Employment Law Assignment Help UK: Contracts, Dismissal and Discrimination, Applied to the Facts
Employment law problem questions rarely turn on a single rule. They turn on sequence: who is the claimant in law, which claim fits the facts, was the correct procedure followed, and what remedy would a tribunal award? If you are looking for employment law assignment help uk students can rely on for England and Wales, this page explains how we help you build that sequence — from status and dismissal through to discrimination, TUPE and remedies — so your answer reads like advice applied to facts, not a textbook summary.
Our support sits within our wider law assignment help service, for modules taught in England and Wales. Scots and Northern Irish employment law differ in important respects, and we flag that boundary rather than blur it. Whether your brief is a coursework problem, a moot note or an essay, the work is structured around the statutes, the leading authorities and your question.
Employment status: the gateway question
Almost every claim begins with status, and markers penalise students who assume it. An employee works under a contract of employment and attracts full statutory protection, including unfair dismissal and redundancy rights. A worker — the broader category in section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 — undertakes to perform work personally but is not genuinely running a business of their own; workers have core protections such as the national minimum wage, paid holiday and discrimination protection, but not unfair dismissal rights. A genuinely self-employed contractor has far fewer rights.
Labels in the written contract are not decisive. In Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher [2011] UKSC 41, the Supreme Court held that, where bargaining power is unequal, a tribunal should look at the reality of the agreement rather than clauses that do not reflect what was actually agreed. That approach was developed in Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5, where Uber drivers were held to be workers. The Court stressed that the contract drafted by the putative employer cannot be the starting point, because the legislation exists to protect individuals who have little control over their terms. Control, integration, personal service, mutuality of obligation and financial risk all matter, but no single factor is conclusive.
In an assignment, set out the competing indicators before you conclude. Must the individual accept work when offered? Can they send a substitute? Who sets the price? A balanced analysis scores higher than a confident conclusion with no reasoning.
Unfair dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996
Unfair dismissal is a statutory claim, not a contract claim, and must be analysed in stages. First, check eligibility: in most ordinary cases the claimant must have been an employee with the required qualifying period of continuous service. Exceptions apply where dismissal is automatically unfair — for example, for pregnancy, whistleblowing or asserting a statutory right — where no qualifying period is needed. Never state the qualifying position without checking whether an automatically unfair reason is in play.
Second, identify the reason. Under section 98 of the 1996 Act, potentially fair reasons are capability or qualifications, conduct, redundancy, statutory illegality, and some other substantial reason. If the employer cannot show one, the dismissal is unfair. If they can, the tribunal asks, under section 98(4), whether the employer acted reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient. That is judged by the band of reasonable responses — the tribunal does not substitute its own view, but asks whether the decision, and the procedure behind it, fell within the range a reasonable employer might adopt. A flawed investigation or a predetermined outcome can make even a substantively justified dismissal unfair.
Finally, consider reduction. Even where a dismissal is procedurally unfair, compensation may be reduced under the Polkey principle, from Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd [1987] UKHL 8, if a fair procedure would have led to dismissal anyway, or shortly afterwards. Contributory fault can reduce it further. Strong answers address Polkey expressly rather than assuming unfairness means full compensation.
Wrongful dismissal: the contract claim students confuse with unfair dismissal
Wrongful dismissal is different in kind. It is a common law breach of contract claim: was the employee dismissed in breach of contract, usually without the notice they were entitled to, or after a contractual disciplinary procedure was not followed? There is no qualifying period, no need to show a fair reason, and no reasonableness test. The question is purely contractual — what did the contract promise, and was it broken?
Damages are generally limited to the notice period, subject to the duty to mitigate, and the employee cannot usually recover for the manner of dismissal itself. The claim can be brought in the tribunal subject to a financial cap, or in the civil courts where no such cap applies. In problem questions, run the two claims under parallel sub-headings. Markers frequently set facts where one succeeds and the other fails: a dismissal can be wrongful but fair, or fair in reason yet wrongful because too little notice was given.
Equality Act 2010: discrimination, adjustments and proof
Start with the protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 — age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation — then identify the specific prohibited conduct. The Act does not prohibit unfairness at large.
Direct discrimination under section 13 is less favourable treatment because of a protected characteristic, judged against an actual or hypothetical comparator whose circumstances are not materially different. Conscious hostility is not required, and direct discrimination generally cannot be justified, save for limited exceptions such as age. Indirect discrimination under section 19 is different: an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice puts people sharing a characteristic at a particular disadvantage, and the employer must show it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Always name that provision, criterion or practice precisely.
For disability, also consider discrimination arising from disability under section 15 and the duty to make reasonable adjustments under sections 20 and 21, which can require more favourable treatment. Ask what the employer knew, or ought reasonably to have known, about the disability.
