Employment Law Obligations

Employment Law Obligations

Employment law obligations in summary

Below is a very quick summary of the main points of employment law. This section is intended for headline reading only and is obviously not intended to be a complete or authoritative guide to employment law obligations.

Introduction

Employers must….

…pay employees at least the national minimum wage, £5.73 per hour for workers 22+, £4.77 for 18 – 21 year olds, £3.53 for 16 & 17 year olds.  (Correct as at 1st October 2008 next due for review 1st October 2009.

…deduct tax and national insurance in accordance with Revenue & Customs requirements.

…pay statutory sick pay for eligible employees & keep minimum records.

…provide an itemised pay statement and pay employees in full and at agreed frequencies.

…provide 4.8 weeks paid holidays for all workers, equating to 24 days for a ‘full time’ worker (working 5 days per week).

(NB from April 2009, paid holiday entitlement will increase to 5.6 weeks, equivalent to 28 days for a full time worker.)

…provide written particulars of employment to all employees (including temporary) who have more than 4 weeks continuous service.

…pay men and women equally for equal work.

…pay 5 days ‘guarantee payments’ to employees in a 3 month period when work cannot be provided.

…not engage in or permit direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of sex, race, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic grouping, religious creed or belief, disability, or for any other reason that may be deemed to be unlawful.  Discrimination could occur in recruitment as well as employment, and in some cases after employment has ended. 

…not directly or indirectly engage in or permit victimisation, sexual harassment or other harassment or bullying.  In some cases, employers are also liable for the actions of their employees who engage in these activities, even when the employer is unaware of their employee’s actions.

…not treat part time or fixed term workers less favourably than their full time equivalents.

…provide 2 weeks paid paternity leave to qualifying employees.

…provide 52 weeks maternity LEAVE to female employees.  

…provide 39 weeks maternity PAY to qualifying female employees (who have earned at least on average the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit prior to commencing maternity leave). The first 6 weeks of maternity pay must be paid at 90% of normal earnings, the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of the current statutory maternity rate (SMP) or 90% of normal earnings. 

…provide 39 weeks adoption LEAVE to a qualifying male or female employee (in each case the employee must have 26 weeks service with you as at the week of adoption matching), plus a further 13 weeks additional leave unpaid. The first 6 weeks of adoption pay must be paid at 90% of normal earnings, the remainder at the lower of the current statutory adoption rate (SAP) or 90% of normal earnings. 

…provide 13 weeks unpaid parental leave (18 weeks for a disabled child) for each child up to 5 years old (18 if disabled, i.e. in receipt of a disability living allowance) to qualifying employees.

…consider requests from qualifying employees (parents of children under 6, increasing to encompass parents of children under 16 from April 09 and certain carers of adults) to work flexibly according to the statutory process.

…consider requests from women returning from maternity leave to work flexibly.

…allow reasonable time off work for parents to attend to family emergencies where no alternative person is available to attend to the problem, and where time off is limited to that necessary to put alternative arrangements on place.

…allow workers to be accompanied by a fellow employee, or trade union official during certain meetings e.g. disciplinary hearings, grievance hearings, hearings organised in accordance with flexible retirement or flexible working requests.

…keep personal data and records in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, including allowing employees reasonable access to inspect any information relating to them held by their employer.

…provide reasonable time off work (and sometimes payment) for employees who undertake certain public and trade union duties, or to care for dependants under certain circumstances.

…ensure that Working Time regulations are adhered to, including ensuring employees do not work more than 48 hours per week on average over a 17 week period (unless a ‘waiver’ has been signed) and daily and weekly rest periods are provided.  There are special provisions for the treatment of night workers, young workers and children.

…not employ children of under 13 years of age, and only employ children over 13 and under 16 for certain hours and jobs.

…comply with minimum statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedures when contemplating formal disciplinary action or dismissal, namely:

  • STEP 1 – invite employee to a hearing stating the reason(s) giving rise to the hearing, the basis for the reason(s) and the right of accompaniment
  • STEP 2 – Summarise the outcome of the hearing and the right of appeal
  • STEP 3 – Confirm the outcome of the appeal hearing

...comply with minimum statutory grievance procedures when receiving a grievance from an employee, namely:

  • STEP 1 – employee puts grievance in writing stating the grievance and the basis for it, employer invites employee to a meeting under the GP stating the right of accompaniment
  • STEP 2 – employer confirms the outcome of the formal grievance hearing and the right of appeal
  • STEP 3 – Confirm the outcome of the appeal hearing

(NB, the statutory procedures will be replaced by a code of practice from April 09, this section and our disciplinary and grievance procedures will be updated at that time)

…ensure employees are familiar with statutory disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures and are clear on who is authorised to dismiss them, who they should write to appeal against disciplinary or dismissal action against them and to whom they should address a grievance. Refer to these in contracts of employment or in statements of written particulars.

…write to employees at least 6 months and no more than 12 months prior to their planned retirement date and give them the opportunity to request to continue working for a fixed period or indefinitely beyond their planned retirement date.

…provide for a hearing and if necessary an appeal hearing (at which the employee may be accompanied by a fellow employee) to discuss and consider an employee’s request to retire later than their planned retirement date or to work indefinitely beyond it.

…not set a Company compulsory retirement age at less than 65 years of age unless a retirement age of less than 65 can be objectively justified.  Objective justification is difficult to prove. 

…for employers with 5+ employees):  Offer a stakeholder pension scheme. (This requirement, widely ignored, is likely to be replaced by the introduction of personal pension accounts)

…follow established consultation procedures when carrying redundancies, collective consultation of at least 30 days where 20+ redundancies are planned, 90 days where 100+ are planned.

…provide a healthy and safe working environment.