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LAW30330

Academic Year 2024/2025

Employment Law: Employment Rights (LAW30330)

Subject:
Law
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Law
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Sara Benedí Lahuerta
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

The theme of this module is the set of statutory rules constraining the employer's prerogative in the employment relationship. The module focuses on the extent to which the legislature, often in the context of Ireland's EU obligations, has prescribed employee rights in respect of discrimination on grounds such as gender, age, and disability; maternity, adoptive, parental and paternity leave; part-time, fixed-term and agency supplied labour; organisation of working time; and workplace privacy. The module will also consider the effect of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 on the dispute adjudication process.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module you should be able to:

1. Describe the historical development of employment rights legislation.
2. Explain the influence of European law and comparative law on Irish employment law topics covered in the module.
3. Apply law and case law concerning employment law topics covered in the module to a problem question.
4. Critically discuss recent and potential changes in relevant legislation and case law and assess their effectiveness, individually and in a group.

Indicative Module Content:

*Please note: this content is merely indicative and might be reordered or slightly changed.


1. Introduction: The historical evolution of employment rights

2. Employment Equality: The right to equal pay and the right to equal treatment: Direct and Indirect Discrimination

3. Family Leave: Maternity, Adoptive, Parental and Paternity leave entitlements

4. Atypical Employment: elimination of discrimination and prevention of abuse
(i) Part-Time work
(ii) Fixed-Term work
(iii) Agency work

5. Working Time

6. Privacy at Work: European Convention on Human Rights, Art. 8 and relevant case law

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

30

Autonomous Student Learning

66

Lectures

24

Total

120


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Learning activities include:
-Interactive lectures
-Accessing resources
-Individual study
-Group work
-Self-directed research
-Essay writing
-Problem solving
-Discussion boards
-Quizzes

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Equivalents:
Employment Law: Rights (LAW37330)


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Exam (In-person): In-person exam with two long questions and one short question. End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
100
No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn Yes - 1 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

There will be the opportunity to do a mock exam in groups during the semester. For that formative assessment, you will get feedback: • Individually, provided to each group, in writing, post-assessment • To the group/class feedback, orally, post-assessment Exam feedback will be provided by means of group feedback on Brightspace (in writing, in the form of broad indications, not full answers).

Key books:
• Murphy ed, Employment Law (2nd ed, Bloomsbury, 2017), chapters 1, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 17. [available at the library - ebook]
• Barnard, EU Employment Law (4th ed, 2012, OUP), chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 12. [available at the library - ebook]

Annotated legislation:
• Kerr, Employment Equality Legislation (5th ed, Round Hall 2016).
• Kerr, Organisation of Working Time (Round Hall 2019).

Additional recommended reading and reference books:
• Forrest, ‘Political Values in Individual Employment Law’ (1980) 43 MLR 361. [available at the Library - online]
• Prassl, Humans as a Service (OUP 2018). [available at the Library - Hard copy]
• Oppenheimer, Foster and Han, Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law (3rd ed, Edward Elgar 2020) [available at the Library - ebook]
• Bohnet, What Works: Gender Equality By Design (Harvard University Press 2016). [available at the Library - Hard copy]

Name Role
Mr Anthony Kerr Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Mr Andrew Woods Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 09:00 - 10:50