Finally, address the burden of proof under section 136. The claimant must first establish facts from which discrimination could be inferred; only then does the burden shift to the respondent to prove a non-discriminatory explanation. Harassment and victimisation are separate forms of prohibited conduct. Students who also study people management will find overlap with our human resource management assignment help, but the legal test, not HR best practice, must drive a law answer.
TUPE: what happens when the business changes hands
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 protect employees where there is a relevant transfer — a business transfer in which an economic entity retains its identity, or a service provision change such as outsourcing or a change of contractor. If TUPE applies, employees assigned to the organised grouping transfer automatically on their existing terms, and dismissals connected with the transfer are automatically unfair unless there is an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce.
In assignments, work through the grouping, who is assigned to it, and the effect on terms. Changes to terms because of the transfer itself are generally void, and both sides have information and consultation duties, with protective awards for failure to comply. TUPE is often hidden inside a dismissal scenario, so always ask whether a transfer has happened in the background.
Tribunal procedure, time limits and remedies
Tribunal claims are subject to short time limits — in most cases three months minus one day from the act complained of — and ACAS early conciliation is a required preliminary step before most claims can proceed. Tribunals can extend time, but the test differs by claim: for unfair dismissal, whether it was reasonably practicable to claim in time; for discrimination, whether an extension would be just and equitable. Do not treat those tests as interchangeable.
On remedies, reinstatement and re-engagement are available for unfair dismissal but ordered in only a small minority of cases; compensation is the usual outcome. Unfair dismissal compensation comprises a basic award, calculated like a redundancy payment, and a compensatory award for financial loss, subject to a statutory cap in ordinary cases and to mitigation, Polkey and contributory fault. Discrimination compensation is uncapped and includes financial loss plus injury to feelings, assessed in bands — lower, middle and upper — according to seriousness, from one-off acts to lengthy or egregious campaigns, with exceptional cases above the top band. In coursework, place your facts in a band and explain why, rather than asserting a figure.
How to answer an employment law problem question
Use IRAC for each separate issue, not once for the whole question: Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion. Identify the issue in a sentence, state the rule with a pinpoint reference — a section of the Act or a paragraph of the judgment — apply it to the facts given, and conclude with a degree of confidence that reflects any factual gaps. If a fact you need is missing, say what would change the advice. That is what a real adviser does, and markers reward it.
Use OSCOLA throughout: give cases in full at first mention with the neutral citation where available, provide pinpoints for propositions, and footnote statutes by section. Keep quotations short and always follow them with your own application. Quoted judgment with no link to the scenario earns little, however accurate it is.
How our support works, fees and responsible use
The way we work is kept deliberately simple. You send us the question, your module materials and any lecturer guidance. We match the brief to a writer with employment law expertise, agree the issues and authorities with you, and draft a fully referenced model answer that follows your scenario issue by issue. The reasoning is shown, not hidden, so you can see why a case is used and use the draft to shape your own submission.
Fees are transparent: rates start from £20 per 1,000 words, depending on level, deadline and length. You can check the breakdown and request a free, no-obligation quote on our pricing page before committing. If you would rather talk through a brief first, get in touch via our contact us page.
A note on responsible use. Our work is study support and a model for learning. It is not legal advice, it does not create a solicitor-client relationship, and it should not be submitted unchanged as your own work. Use it to understand the method and improve your drafting, in line with your university’s academic integrity rules. Employment law changes through new legislation and appellate decisions, so check your sources are current.
Employment law assignment questions
What is the difference between unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal?
Unfair dismissal is a statutory claim under the Employment Rights Act 1996 that tests the reason for dismissal and whether the employer acted reasonably, and it usually requires a qualifying period. Wrongful dismissal is a contract claim that tests only whether the employer breached the contract, usually over notice, with no qualifying period and no reasonableness test. Many questions require both, because one can succeed where the other fails.
Why does employment status matter so much in coursework?
Because status is the gateway to rights. Only employees can claim ordinary unfair dismissal, workers have core protections such as holiday pay and the minimum wage, and the genuinely self-employed have far fewer rights. Autoclenz and Uber show that tribunals look at the reality of the relationship, not just the contract label.
How is indirect discrimination different from direct discrimination?
Direct discrimination is less favourable treatment because of a protected characteristic, judged against a comparator, and it generally cannot be justified. Indirect discrimination arises where a neutral provision, criterion or practice disadvantages a protected group; it can be defended if the employer shows it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
What does a Polkey reduction actually do?
It reduces compensation after a finding of unfair dismissal where the tribunal concludes that, even with a fair procedure, the employee would have been dismissed anyway or shortly afterwards. It does not change the finding of unfairness; it changes what the employee recovers.
Can you help if my question covers both dismissal and discrimination?
Yes. Combined scenarios are common, because the same dismissal may raise unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and discrimination claims with different tests, time limits and remedies. We structure that kind of brief issue by issue and show how the remedies interact, so you can follow the analysis and adapt the method to your own writing.