The employment relationship is two-way and both you and your employees have various obligations towards each other but equally you both have certain rights. This article looks at some of the key rights and responsibilities you should be aware of.
What are an employer’s basic responsibilities to their employees that I must comply with?
Scroll through the carousel images below to view the basic conditions of employment.
What rights do employees have to time off?
Employees have a range of rights to time off work.
Reason for leave | Entitlement |
---|---|
Holiday | 28 days paid annual leave per person per year. May include public holidays if contract states clearly. |
Carrying out public duties | Employees must provide time off for employees to carry out their public duties. This may include but is not limited to being a school governor, local counsellor, or trade union member. Click here for details from acas.org.uk. |
Court service | Employees must be allowed time off for jury service or if they are a justice of the peace or magistrate or a member of any statutory tribunal. You can ask for a delay to the jury service but you must be able to prove that it will harm your business for your employee to attend at a particular time. |
Military training and service | Employees that work for th reserve forces must be allowed time off for training and military service. |
Maternity, paternity and adoption | This includes maternity, paternity and adoption leave. Statutory maternity leave is 52 weeks. There is also an entitlement to time off to arrange care for children. There is now an option for shared parental leave rather than the woman taking all 52 week maternity. |
Time of for dependents | Employees are also entitled to unpaid time off to care for dependents. This is to deal with emergencies. |
Am I within my rights to refuse an employee their leave?
You cannot refuse leave which the employee is entitled by law. It is possible to ask to defer your employees jury service if their absence would be detrimental to the business.
You may reject an annual leave request if the dates of their leave will have a negative impact on the business, but you must ensure that your employee is able to take their leave at an alternative time.
You need to ensure you have very clearly set out annual leave policies so employees understand the grounds on which the leave may be rejected and the process for applying ad approving leave applications.
What rights do employees have to a pay increase?
There is no legal entitlement to a pay increase – what matters here is what you have set out as the terms and conditions in their contract.
If there is a commitment to awarding a pay increase each year then this must be adhered to. If there is not commitment to an actual increase in the contract, then none need be given if the business is unable to do so.
Do I have the right to change an employees working hours?
It depends what your contract states. If the hours of work are governed by the contract, then you cannot make changes to terms and conditions without prior consultation with your employee. Depending on the significance and the nature of the change it may be considered a fundamental change to terms and conditions in which case you may need to consider whether it would be appropriate to offer redundancy as an alternative. For example, if a job is going from full time to part time, or if the change in hours will result in a change in salary.
Ultimately it’s always good practice to have an initial consultation in the first place.
Do employees have the right to paid time off on bank holidays?
There is no legal requirement to provide pay for public holidays.
The 28 days paid leave entitlement set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998 may include the public holidays if you wish to.
If this is the case you must ensure your contract clearly sets out that this is the entitlement. Some companies chose to pay staff extra for working bank holidays but there is no legal requirement to do so.
The pay rate for bank holidays will be determined by the terms of your contractual agreement with the employee not by statute.
Quiz: Which of these do you think are employee rights protected by legislation?
Reasonable adjustments if disabled
Correct: 
Under the Equality Act 2010 you must make adjustments to enable your employee to do their job. But the emphasis is on the word ‘reasonable’.
Incorrect: 
Under the Equality Act 2010 you must make adjustments to enable your employee to do their job. But the emphasis is on the word ‘reasonable’.
Time off for a bereavement
Correct: 
There is no legal entitlement to time off for bereavement or funerals. This may be covered in a company policy for time off. It is common to give one or two days for an immediate family member. Often this is down to managers discretion.
Incorrect: 
There is no legal entitlement to time off for bereavement or funerals. This may be covered in a company policy for time off. It is common to give one or two days for an immediate family member. Often this is down to managers discretion.
Time off for adoption
Correct: 
Employees are entitled to 52 weeks adoption leave.
Incorrect: 
Employees are entitled to 52 weeks adoption leave.
Reference of employment
Correct: 
There is no legal requirement to provide a written reference for your employee, however, you may be accused of discrimination or damaging their reputation by refusing to do so.
Incorrect: 
There is no legal requirement to provide a written reference for your employee, however, you may be accused of discrimination or damaging their reputation by refusing to do so.
Regular tea or smoking breaks
Correct: 
Your employee is entitled to regular rest breaks - 11 consecutive hours between the end of one working day and the next, at least 24 hours rest between working weeks. There are some exceptions for jobs in security and healthcare.
Incorrect: 
Your employee is entitled to regular rest breaks - 11 consecutive hours between the end of one working day and the next, at least 24 hours rest between working weeks. There are some exceptions for jobs in security and healthcare.
Notice of termination of employment
Correct: 
You may have specific notice periods in the contract but there are statutory minimums. An employee with less than 2 years is entitled to one week’s notice. Employees with more than 2 years but less than 12 is entitled to one week for each year of service. Employees with over 12 years are entitled to 12 weeks’ notice maximum.
Incorrect: 
You may have specific notice periods in the contract but there are statutory minimums. An employee with less than 2 years is entitled to one week’s notice. Employees with more than 2 years but less than 12 is entitled to one week for each year of service. Employees with over 12 years are entitled to 12 weeks’ notice maximum.
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