Employment Law

AY2020/2021 Semester 2

Employment Law is critical to managing human capital. This course focuses on the employment law in Singapore as a foundation for an understanding of the employment relationship and its incidents. The course examines how the law determines the employment relationship from a contract for service (associated with independent contractors) as the cornerstone of the employment relationship. The rights and obligations of the parties are examined not only at the contractual level, but also from the wider perspective of the common law, statutory framework (where applicable) and other sources of law which impinge on the employment relationship. The course also examines how and when the employment relationship comes to an end - by proper termination, summary dismissal, frustration, threat of harm, etc and highlights claims for wrongful and unfair dismissal, and other remedies available to both the employer and the employee. Besides a sound working grasp of the basic legal principles, the course is also intended to provide perspectives, theoretical and practical, from which to critically assess the possible solutions and the law's responses to vital problems commonly encountered both in Singapore and abroad. Selected topics are given a comparative international treatment.