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Job title is a must
Page 70
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THE EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1918(1) by Les Oldridge, Tech Eng (CEI), MiMI. AMIRTE THIS ACT which came into operation in the main on . November 1, 1978, repeals completely the Contract of Employment Act 1972. Most of the Redundancy Payments Act 1965 is also repealed (four sections remain) and various other alterations are made to the Employment Protection Act and to other industrial relations law. Contract of Employment. Part 1 of the Act, which re-enacts the Contract of Employment Act, requires an employer to give an employee a written statement setting out the terms of his employment. This statement must be provided within the first 13 weeks of the employee being with the firm.
The statement must contain The names and addresses of the employer and the employee. E The date the employment began.
O The job title.
The scale of pay including any terms on overtime, bonuses or piece rates.
• .0 Intervals at which the employee is paid, eg weekly or monthly.
Details of hours.
0 Details concerning entitlement to holidays and holiday pay showing exactly how accrued holiday pay is calculated on the termination of his employment.
E Rules concerning incapacity for work due to sickness or injury including any provisions for sick pay.
Ei Details of pensions and pension schemes.
• The length of notice which the employee has to give and is entitled to receive to end his employment.
0 The procedure to be followed if an employee has a grievance, the person to whom an employee can apply if he has a grievance and the manner in which such an application must be made.
Instead of providing the full details as listed above the state ment may refer the employee to a document, which must be reasonably accessible to him, which contains the relevant information. Any changes in the terms of employment set out in the statement must be notified to the employee not later than one month after the change.
All employees of firms engaged in road transport are almost certain to be required to be given a statement; there are a few odd exceptions, but apart from the case of an employee who is the wife or husband of the employer none of these exceptions are likely to apply.
Right to itemised pay statement. Section 8 of the Act gives every employee the right to an itemised pay statement in writing showing the gross amount of wages or salary, the amount of any deducations and the net amount of wages or salary payable. Section 9 states that an employer need not give separate particulars of fixed de ductions with each pay statement provided he gives each employee details of the deductions and then renews the details in writing annually.
Where an employer does not give an employee an itemised pay statement or a written statement setting out the terms of his employment the employee may complain to an Industrial Tribunal.
Guaranteed payments. An employee who has been con
tinuously employed for four weeks is entitled to a "guarantee payment" if his employer is unable to provide him with his normal work or with alternative work which is suitable. He is not entitled to this payment if the shortage of work is due to a trade dispute involving his own firm or an associated employer or if he unreasonably refused alternative work. The amount of this payment must riot exceed £6.60 per day for up to five days per week.
Period of Notice. Section 49 of the Act lays down statutory periods of notice which have to be given by both the employer and the employee on termination of employment. The right to these periods of notice arise after four weeks' employment with a firm. The employee is required only to give his employer one week's notice, but employers have to give their workers a period of notice the length of which depends on the length of service they have with the company.
An employee is entitled to the following length of notice:
-(a) One week's notice is employed for a period between four weeks and two years.
(b) One week's notice for each year of continuous employment if his continuous employment is between two and .12 years, eg seven years' employment — seven weeks' notice.
(c) Twelve weeks' notice if the period of employment is 12 years or more.
This section does not forbid an employer or employee terminating his contract of employment without notice if the conduct of the other party justifies it. For example, it is possible to sack a man immediately if he is found stealing the firm's property. For reasons discussed in a later article it is probably not wise to take this action without considerable thought, althought the Act permits it.
Right to written notice of reason for dismissal. Section 53 states that an employee is entitled on request, to be given within 14 days, a written statement giving particulars of the reason for his dismissal. Although the Act only requires the statement to be given if the employee asks for it, it has been said that it is better to give this statement in all cases where a man is sacked.
Time off for union activities. An employer must give an employee who is an official of an independent trade union, recognised by him, paid time off to carry out his union duties or to undergo training in aspects of industrial relations which are relevant to his trade union duties and which are approved by the TUC or his union. Ordinary trade union .members who are not officials are entitled to time off without pay to enable them to take part in any appropriate trade union activities (Sections 27 and 28).
Employees who are made redundant, and who have two years' employment with the firm, are entitled to paid time off to look for employment or to make arrangements for training for future employment (Section 31).
Time off for council work etc. An employer must permit employees who are councillors, magistrates, tribunal members, school governors, etc, time off to attend to their duties. The amount of time off which is given must be "reasonable in all the circumstances" and in considering what is reasonable consideration must be given how much time off the employee has had in the past for these duties and how much for this trade union activities. Also to be taken into consideration are "the circumstances of the employer's business and the effect of the employee's absence on the running of that business' r (section 29).