The protection of the employee in case of redundancy, employer's insolvency and transfer of undertakings.

Abstract

Over the past 200 years, the employment scene has witnessed radical changes. For the whole of that period, paid employment has been regarded as the normal means of earning a living for oneself and one's family but extraordinary technological changes made over the years have modified the nature of work and the types of jobs that people do. Moreover, the economic and social climate surrounding the various forms of human activity has also undergone drastic changes. The evidence world-wide has established the overriding importance of the market and of competitive forces transmitted through the market in achieving a viable level of efficiency, whether in the private or public sectors of the economy. Political suppression, as distinct from necessary regulation, of the market invariably depresses the national level of prosperity well below that which would otherwise have been attained, as events in the more advanced socialist countries have so graphically demonstrated. Continuous adaptation to technological and organisational changes is an essential means of maintaining a sufficiently high level of economic performance as well as providing the nationals with the means to have a reasonably acceptable standard of living in a free and democratic political society. These adaptations are reflected in the changes affected through the years in the relationship between the employer and employee.