Employment Law

The foundation stone of the workplace is the employment contract. The terms of the contract can come from a number of distinct sources, for example, statute, industry rules and standards, and the company’s own rules. The Employment Rights Act 1996 places a duty on employers to issue written terms and conditions to employees within eight weeks of taking up employment. The ERA lists the minimum contents and these include the names of the parties, the date the contract came into being, terms related to job title, wages and hours of function.

There is nothing to stop employers including extra terms of their own. When we are preparing documents for clients we usually ask about issues like dress code. This does not seem in the ERA’s list of contents, but we always particularly think about it. You wouldn’t think how contentious it can be! Many workers grumble about their ‘human rights’ are becoming breached since you ask them to wear enterprise clothing instead of allowing shorts. Nonsense! Provided that your requirement isn’t unlawful, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting your standards out clearly and acquiring employees to sign up to it.

Many employers, particularly smaller ones, don’t truly realize the importance and value of having a truly good, robust set of terms. They set out the rights and responsibilities of both parties and are invaluable in helping an employer manage his company effectively. Nevertheless good the very first lots of terms are, they will date fairly swiftly. Life changes so swiftly these days that it’s sensible to assessment them every single three years or so. It may possibly nicely be that when you last revised your terms of employment we weren’t facing the Facebook menace. How clear are you as an employer about your rights to access an employee’s emails if he is absent from work and can you use your CCTV footage in a discipline investigation? And if you don’t particularly reserve the proper to do so, relying on CCTV footage to dismiss an employee may possibly invade his privacy, be in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 and make the dismissal unfair. It’s a tricky business.

If you require aid putting your terms of employment together, give us a call. Russell HR Consulting provides expert information in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For far more info, visit our site at www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk or call a member of the team on 0845 644 8955.

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Russell HR Consulting offers HR services to businesses nationwide, which includes Buckinghamshire (covering Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Banbury, Northampton, Towcester and surrounding locations), Nottinghamshire (covering Chesterfield, Mansfield, Nottingham, Sheffield, Worksop and surrounding locations) and Hampshire (covering Aldershot, Basingstoke, Reading, Farnborough, Fareham, Portsmouth, Southampton and surrounding areas).