CONTRACTS OF EMPLOYMENT

FEATURES OF A CONTRACT

Under The Employment Rights Act (1996) employers must employees who have been working for more than one month, a written statement of their rights and conditions of employment.

The contract should be issued within two months of the employee starting their job.

The Contract of Employment Act (1972) states that contracts should have the following things:

The name and address of the employer and the employee

The job title and date employment started

The hours of work

The rate of pay, when payment is and dates of any increases

Holiday entitlement

Conditions regarding sickness benefit

Details relating to pension schemes

Explanation of disciplinary and grievance procedures

Period of notice that must be given or received

TYPES OF CONTRACTS

TEMPORARY

This is a contract that does not last forever, although no date is specified when employment will end.

Commonly used as a trial period for new employees before gaining a permanent contract.

PERMANENT

This contract is “everlasting” or “endless”.

These contracts have no end date – the job is safe and secure.

FIXED-TERM

These are similar to temporary contracts. The difference is that there is an end date stated on the contract.

Also a fixed-term contract could be used for one-off tasks and when that task is complete the contract ends

FULL-TIME

In the UK employees who work on average 41 hours a week will have a full-time contract

PART-TIME

Less than full-time, ie less that an average of 41 hours will be given a part-time contract.

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION WORKING HOURS

The Working Time Directive (1998) gives all employees the right to:-

4 weeks’ annual paid leave 11 consecutive hours’ rest in any 24 hour period A 20-minute break after working 6 hours A limit of am average 48 hours’ a week A limit of an average of 8 hours’ a day

PERIOD OF NOTICE

The minimum notice periods are:-

After 4 weeks of unbroken service – at least 1 week

For 2 years unbroken service – at least 2 weeks

For each further full year of service – 1 additional week, up to a maximum of 12.

REDUNDANCY

Employees can be made redundant in the following circumstances:-

Business is closing down Business is moving Insufficient work available

Employers must consult with Trade Unions over any proposed redundancies.

Under the Employment Rights Act (1996) employers must give a redundancy payment which is related to age, length of service and weekly wage.

Employees who do not have unbroken service of 2 years or 5 years part-time are not entitled to a payment. Employees under 20 or at retirement age do not get payment either.

Redundancy pay is approximately one week’s wage for every year worked.

UNFAIR DISMISSAL

The Employment Relations Bill (1999) states that employees who have worked for an employer for more than one year have the right not to be unfairly dismissed.

If employee is dismissed because of lack of ability, qualifications, misconduct or lack of demand for products, this is FAIR DISMISSAL

If an employee thinks they have been unfairly dismissed they can appeal to an industrial tribunal.

If the industrial tribunal finds that an employee has been unfairly dismissed then they can order:-

The employee to be given back the same job The employee given another job Compensation to be paid to the employee