Company and Employment Law

Assessment task details and instructions

You are to answer BOTH Questions:

Question 1 – Company Law

Mariam is a sole trader who offers cleaning services for offices in Manchester City Centre. Mariam has earned good reputation over the years and her business is thriving.  She is now thinking of expanding her cleaning business and as such is wondering whether she should form a company. However, due to having no prior knowledge about how companies operate she is having doubts on the idea that whether she would be able to successfully run a company by herself. Mariam seeks your advice on the following matters:

1. Please advise Mariam on the step-by-step process of incorporating a company.
2. Also, instruct her on the documentation and information she would need to provide to the companies house.
3. Mariam would be benefitted if you explain what her responsibilities will be like if she puts herself down as a director of the company.  

Question 2 – Employment Law

Mariam has now successfully incorporated a cleaning company called Spotless Ltd (The Company). Over the past few months, she received an overwhelming number of calls for office cleaning jobs as people are getting back to offices post pandemic lockdown. Mariam needs to hire at least two employees to meet the current demand.   However, Mariam is vaguely aware of her responsibilities as an employer as this is the first time her company will be hiring.  Mariam seeks your advise on the following matters:

• What kind of information Mariam must provide in the employment contract?

• It has been two months since the Company hired Ashley and Raj as cleaning associates, both are on a full-time permanent contract. Mariam has received four separate complains from her regular customers over the  past three weeks about Ashley’s timekeeping. The customers reported that Ashley often turns up late in the morning and often does not finish her tasks before the offices open at 9 am. As a company director Mariam is considering to fire Ashley but she would need more information on unfair dismissal to avoid any legal complications.

• Please advise Mariam on the grounds of Unfair dismissal and whether she has a valid ground to dismiss Ashley based on the complaints she received from the customers.

Assessed intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Upon successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Identify where, in the business context, the application and operation of legal rules and frameworks are  critical to success;
2. Critically evaluate whether legal rules can be applied non-contentiously within the business context, or  whether professional legal advice should be sought;
3.  Access and understand primary and secondary legal sources of law in the business context;
4. Appreciate and manage the global operation of legal rules and frameworks within the business context;
5. Effectively negotiate legal agreements which minimise risk to, and maximise alignment with, the objectives of the business.

Transferable Skills and other attributes (maximum of 5)

On Completion you will have developed:

• Take responsibility for their own learning, including time-management;

7. Develop team-working skills;
8. Enhance their oral, written and presentational skills;
9. Develop  strategies for problem-solving;
10. Practise and enhance their research skills.

Professional, Practical or Subject Specific Skills/Behaviours

On completion of the module, the student will have had the opportunity to/will be able to:

1. Seek and value the views of others building effective working relationships with business managers, peers and other HR functions, together with relevant external organisations. 
2. Be creative, innovative and enterprising when seeking solutions to business problems that are ethical, sustainable and legal and socially appropriate.
3. Plan and manage personal development effectively at an individual level (time, behaviour and motivation) as part of a team (leadership, influencing and project managing).
4. Be flexible, positively adapting to changing work priorities and patterns, ensuring key business and HR deadlines are met in a legal and socially appropriate and responsible manner.
5. Display tenacity, accountability, resilience and proactivity in the way they go about their role, dealing positively with setbacks when they occur.   

Module Aims

1. To introduce students to the operation of legal systems in the global business context;
2. To introduce students to those  areas of law that underpin the practice of effective business management;

To develop a working knowledge of the law relating to how companies operate in different business contexts and their effective negotiation.

Word count

Your submission should not exceed 1500 words. You must have a word count on the first page of your assignment. There is a 10% leeway permitted if needed, thus you can write up to 1650 words in total without incurring a penalty.NB: Your references do not count towards the word count.