Your employment rights
Whilst you have statutory protection affording you rights in respect of employment related matters such as:
- maternity leave;
- parental leave;
- time off to care for dependants; and
- a right not to be discriminated against on the basis of your sex, race, religion or disability;
The relationship between you and your employer is primarily dictated by your employment contract. These contractual rights not only detail a level of entitlement due to you but will also allow you an avenue of redress should your employment standards fall short of what you are contractually entitled to.
Whilst the format of employment contracts may differ from employer to employer and, indeed, between professions there are many principle professions to be addressed.
You should check that you, and your employer, are correctly referred to as only the parties to a contract can enforce its provisions.
A brief description of the work expected to be undertaken by the employee should be set out. This can assist a determination of whether a specific role has been made redundant. In addition, preventing a wide job description would be sensible as it would reduce the risk of you having to take on work of differing disciplines that you had not been employed to do.
Some degree of mobility may be required, however, if for example you lived and worked in Birmingham it may not be acceptable to you to be suddenly transferred to your company's Scottish office indefinitely.
It would be advisable to suggest the insertion of a periodical review date so that you are not faced with the awkward situation of having to approach your employer for a justifiable raise. It may also be appropriate to address issues of bonuses, overtime, profit related pay and perhaps most importantly method and date of payment.
Normal working hours should be stated as both redundancy payments and other statutory rights are calculated with reference to "normal working hours". It should be noted that all terms and conditions relating to working hours are now subject to the Working Time Regulations which enforce a maximum 48 hour working week.
Holiday entitlement is a matter of private agreement between an employee and employer, or at minimum is governed by the working time regulations. There may be an accrual system depending on length of service which may need to be inserted.
Any specific benefits contracted by an employer to an employee concerning incapacity due to sickness must be honoured.
There may be an entitlement for you to join the company's contributory pension scheme, however, there may be conditions concerning eligibility i.e length of service which should be set out.
The length of notice an employer must give (normally) depends on the length of time the employee has been continuously employed:
- 1 month to 2 years service equals 1 week's notice
- 2 years to 12 years service equals 1 week's notice for each complete year
- more than 12 years service equals 12 week's notice
If a longer period of notice has been agreed in the employee's contract, then the longer period applies.
This is important for unfair dismissal purposes as employers can be criticised for not following a known complaints procedure when a grievance is raised by an employee.
If no retirement age is stated and employees retire at a variety of ages the statutory alternative of 65 will apply.
One of the most important implied duties in a contract is the duty of trust and confidence. Your employer may seek to specifically address requirements of this duty, for example by asking you not to disclose the employer's trade secrets or other confidential information without the employer's permission.
Your employment may include ancillary rights such as a right to the use of a company car which may include mileage stipulations and petrol allowances.
Whilst the above list is by no means exhaustive you should take the time to read the contract of employment offered to you and question any clause which you are either not happy with or do not fully understand. Unfair dismissal legislation gives you as the employee a chance to pursue an employer for not following correct procedures, however, if those procedures are not known to you, you may not be aware of your rights. A conclusive employment contract will also give you the ability to make a claim for breach of contract against an employer who does not honour your contractual rights.
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