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Employment Law

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Employment Law Unit 2: People in Business

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Meeting the terms of the contract

A contract of employment is a legally binding agreement between an employer and employee. Employees should be issued with a contract within eight weeks of starting a job.

When an employee signs a contract of employment they are expected to abide by its terms. These include:

implied terms – terms which are not written down but are taken to be agreed, usually because they are obvious – e.g. the employee agrees to be honest.

express terms – terms which are expressly stated in the contract of employment – e.g. the employee agreesto start work at a particular time.

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Employee rights and payment

All employees have the right to be paid a wage or salary in accordance with the details of their contract of employment.

Under the law, all permanent employees also have a right to:

a minimum of twenty days’ paid holiday a year paid sick leave redundancy pay (for two or more years’ service).

Employees are, by law, entitled to receive an itemized payslip to accompany each payment of their wages. This sets out each element of their pay, including the gross pay and net pay, and any deductions, including tax.

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The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 aims to protectemployees with disabilities from discrimination in recruitment,training, promotion and dismissal.

modifications to premises such as improving accessaltering the disabled person’s work hoursgiving the disabled person trainingproviding support workers.

Under the Act, employers must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their workplace to allow a disabled person to work there. These include:

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The Race Relations Act

The Race Relations Act 1976 makes it illegal for an employee to be discriminated against on the grounds of their race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin.

Employees are protected against all forms of direct and indirect discrimination at all stages of the employment process, including recruitment, training, promotion and dismissal.

If an employee feels they have been discriminated against on racial grounds, they can take their case to an employment tribunal. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) provides advice and guidance to help deal with disputes.

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The Sex Discrimination Act

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 makes it illegal for one employee to be treated less favourably than another because of their gender or marital status.

Can you think of any cases where it might be acceptable for an employer to discriminate on

the grounds of a person’s gender?

The Act applies to all areas of employment,and direct and indirect discrimination.Direct discrimination would include a jobadvert for a secretary which requests females only. Indirect discrimination is where one gender is not excluded outright,but faces conditions they might find it difficult to comply with, e.g. a job advertasking for only short-haired people to apply.

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The Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act 1970 states that men and women must receive the same pay for work of equal, or equivalent, value.

An employer can only provide differentpay and benefits if they can prove that the difference is genuinely due to a reason other than one related to sex, such as longer service with the companyor better qualifications.

Male or female employees who feel theyhave received unequal pay because oftheir gender can seek advice from the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). The EOC aims to eliminatediscrimination on the grounds of sex.

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Equal opportunities and the law

There are a number of laws in place which provide protection against discrimination in the workplace, and help to ensure that all employees are treated equally, regardless of their gender, race, disability or age.

These laws include:The Equal Pay Act

The Sex Discrimination Act

The Race Relation Act

The Disability Discrimination Act

Employment Equality (Age) Regulations.

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Employee rights and data protection

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives all employees the right to view any personal information their employer has on fileabout them. Under the Act, companies can only hold sensitive information about someone – such as their ethnic origin – with the individual’s permission, and must not pass on personal data to other parties without their employee’s consent.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for enforcing data protection in the workplace. An employee can complain to the ICO if their employer has denied them access to information, or if they feel personal data about themhas been misused.

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• These next two slides are European Acts

• Minimum Wage

• Working Time Directive

• Human Rights – you can research this one.

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Employee rights and payment

The National Minimum Wage is set by the government and states the minimum amount that all employees aged sixteen and over must be paid per hour. Employers who do not pay the minimum amount can face fines of up to £200.

Adults (22 and over):

Young workers (18-21):

Workers aged 16-17:

Different rates of minimum wages apply to employees of different ages. Do you know what the current national minimum wage is for adults (aged 22 and over), young workers (aged 18-21) and workers aged 16-17?

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Employee rights and working hours

The Working Time Regulations Act 1998 restricts the number of hours most employees can work in the UK.

Unless they sign a written agreementto do so, employees do not have towork more than 48 hours a week.

Under the Working Time Regulations Act, employees are also entitled to:

a break of at least 20 minutes for a six-hour working day eleven hours off between each working day (12 if under 18)one day off per week (two if aged under 18)twenty days of paid holiday per year.

Can you think of any jobs that the Working Time Regulations Act might not apply to?