LW3EMP: Employment Law

Module code: LW3EMP

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Grace James, email: c.g.james@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module examines the law governing employment relationships, within the broader context/critique of the labour market regulation/environment.  

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Understand the historical development of employment law in the UK and factors that influence its scope and content at any one time. 
2. Identify and explain the institutional framework and sources of labour law and critique the dispute resolution procedures and issues relating to access to justice. 
3. Advise on and assess critically the concept of employment and how an employment relationship might be constituted and regulated. 
4. Advise on and critically assess particular matters of labour law relating to the employment relationship and its termination. 

Module content

Once key concepts and frameworks are introduced, this module is taught primarily through 6 inter-related topics: 

• Topic 1: The concept of ‘employment’ – status. 
• Topic 2: Terms of employment and discipline/grievances and termination of employment, including redundancy 
• Topic 3: Issues of equality and work/family(life) balance 
• Topic 4: Dispute resolution and access to justice 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module will be taught through lectures, seminars and supported by online drop-in sessions. 

The lectures (22) will take place weekly (2 hours a week across 11 weeks) 

Seminars (5 x 2 hours) will involve structured group discussions and some presentations by students. Throughout the module, emphasis is placed on the student to actively participate in the learning experience. This includes researching the subject independently and being fully prepared for seminars. 

Drop-in topic revision and Q&A sessions (8) will be timetabled – these will be online after each topic has been covered (x6) – and a two-hour revision session will be scheduled at the end of the module to help students prepare for the examination. 

Study hours

At least 40 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students will have the opportunity to submit a formative paper (an IPAC plan for a problem question on employment status) which will scaffold the first piece of summative work. (individual problem based essay based on the same topic as the formative paper). 

Students will have the opportunity to complete a 2 page literature review for a critical assessment topic (which will scaffold the second piece of summative work).   

Reassessment

Additional costs