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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how resort managers respond to employment legislation (Law No. 02/2008).

The qualitative case study data from seven self-contained tourist resorts in the Maldives were used to investigate the managerial responses to employment legislation.

Resort managers’ responses ranged from passive compliance to active resistance, with decoupling through opportunism as the dominant strategy used to circumvent the legislation. Some human resource management (HRM) practices emerged from resort managers’ interactions with external stakeholders and employees. Strategic responses and HRM practices were driven by a search for legitimacy or efficiency and sometimes both. The findings show that there are differences between strategic responses and HRM practices by organisational subfield, local resorts and international hotel chains. The resorts’ market orientation also influenced resort managers’ responses and HRM practices.

The findings of this paper have limitations because it was limited to a single industry/sector and to a particular piece of legislation. However, it demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between institutional context and HRM.

This paper shows that responding to employment legislation entails a high level of interplay between the institutional environment and HR actors, and between stakeholders (e.g. employees) and HR actors. It demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling institutional requirements with the preferences of different stakeholders and organisational interests. HR actors actively make sense of institutional requirements and modify HRM practices to accommodate stakeholders’ varying perspectives and preferences. This suggests that in countries such as the Maldives, uneven institutional coverage (e.g. incomplete employment legislation) allows room for organisations to innovate – for better or worse.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes to employment law and the consequent impact of legislation on Irish employment relations practice.

The paper adopts a comparative approach using two separate pieces of employment law governing race equality, and employee information and consultation, respectively. Semi‐structured interviews with key informants are the main data source, augmented in the case of the information and consultation legislation by focus groups in individual workplaces.

The empirical evidence presented suggests that legislation is not the primary initiator of change. In the case of race equality the market was found to be a key determinant of practice (termed “market‐prompted voluntarism”). However, it is argued that regulation can influence change in organisations, depending on the complex dynamic between a number of contingencies, including the aspect of employment being regulated, the presence of supportive institutions, and organisation‐specific variables.

The comparative findings in this research allow some important inferences to be made regarding the use of law to mandate change in employment relations practice. They, in turn, provide useful lessons for future policy makers, managers, trade unionists and workers.

This paper is unique in its comparison of two separate pieces of legislation. In both cases considered, the legislation was prompted by EU Directives, and the obligation on member states to transpose these Directives into national law. The findings suggest that readiness for legislation, based on length of national debate and acceptance of the underlying concept, can influence its impact. The concept of equality seems to have gained widespread acceptance since the debate provoked by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, understanding and acceptance of the concept of employee voice has been much less pronounced in the Anglo‐Saxon world.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.

Examines employment equity legislation, initially introduced in the UK during the 1970s, along with separate legislation covering sex, race, religion and disability, together with separate enforcement bodies, and separate geographical arrangements in Britain and in Northern Ireland. Notes the role of European Community Law which takes precedence over UK law and increasingly dictates legislation changes. Claims that the period since the 1970s has witnessed growing levels of unemployment, along with a focus on de‐regulation of labour markets. Most British empirical work focuses on explaining earnings differentials using the standard Mincer human capital model with comparative neglect of employment equality issues. The fundamental question is to what extent has employment equity legislation been successful in removing labour market discrimination against minority groups. Uses a cross‐section of data from the 1994 labour force survey to attempt to explain differences in employability across various groups and to analyse the degree of occupational segregation across these same groups which remain after nearly 20 years of experience of employment equity legislation. Reviews the legislation and then estimates first, logit equations to explain employability and second, ordered probit equations to explain occupational attainment, in each case decomposing the results in order to estimate the proportion of the differential which may be explained by “discrimination”.

Discusses the long existing and confusing problems of establishing the relationship of who is, and who if not, a dependent worker. Reflects developments which have occurred in British law as it affects the employment field, plus an evaluation and analysis of some of the different types of employment relationships which have evolved by examining, where possible, the status of each of these relationships. Concludes that the typical worker nowadays finds himself in a vulnerable position both economically and psychologically owing to the insecurity which exists.

Modern employment legislation invests the employee with important rights resulting in a greater degree of job security and improved legal protection in his employment. These rights or entitlements which are all personal in nature are divisible, for the sake of convenience, into four parts. Firstly, individual rights. These include guarantee payments, medical suspension, maternity, time off for specified activities, and the employer's insolvency. These rights are by no means exhaustive. Other rights of an individual nature as for example the right not to belong to a trade union where a closed shop is in operation; rights in connection with trade union membership; written reasons for dismissal; and so on, will be treated in the context of the discussion which will take place under the appropriate heading. Secondly, it is proposed to examine the employees right not to be discriminated against in employment on grounds of race and sex, thirdly, his right not to be unfairly dismissed will be analysed, to be followed finally by his right to redundancy payments. In this monograph, it is proposed to examine the first of these personal rights, namely the employee's individual rights. Each of the others will be discussed in subsequent monographs. It should be noted that unlike the common law terms implied into the contract of employment which consist of duties imposed on both the employer and the employee and which can be contracted out of by an express term in the contact of employment the statutory conditions of employment cannot be dispensed with in that manner. Like the implied terms at common law, the statutory conditions of employment too form another source of contract of employment though of course they are independent in that they neither form part of the contract of employment nor of the common law rights.

Reports findings from an empirical investigation into the nature of the employment relationship in small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and how this is affected by the Employment Relations Act (1999). A two‐stage methodology was used, with a postal questionnaire of 69 companies and telephone interviews with a further 33 SMEs. The informal, paternalistic approach to employee relations in many small companies was found to be largely still intact. The government's intention of developing partnerships in the employment relationship in order to promote greater fairness in the workplace has, to a significant extent, failed. Small companies may not be granting their employees all their statutory rights. Whether this is ignorance or a deliberate strategy is unclear, but the incidence of employment tribunal cases may continue to increase for small and medium‐sized companies if they ignore the current employment legislation.

The subject of part‐time work is one which has become increasingly important in industrialised economies where it accounts for a substantial and growing proportion of total employment. It is estimated that in 1970, average annual hours worked per employee amounted to only 60% of those for 1870. Two major factors are attributed to explaining the underlying trend towards a reduction in working time: (a) the increase in the number of voluntary part‐time employees and (b) the decrease in average annual number of days worked per employee (Kok and de Neubourg, 1986). The authors noted that the growth rate of part‐time employment in many countries was greater than the corresponding rate of growth in full‐time employment.