AC2.2 Distinguish between official and unofficial employee action

Topic: Recognizing the criteria that classify employee actions as official or unofficial.

Guideline:

In this question, learners are being asked to distinguish between official and unofficial employee actions. Learners should distinguish between business decisions recognised by the business organisation (business) and non-judgmental (wrong rules). It is important for learners to encourage discussion of examples of commercial disputes and analysis of laws. When working with legal professionals, understanding legal and organisational processes is important and understanding can be developed through examples and materials. Non-compliance involves conflicts that are not recognised by the union and require analysis of motivation and consequences. Additionally, when citing laws, learners must be sure to mention relevant laws. They are required to address the following areas:

1. Discuss official employee action.
2. Discuss unofficial employee action.
3. Differentiate between official and unofficial employee action.
4. Examples of both official and unofficial employee action.
5. References.

Official Employee Action:

Learners are supposed to define what official actions are. They can explain how official actions are normally conducted for example trade disputes and are normally sanctioned by a trade union. Additionally, they can what official actions are involved. They can discuss the balloting

requirements and the protection by relevant legislation in official actions.

Unofficial Employee Action:

Learners are required to define what unofficial actions are and the criteria they normally take. They can discuss how these actions are conducted. For example, lack of authorisation from the trade union, spontaneously, and a lack of legal protection for the employees involved in the action.

Differences between official and unofficial employee action.

• Learners are required to discuss the differences between the official and unofficial actions. For example, they can discuss how official actions follow legal actions whereas unofficial ones do not.
• Learners should understand the difference and clearly articulate the difference between the legal and legal protections associated with official activities and the illegal nature of non-official activities
• Learners should also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both the official and unofficial actions.
• Additionally, learners are expected to outline the importance of official actions over unofficial actions and their impact on an organisation.

Examples:

Learners are required to give examples of both official and unofficial actions.

• An official employee action could be a strike organised by a labour union following legal procedures and with proper authorisation. An example of an official action is a strike or industrial action organised by a trade union, which is conducted by legal and procedural requirements.
• An unofficial action could involve a group of employees spontaneously walking out of their shifts in protest. An example of unofficial actions is a spontaneous work stoppage held without authorisation from the trade union.

References:

Learners are required to cite relevant sources such as CIPD, employment and labour laws or industrial relations publications to support their understanding of official and unofficial employee actions. Among the reliable sources that learners can use are:

Suff, R. (2023) Trade unions: an introduction. Available from https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/factsheets/trade-unions-factsheet/ 

CIPD, (2022) Trade union recognition and industrial action: UK employment law. Available from https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/employment-law/employee-relations/ 

Must Read:

5HR01 Employment Relationship Management

5HR01 Employment Relationship Management Assignment Guideline Task One