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Guides: Employment Compliance

An Employer's Guide to Other Employment Compliance Issues

Employers' Guide Contents > Contracts of Employment

1. Contracts of Employment

Contracts of Employment (the ‘principal statement’)

All your staff, including part-timers, are entitled to be given a written    statement setting out the main terms and conditions of their employment. The minimum content is prescribed but essentially summarises the employment contract. They should be provided within 2 months of commencement. There is no requirement to involve a solicitor; we can draw those up for you if you wish. (Although invariably described as a ‘contract’, the absence of the principal statement does not mean that no employment contract exists – as with any other contract it can either be verbal or inferred from the behaviour of the parties.)

It must contain the names of the parties; a job title or description; the date the employment began; hours of work and pay rate; the location of the workplace; notice & holiday entitlements and if a fixed term contract, the date of expiry. And if relevant, sick pay & pension entitlements, disciplinary and grievance procedures and any collective bargaining agreements.

In the absence of such a statement, in the event of dispute, the benefit of the doubt will be automatically given to the employee.

Agency workers

Broadly, workers supplied by an agency (who is their employer) are entitled after a 12-week qualifying period to the same ‘basic working conditions’ as if they had been recruited directly into the workplace at which they are carrying out their duties.

The regulations are new (1st October 2011) and the extent to which the same conditions have to be provided to meet the (typically vague) requirement remains to be seen. Certainly, if a comparable ‘permanent’ employee is in place (a ‘comparator’) the wise employer will ensure the ‘temp’ is treated identically as regards basic pay, hours, holiday and sick pay etc. And of course they are equally fully protected by virtue of the anti-discrimination laws.

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Disclaimer

While we hope the above has been found to be useful it is intended only as a general guide, may not reflect the very latest developments in law, and cannot be a substitute for professional advice. We cannot accept any responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of material contained in this guide.