Assignment 3b

I have been bespoken to write a report on the different types of legislations within television and film industries. The main purpose of this report is to comprehend the type of legislations and how each employer must familiarise themselves with the laws that have been put into place and the ethical issues. There are two key laws that I am willing expand my knowledge on, they include; health and safety legislations, equal opportunities, employment liabilities, rights and employment equality regulations. I am also willing to understand the differences between copyright and trade mark and I will illustrate each point by giving an example.

The employment legislation states the legal rights between employers and employees. This has been introduced in 1996 by the Houses of Parliament, to ensure the laws are used my companies to protect their workers. The reason why the Houses of Parliament initiated this rule was that people living in urban areas were

The Health and Safety Act 1974 states that every employer of any business must be given a brief account of a company’s health and safety legislation. The purpose of health and safety policies is to ensure that an employer obeys and understand the Health and Safety Act and its legislation. Every company in the world has to provide basic guidelines for implementing the regulations that will ensure all hazards are decreased and protect the lives of employers. I want to develop my understanding of the basic regulations the BBC has published in order for their workers to obey. It will would very beneficial for companies to produce a detailed yet easy for people to comprehend, so every worker is clear about the rules and nothing is mislead. On the other hand, this will ensure no accidents or any work related misfortunes happen, and a company will have more time on focusing on their productivity. Going back the point about the Health and Safety Act, companies have to ensure they understand the purpose of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which states that employers or company managers have to make their employees aware of the safety standards of their company. This is very important because it will allow the company to practise fire drills to eradicate the potential risks to employees. Personally, this legislation allows a company to be ready for any life or death situations that could occur. Due to this, this will make employees aware of fire escapes and they comprehend this for the future.

Equal opportunities are a legislation that has been brought in by the government to stop employers being discriminated. Discrimination in the workplace can either be due to race, gender, sexuality, disability and age. It is a very important legislation because it will allow people who work full-time, part-time or on a fixed term contract to be treated with integrity and respect. Each individual will be better at most tasks than other workers and this will increase productivity and efficiency of a company. If an employer feels deprived or intimidated by others, then it is essential for them to report the concerns because it would but the company under pressure of failing to meet this rule set out by the government and it will lead to disciplinary proceedings. To develop my understanding of this matter, I have decided to investigate the equal opportunities legislation set out by the BBC. For any organisation, like the BBC, it is very essential to get as many diverse people as possible in order not to create programmes portraying a certain race. My comprehension of the BBC’s equal opportunities is that creating a motivated workplace environment that will allow people to show their potential and thrive in their job roles. Equally valuing and respecting what each individual will bring to the BBC is very important and they do not tolerate people being disadvantaged. This shows

that the BBC has complied with the legislation that every company has to comply with. I have mentioned in the previous assignment that the BBC have does not condemn this type of behaviour. I have found several articles regarding this matter and the BBC published an article regarding a female boxer who complained to the sporting governing bodies about her equality and human rights case. Her argument was that many female boxers are not given the opportunities to showcase their skills or to aspire their dreams. Furthermore, the female boxers filed a complaint by writing a letter and stated their intentions that there was a lack of financial investment in training camps or tournaments for them to enter.

The next legislation I want to focus on is Employment liability. Employment equality regulation on age was first took place on 1st October 2006, and it was established to stop people being differentiated from other people. This regards people who are job training within an organisation or full time or part time employers. There are two types of discrimination this law covers direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination is about being biased or showing more favouritism to other person, possibly of your own age. This may involve someone deciding not to take on someone because of their age, or people within a specific age group do not look physically up for a certain job. Whereas, indirect discrimination occurs when an organisation sets out certain conditions or rules that can have an impact on a small group of people. Most of the time, this form of discrimination is usually unintentional but people do see it as discrimination. If you were going to apply for a specific job role that requires you to have experience within this job role or department younger people, especially graduates, are at a disadvantage. There are other important factors of this law, victimisation and harassment, but these two (direct and indirect discrimination) are easier to understand and is easier for me to elaborate my points. The problem with this is that certain organisations don’t state the number of years experience needed to fit their job vacancy. My honest opinion is that this legislation is vital because had this not have been introduced before, many people today may face both direct and indirect discrimination because of their age. Each individual will bring something different to a company; it does not matter about their age. Going into the last sentence in more detail, younger or older candidates that are looked upon may possess qualities that experienced people have such as enthusiasm or the willingness to learn.

When it comes to operating your business, there are situations that your employees are likely to come across such as getting injured carrying equipment. There is only one type of insurance that will save your company money and give compensation to the injured person and it is employer’s liability. Employer’s liability is a type of insurance that every business has to ensure that they have. The purpose of this insurance is to get cover if people working at the business suffer injuries within the workplace. For every death or injury that happens, you will be able to pay compensation to the person suffering. In the television industry, you may be filming a television programme and one of the workers falls over equipment left lying on the floor. They will be entitled to claim compensation and this insurance will cover all the costs. I cannot find any information that published by the BBC regarding this matter.

An employment right is a law that came into place on 22nd August 1996, and the reason for this was to set out the rights employees have. If companies breach this law, then the Employment tribunals are obligated to tell the company to give its employees compensation. This legislation allows people to understand what rights have they and I will bullet point outlining this matter.

