Essay
Business Level 3 Unit 24 Assignment 1
- Module
- Unit 24 - Employment Law
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
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Amy Louisa RileyEmployment contracts and the written statement of employment particulars
PART 1
Contract of employment
A contract of employment is a written legally binding agreement between an employer and an
employee. The contract gives both parties certain rights and obligations. The terms of the contract can
be expressed and implied. Expressed terms include how much the employee will get paid, hours of work
including overtime hours, bonus pay, holiday pay, sick pay, and redundancy pay. Implied terms are more
general in nature and may include a duty of trust which the employee and the employer. For example, if
the employee lies and says they are sick to get time off work they will have broken an implied
contractual term of trust. There will be an implied term of a duty of care between the parties towards
each other and other employees e.g., for the employer to provide a safe working environment.
A contract of employment is different to a contract for service in a number of important ways. The
latter generally states that a service provider will perform defined duties for a business without actually
being an employee of that business (the hiring party). The service provider is usually and independent
contractor an example of this would be a self-employed individual or firm that offers services such as
office cleaning, childcare, or landscaping. Service contracts are usually provided on a temporary or
occasional basis often allowing either party to end the agreement at any time. In a contract of
employment, the individual is legally considered to be an employee of the employer and as such entitled
to employee benefits such as health insurance and covered by state programmes such as
unemployment benefits. This is as opposed to a service provider who is not entitled to employer
provided benefits and is usually responsible for their own taxes and insurance.
Written statement of employment particulars
Pursuant to section one of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) All employers must give their
employees and workers a written statement of particulars of employment which is a summary of the
main terms of their employment. It is not the employment contract but is legally much broader than the
written terms of their employment. The written statement is made up of the main document (the
principal statements) and a wider written statement. The principal statement must be provided to the
employee on the first day of their employment. The wider written statement must be provided within 2
months of employment. If any changes are made to the written statement, the employer must tell the
employee within one month of making the change.
Information the written statement and employment contract include
Section one of the ERA 1996 provide that the principal statement must include, but is not limited to,
the employer's name, the employees name, job title, or a description of work, start date, amount of pay
and when employee will be paid, hours of pay, holiday entitlement, place of work, relocation, how long
the job is expected to last, any probation periods and conditions, other benefits such as childcare
,vouchers and of obligatory training (and who is to pay for it). Examples of information in the wider
written statement must include pensions, collective agreements, rights to non-compulsory training given
by the employer, disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Scenarios
1. Section one of the ERA 1996 provides that saves some was obliged to provide Peter with the
written statement of employment particulars within two months of his start date on the 1 st
September 2020. He received the statement in the post on 30 th October 2020 and save some
therefore, complied with this requirement. However, the contents of that written statement
were clearly lacking and did not comply with the minimum requirements of what a statement
must contain as defined by section one of the acts. Specifically, it did not include the rate of pay,
pay intervals, notice requirements to be given by both parties, job title, agreed terms about
hours of work, holiday entitlement and pay, terms and conditions relating to sickness or injury,
provision for sick pay, or any term relating to pensions and pension schemes. If there is no
agreement on any of these matters, then the statement should say so. It should also specifically
state if peter is not entitled to any contractual sick pay. Peters' employment may or may not be
permanent so the statement should give the period of which it is expected to continue, or if it's
for a fixed term the date on which it is to end. It is not sufficient for save some to pin details of
sick pay and relevant procedures to a notice board in the staff room at work. The fact
that there are such details and procedures in existent they must be set out in the section one
statement.
2. The written confirmation clearly does not include all the necessary information required by
section one of the ERA 1996. A good example of this is the name of the employer is not given,
notice periods, job title, place of work, holiday and sick pay, terms relating to incapacity for work
due to sickness or injury, including provision for sick pay and terms relating to pensions and
pension schemes are not included. If scale and rate of pay and hours of work had been included
both Saif and his employer would have realized that he is earning below the minimum wage
which is clearly illegal under the terms of The National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The fact that
he has been working for two months means that his employer has now missed the statutory
deadline under the ERA 1996 section one to provide him with a written statement of
employment particulars including the further terms required by that act. With regard the
employer's requirement requiring Saif to work in Germany for one month, because the period is
not for more than one month it could be argued that they do not need to specify details such as
the currency in which he will be paid, any additional pay and benefits he will be entitled to, or
any terms and conditions on his return to the UK. However, because Saif was not provided with
details of the place of his work within the original written conformation received one week after
his interview it is clearly the case that his place of work is being changed unilaterally by his
employer. This is contrary to section one of the ERA 1996 which requires that any changes to the
written statement of employment particulars must be communicated by the employer to the
employee within one month of making the change.
, Provide advice to a business on the effects of non-compliance with the written statement of
employment particulars.
Under section 11 of the ERA 1996 where the employer does not give the employee a written
statement as required by section one of the act, either in part or at all, the employee can require a
reference to be made to an employment tribunal to determine what particulars ought to have been
included or referred to in a written statement so as to comply with that section of the act.
Before taking this course of action the employer and employee should really try to solve the problem
informally perhaps by a manager on behalf of the employer and the employee communicating directly if
the employee is still not satisfied however he may make a formal grievance complaint in writing. The
employer would then have to follow its written grievance procedure (assuming that it had one) which
tells the parties what to do and what happens at each stage of the process. There will usually be a
meeting to discuss the issue and the employee will be able to appeal the employer's decision if he does
not agree with it. There is also and Acas (advisory, conciliation and arbitration service) disciplinary
procedure which the party may agree to use. Alternatively, the employer and employee could use other
informal mediation procedures to resolve the issue.
Employment Rights and Their Impacts
The Employment Act 2002 (maternity pay/leave, paternity leave, unpaid parental leave)
The Employment Act 2002 makes revisions for statutory rights with regard to paternity and adoption
leave and pay and amended the existing law with regard to statutory maternity leave and pay. With
regard to maternity pay and leave the act introduced enhance maternity rights in the UK, providing that
any pregnant employee who's baby is due on or after 6 th April 2003 will benefit and maybe entitled to up
to a year off work with a right to return to their old job. Women will be entitled to 26 weeks paid
maternity leave, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer. However, any woman
who has worked continuously for 26 weeks for her employer (by the 15 th week before the week the
baby is due) will be able to have a further maximum of 26 weeks maternity leave unpaid. For example, if
a woman works continuously for her employer for 26 weeks, she will be entitled to a maximum of 52
weeks leave. At the same time the lower rate of Statutory Maternity Pay was increased from 75 pounds
to 100 pounds per week. The higher rate, payable for the first 6 weeks remains 90% of normal pay.
Employees may also apply for unpaid parental leave, but must have been employed by the employer
for at least one year, be the child’s aren't or have parental responsibility for that child e.g. agency
workers and contractor do not have the right to apply for parental leave. The employees' rights is to 18
weeks of unpaid leave for each child up to the age of 18. THIS RIGHT IS CONECTED TO THE CHILD AND
DOES NOT RESTART WHEN AN EMPLOYEE STARTS A NEW JOB e.g. if an employee took 8 weeks of
parental leave in their previous job, they only have 10 weeks remaining to take in their current or future
role. A maximum of 4 weeks leave per year can be taken in one- or two-week blocks. The employee
must give the employer at least 21 days clear notice of the intended start date and also tell the
employer when the leave will end.
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