UK employment law is there to protect and gives both the employee and employer rights and entitlements to various issues in the workplace in the UK.
Your rights at work depend on 2 sections :-
Your contract of employment rights are in addition to the rights you have by law. For example, if in your contract you are allowed 2 weeks holiday, paid holiday per year then this would be voided in this part of your contract as full time staff are legally entitled to 28 days' paid holiday per year. The statutory right you have is the law so this is what is used instead.
If your contract of employment gives you more rights than the statutory rights then this is where your contract will apply.
There are special rules about employing young people and children.
Statutory Rights are the law as they have been passed by Parliament.
Most employees have certain rights by law, irrespective of how many hours they work. There are some employees who will not be entitled to some statutory rights. You may have had to work for a certain amount of time before being entitled to some of the statutory rights. You must be an employee. You can not be freelance or agency staff. This being said, most employees do have a few rights which include, but not total, minimum wage, health and safety rights, paid holiday entitlement and maximum working hours.
In UK employment law a contract of employment is an agreement made between the employer and the worker. This could be a contract in writing or verbally between them.
Every employee is eligible for a written statement which must outline the terms of employment. It must include sections for, wages, job title, contracted working hours, holiday and sick pay entitlement.
Full time workers are allowed by law 5.6 weeks paid per year at the minimum. For part time workers, the entitlement is worked out on a pro rata basis. You are also entitled to bank holiday pay. If you work the bank holiday days, then you are entitled to an addition 8 days on top of the 20 days set by UK employment law.
Most workers have the legal right to a certain period of notice if their employer ceases employment with them. Some employees will have extra rights to notice from in their contract.
If you have a problem with your employer, then your first point of contact should be to raise the issue with the employer. It should be set out in writing and explaining in full your complaint. Most of the time the court require you to do this first before raising the complaint to go to a tribunal.
In some case’s Falconers Law can avoid unnecessary employment tribunal claims as we can reach a settlement agreement, then if you can’t come to an agreement you will need to seek advice for the employment tribunal, you can also appeal to the employment appeal tribunal.