Employees getting the national minimum wage. The current rate is people who are 21 and over will receive £6.31, 18-20 year old receive £5.03, people under 18 receive £3.72 and apprentices will earn £2.68.

Employees will receive protection from any decrease from their wages A brief account of the amount of money employees will receive during the holidays Receive protection from any form of discrimination, which I have explained in this report Employees working on a part-time basis should be treated as people working on a full time

basis. This form of discrimination is not acceptable in any organisation.

The BBC have published a video about a man who was working as a paper round boy was dismissed from his vacancy when he went on holiday with his family. The teenage boy was dismissed with no apparent reason and he then went to fight his claim for unfair dismissal. After that, the boy named Christopher won is case and claimed his compensation from the paper round company. In my opinion, I understand that this legislation is very important and it covers a range of different scenarios. It will be difficult for me to go trough each one to get a basic understanding, but I know that every organisation has to have a certain level of comprehension of this law. Following up from the paper round situation, a young man who work part-time was discriminated against. No one should go through any form of discrimination within the workplace.

Trade union can be defined as a group of people who are within a particular sector, who wish to negotiate a deal with employees about their wages, working hours and job security. Majority of trade unions are usually independent, so they will work and operate on their own without any assistance from elsewhere. Te basic fundamentals of trade unions are to discuss the changes within the business, provide an explanation on legal and financial recommendation to their employees. It is important for companies to be in a union because it will allow them to build a relationship with people in the workplace so there is good communications to get messages across the hierarchy. Ensuring a safe working environment is very important, as it will decrease the average percentage of injuries within the workplace. Personally, the next benefit is very important that every trade union should ensure. Trade unions should promote the business to show there is no form of discrimination and each individual is treated with integrity and respect. There are only a small number of trade unions that support television industries, and the one I will be using is PACT. This union is UK organisation that represents and promotes particular independent companies that have vested interest in film or creative contents. There two benefits of companies belonging to a union, they include:

Employees will understand that the organisation they work for will allow them to increase their wages.

They ensure that each employee is protected from any harm such as discrimination, exploitation and health and safety.

Every business, whether they are in the television industry or other industries have to consider making their business name or the type of service you will provide to your potential customers. The Intellectual Property is a legal document that is essential for any business should use so that in the future they may not be breaching any rules. If a new television company was introduced, you will want your name to be safe. Once you have registered your business name no one is authorised to use your business name. Let me look at this further from the television industry, but more into

business. Many entrepreneurs at markets like Camden Lock Market sell products that have brand names that do not belong to them. If they were to be caught, they will be facing a lot of consequences with the government and the company itself. That is why you don’t see many companies complain because they will get those thieves facing a huge penalty, which will take them several years to pay off and go through court cases. Like I say, as soon as you are willing to start-up your own business and you have a goof business name, get that name registered as soon as possible before someone uses that name.

Copyright, on the other hand, is completely different to intellectual property although it is part of the intellectual property. Copyright is a type of ownership that is established to protect not your company but the work you produce. This means if I were to create a report of the types of funding within the television and film industry, no one is allowed to copy my work without anyone getting consent from me. Nowadays, you get many school children you are struggling to find out information for a particular homework or research task and the internet is the easiest way to get credit for something that does not below to you. Another example is that I am producing my own music video for a school project. I can use music that is owned by someone else, but I have to ensure that my music video is not published any where that will get me penalised by the authorities. If I was to get copyright for my work, there are a few advantages of this, they include

No registration process required, so I don’t have to worry about going through so many stages

It prevents any individual’s work being stolen so you don’t have to worry about protection. Like I said, if I was going to copy work off the internet, there are many plagiarism software’s that detect whether a piece of work is stolen.

The protection will last for a substantial period of time

Lastly, trade mark is used by business to place a small sign on particular products and it will reinforce that your competitors will not be allowed to create your product. This type f protection may not be 100%, but it does ensure to scare away competitors. If you beleive that your idea or invention is at risk, then important that you ensure that it cannot others cannot create their version of your invention or product. There are a few advantages of companies using the trade ark symbol to scare away competitor, they include:

It is very easy and quick for people to register their products through legal processes Not only will this type of protection block others in the UK developing your invention or

product, other companies around the world will be barred from copying your invention, so you won’t have to worry.

You will be allowed to take the company or individual to court for infringing the legislation on trade marks.

Bibliography

1. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/safety/documents/general-safety/safety-safety-policy.pdf 2. http://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/hip_gb_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/

1408270471.pdf 3. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/policies_procedures/

health_safety_guidelines_bbc_staff.pdf

4. http://www.tridentbusinessinsurance.co.uk/employers-liability-insurance/ 5. http://bwglaw.co.uk/library/employment-law/employee-rights/employment-rights-act-1996 6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-law-employment-rights-pt-1-2/4831.html 7. http://www.skillset.org/uk/scotland/links/article_1764_1.asp 8. http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/04/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-trades.html 9. http://www.techterms.com/definition/copyright 10. http://copyrightkills.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/copyright-advantages-and-disadvantages.html 11. http://magnumip.com.au/branding-trademarks/trademark-basics/advantages-registering-

trademarks/