FT Guide to Business Start Up 2021-2023, 32nd Edition

Chapter 19

Your rights and duties as an employer

The idea of employment law can conjure up images of the Gorgon. You, as an employer, turned to stone when faced with the legal pitfalls of employment. By and large, you can employ whoever you want. You can set up your own criteria about who you want to employ, but there should be good reasons for it – not solely because of sex, race, disability, marital status and so on. You can normally dismiss unsatisfactory employees. But the law sets out that it should be done fairly. If you do not do so fairly, then you may have to be prepared to pay compensation. Moreover, there are rules about how you treat employees while they work for you. If disgruntled employees leave, they may claim your actions amounted ...