advises employers, employees and customers of their legal rights and responsibilities regarding discrimination
- Assists people with equality complaints
What is The Director of Equality Investigations?
The Director of Equality Investigations is responsible for investigating complaints concerning discrimination referred by The Equality Authority.
Dealing with discrimination
Non-legislative:
- Talk
- Seek help
- Either from a trade union or The Equality Authority
Legislative:
- Cases get referred to The Director of Equality Investigations by The Equality Authority
- serious cases: investigated by equality officers who offer arbitration services
- less serious cases: equality mediators use conciliation services
Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003
- Any organisation storing information on other people on a computer or in manual files must ensure the information is accurate and kept up to date
- Data subject: someone who has information held about them by someone else
- Data controller: someone who holds information about someone else
Rights of Data Subjects:
1. Right to access files
- entitled to get a full copy of the information held on them within 40 days of asking for it
2. Right to correction of errors
- also have the right to have their names removed from direct marketing mailing lists
3. Right to compensation where inaccurate information causes harm
4. Right not be subjected to automated decision-making
Responsibilities of Data Subjects:
1. To obtain information openly and fairly
2. To only use information for the specific reason it was given for
3. To have all their information stored securely
4. To give data subjects access to information stored about them
5. To keep all their information accurate and up to date
6. To delete or correct inaccurate information
What is The Data Protection Commissioner?
The Data Protection Commissioner is responsible for ensuring the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 are obeyed.
Functions:
- To provide information to the public about the acts
- To keep a register of organisations that hold sensitive information eg. banks
- To develop codes of practice to keep within the law
- To investigate complaints from the public about breaches of the Acts
