Practice Questions on Passage Completion for CLAT 2020

Under a zero-hour contract, a party described as a ‘casual worker’ has a contract with an employer, but the contract may be of little benefit as its provisions do not …1…any obligation upon the employer to offer work, and similarly, there is no obligation for the worker to accept it. A ‘casual worker’ is the correct term to define workers who do not have  …2…hours of work but instead supply services on an irregular, flexible basis when the employer needs them. A ‘worker’ is not, therefore, an ’employee’. This is an important distinction, as employees enjoy significantly better protection under the law.

Although workers do have basic rights, for example, the right to a national minimum…3…, the right not to be unlawfully discriminated against and the right to sick pay, but they are denied other important rights. For example, casual workers do not have the same rights when it comes to issues such as maternity or paternity pay, redundancy pay in the event that there is not enough work available and the right not to be unfairly …4.. . These contracts are very unpopular with trade unions, who argue that employers are using this type of contract as a way of denying workers the benefits which they would otherwise be entitled to under current employment legislations

As a result of public criticism, the Eurona government held an independent review to analyse the use of these contracts. In June 2016, Eurona Business Secretary, Zoro, concluded that zero-hour contracts were not to be declared unlawful, as he considered that many groups of people benefited from them. However, he did change the law in order to prevent employers from banning casual workers from working elsewhere when bound by a zero-hour contract. This is not the end of the story, however. The use of zero-hour contracts is extremely popular in the food and retail..5.. of the Eurona economy.

For example, McDonald’s and Burger King have recently disclosed that they use this type of contract for over 80% of their workers in the Eurona and another high-street giant, Sports Direct, has admitted that 90% of its workers are under this type of contract. However, the latter faced a legal challenge in November 2016 when Tera Phera filed a claim against the company in a Eurona Employment Tribunal. Tera Phera that although she was contracted as a casual for Sports Direct, she had the same responsibility and duties as an employee but without receiving benefits of an employee. An agreement was reached according to which Sports Direct is now required at the time of advertising for future zero-hours staff to expressly state that the role does not guarantee work. The company must also produce clear written policies setting out what sick pay and paid holiday their zero-hours staff are entitled to.

Ans. a

Rationale: obligations are always imposed and not forced or compelled. Thus option a, is the answer.

Ans. a

Rationale: the hours of work are always fixed or unfixed. Thus option a, is the answer.

Ans. b

Rationale: temporary workers are paid according to the minimum wage system. Thus option b is the answer.

Ans. a

Rationale: the workers are ‘dismissed’ off the jobs and not discharged; the job gets terminated. Thus option a, is the answer.

Ans. c

Rationale: word ‘sector’ is used with retail, in order to define the work done in the retail market. Thus option c is the answer

The ..(1).. of power in India took place rather abruptly and the British handed over the… (2)…. of the country to the Indian National Congress. The National Congress was certainly a …(3)… body and in those days could effectively speak for the people of India, but it was not an elected body. Further, there was no ….(4).. Constitution for free India. In the absence of this, independent India, from A.D. 1947 till its emergence as a sovereign Republic with a Constitution of its own, was legally a dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

The Indian Constituent Assembly met as early as the ninth of December 1946, before Independence was …(5)… granted. The assembly appointed a number of committees to report on the various aspects of the proposed Constitution and after prolonged discussions, the Indian Constitution was finalized with 395 articles and Eight Schedules and was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on the twenty-sixth of November, 1949. The Indian Republic was officially born on the twenty-sixth of January, 1950.

Ans. a

Rationale: the power is always transferred from one to another. Thus option a, is the answer.

Ans. b

Rationale: Britishers handed over the administration to India, as other things given as options were not passed from Britishers to India, they originated in India only. Thus option b is the answer

Ans. c

Rationale: the sentence talks about integrity and effectiveness of the Indian National Congress. Thus option c is the answer

Ans. c

Rationale: at the time of independence India had no proper Constitution, other options do not fit in the meaning of the sentence. Thus option c is the answer.

Ans. d

Rationale: independence was granted to India on 15th August 1947, before that when the constituent assembly met in December 1946 independence was not declared but people started working for the country’s administrative purposes. Thus option d is the answer.