Employees’ Rights

Employers cannot treat their employees in any way they like. There

are dozens of laws protecting employees` rights. If employers break these

laws they can be taken before an industrial tribunal, which can award the

employee thousands of pounds’ compensation.

Some of the things an employer must do are:

· Provide employees with a written statement of employment within

two months of starting work, unless they will be employed for less than

a month. The statement should include:

– the employer’s name

– the employee’s name

– the date employment began

– the amount of pay and the intervals between payments

– hours of work

– holiday entitlement

– sick-leave arrangements

– pension arrangements

– length of notice for ending employment

– job title or brief description

– if not a permanent job, the period for which employment expected

to last

– the place of work

– details of disciplinary and grievance procedures

Provide an itemized pay statement showing gross and net pay, statu-

tory deductions for income tax and national insurance, and any pension

contributions and voluntary deductions.

Give men and women equal pay if they are doing the same work or

work of equal value. Give Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to an employee who

has been off sick for four or more days in a row for up to 28 weeks.

Give guarantee payments of up to Ј14.10 a day to employees who are laid

off through shortage of work, for up to five days in a three-month period.

Give women 14 weeks’ unpaid maternity leave regardless of length

of employment or hours of work. Give women who have worked for the

business for two years Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) of 90 per cent

of their weekly earnings for the first six weeks and, at the time of writ-

ing, Ј52.50 a week for the remaining 12 weeks. These payments must be

made even if the woman is not returning to her job. Provide a written

statement of reasons for dismissal. Employees are entitled to receive at

least one week’s notice (or pay instead) after one month’s employment

and a maximum of 12 weeks’ pay for 12 years of employment or more.

Give redundancy pay to employees with at least two years’ service. This

ranges, according to age, from half a week’s to one and a half weeks’ pay

for each year of employment, up to a maximum of 20 years. Observe

the Health and Safety Regulations of 1993, based on a European Union

(EU) law, which makes it compulsory for employers to treat health and

safety as seriously as any other aspect of their business by assessing risk

and taking suitable action. The regulations include most of the provi-

sions of the Health and Safety Act of 1974.

· Give part-time workers the same employment rights as full-time

workers.

· Treat disabled workers no less favourably than other workers under

the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. This applies only to business-

es employing 20 people or more.

An employer must not:

· Discriminate against employees because of their race (see Unit 74).

· Make deductions from pay, except in a few cases allowed by law or

by a contract of employment or when an employee has given written con

sent, e.g. for trade union subscriptions or National Savings.

· Stop an employee from joining a trade union or dismiss an em-

ployee for belonging to a union.

· Stop an employee taking time off for public duties, e.g. as a magis-

trate or as a member of a local council.

· Employ children under 13 years of age, except in some family busi-

nesses.

· Dismiss a woman because she is pregnant.

· Dismiss an employee for refusing to work on Sundays.

· Dismiss an employee unfairly.

The main reasons for which an employer can dismiss an employee are:

· misconduct

· inability to do the job

· redundancy, if the employee’s labour is no longer needed.

If the dismissal was for misconduct, the employee must know that

he or she was committing an offence, and a warning has to be given so

that the employee has a chance to put a case, or to put right his or her

behaviour. If it was for inability to do the job, it must be shown that ad-

equate training and supervision were provided and that a more suitable

job was offered instead. If it was for redundancy, the employer needs to

show that he or she gave as much notice as possible and that the method

of selection was fair.

Unit 6