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 Type	Hours
Lectures	24
Specified Learning Activities	30
Autonomous Student Learning	66
Total	120

Not applicable to this module.

Equivalents:
Employment Law: Rights (LAW37330)


 

Assessment Strategy  

Description	Timing		Component Scale		% of Final Grade
Attendance: Attendance and participation during seminars (in at least 70%) of seminars.	Throughout the Trimester	n/a	Pass/Fail Grade Scale	No	10
Examination: Centrally-scheduled exam (RDS or online, depending on health guidelines)	2 hour End of Trimester Exam	No	Graded	No	90

 

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Autumn	Yes - 1 Hour

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

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