Tuesday 3 March 2015

The Legal Side: Employment Legislation

Health & Safety

Health and safety is in place to make sure everyone is safe in a working environment. Usually this act is kept in place with everyone contributing, the boss making sure the working location is safe, and employees being organised and not leaving items that could be harmful unattended. An example of this being in the industry is if a studio has wires everywhere. This is a safety hazard as people could potentially trip, making it against health and safety.


Equal Opportunities

Equal opportunities is where as an employer you are not allowed to hinder peoples careers down to something like their race, sex or age. So you would not be allowed to reject anyone for a job for being a certain race. An example of this being in the media industry is an employer rejected an applicant for a job down to the fact that they are pregnant.


Employee Rights

Employee rights are part of your contract, meaning rights can't be taken away from you unless it is agreed by both parties. Employee rights are basically a load of requirements in a contract. An example of some of these contracts are how much you are paid. This protects the employee because it means the company cannot unfairly give them a pay cut while they are serving a contract.


Copyright

Copyright prevents people from copying your content, and also means you cannot use anyone else's content without their permission. For example, you could not use any music for your film unless it is yours or you have written permission from the artist to use it. This helps the industry as it means no one can make money off of their own content, and protects the owners of the content. Copyright infringement is illegal, and people that commit copyright infringement can actually be sued by the content holders.


Trade Unions

A trade union is a group of people that work in the same trade and whose goal is to address the common industry related issues that happen on a daily basis. An example of what a trade union does is fight for fair payment. A union for the TV and Film industry is known as BECTU. Being part of a Union is not a requirement but they do offer huge benefits to their members.


Sources


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