The following is a summary of the main employment rights which may affect your business and its employees.
| Right of the employee | Qualifying length of service (if applicable) |
|---|---|
| To work on average no more than 48 hours per week (40 hours if under 18 years), with minimum rest periods and breaks | – |
| To protection from being required to work on Sundays | – |
| To receive the National Minimum Wage (including the National Living Wage if eligible) | – |
| To receive itemised pay statements | – |
| Not to receive unlawful deductions from pay | – |
| To receive pay during suspension on medical grounds | – |
| To receive equal pay | – |
| To receive statutory paid holiday of at least 28 days (equivalent to 5.6 weeks per annum and pro rated for part time workers) | – |
| To receive pay and holiday pay safeguards in cases of employer’s insolvency | – |
| Pregnant employees: to take reasonable paid time off for ante-natal appointments and to take 52 weeks’ Statutory Maternity Leave | – |
| Employees in a qualifying relationship: to take (unpaid) time off to accompany a pregnant woman to up to two ante-natal appointments of up to 6.5 hours each | – |
| Emergency time off (unpaid) to care for a dependent | – |
| To receive (unpaid) time off for public duties | – |
| To receive time off for duties as an officially recognised trade union representative | – |
| To receive time off to perform the duties of a safety representative | – |
| To reasonable paid time off to act as occupational pension trustee or employee representative | – |
| To receive paid time off to study, if aged 16 or 17 and has not attained a certain standard of education | – |
| To reasonable paid time off and training as an employee representative under the Information and Consultation legislation | – |
| To a safe system of work (health and safety policy, information and training, first aid facilities and risk assessments) | – |
| Not to be discriminated against due to a protected characteristic | – |
| If a part-time worker, to be treated no less favourably than comparable full-timers | – |
| If on a fixed-term contract, to be treated no less favourably overall than comparable employees on open-ended contracts | – |
| To be accompanied during formal disciplinary and grievance meetings by a fellow worker or TU rep (this does not include investigatory meetings) | – |
| Not to be dismissed for bringing a health and safety complaint | – |
| Not to be dismissed for membership (or not) of a trade union | – |
| Not to be dismissed for activities as an employee representative, or as a candidate for election, for purposes of statutory consultation over redundancies or business transfers or European Works Councils | – |
| Not to be dismissed because of pregnancy or childbirth | – |
| Not to be dismissed for refusing to undertake work in a shop or betting agency on Sundays (this does not apply to those employed to work only on Sundays) | – |
| Not to be dismissed for being a trustee of an occupational pension scheme and performing, or proposing to perform, any of the trustees’ functions | – |
| Not to be dismissed for qualifying for working families tax credit or disabled persons tax credit, or seeking to enforce a right to them | – |
| Not to be dismissed for taking or seeking to take parental leave or time off for dependents | – |
| Not to be dismissed or subjected to a detriment for making disclosures of wrongdoing to the employer (“whistle-blowing”) | – |
| Not to be dismissed as a direct result of a business transfer. To automatically transfer to a new employer upon business transfer on same terms and conditions with continuous service (with certain exceptions including the right to maintain membership of current pension scheme, although transferees have the right to access a broadly similar scheme) | – |
| Not to be unfairly dismissed due to the employee’s political affiliation or opinions | – |
| Not to be unfairly dismissed due to being a member of the reserve forces (or for a reason related to this) | – |
| Right to belong (or not to belong) to a trade union; to take time off to take part in trade union activities/duties; not to be excluded or expelled from a trade union other than for a permitted reason; not to be unjustifiably disciplined by a trade union; not to be refused employment or the service of an employment agency because of membership or non-membership of a trade union; not to suffer unauthorised or excessive deductions from trade union subscriptions; not to have political fund deductions made from trade union subscriptions if the member objects to this or has a certificate of exemption | – |
| Statutory Sick Pay | Subject to meeting eligibility criteria |
| Period of notice of termination of employment | One week after four weeks’ continuous service, increasing after two years to one week for each complete year of service to a maximum of twelve weeks |
| To receive guarantee payments | One month |
| Written Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment | On or before the person’s first day |
| Right to request flexible working | Day 1 of employment, 2 requests in a 12 month period |
| Right to request time off (unpaid) to train (provided that the employer has 250 or more employees) | Six months |
| Statutory Maternity Pay | 26 weeks as at 15 weeks before expected date of childbirth (“EWC”) |
| Statutory Paternity Leave and Pay | 26 weeks as at 15 weeks before expected date of childbirth |
| Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay | 26 weeks as at the week of notification of being matched with the child |
| Shared Parental Leave and Pay | Birth: 26 weeks as at 15 weeks before expected date of childbirth/ Adoption: 26 weeks as at the week of notification of being matched with the child |
| Parental leave | One year |
| Not to be unfairly dismissed | Two years, including statutory notice whether worked or not |
| Written reasons provided for dismissal | Two years, including statutory notice whether worked or not |
| Statutory Redundancy Pay | Two years as at date statutory notice would expire |
| Time off to look for work in a redundancy situation | Two years |
| Carer’s Leave | Day 1 of employment |
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