Frequently Asked Questions
We often get asked questions by our clients so we thought it would be helpful to share the things we get asked most often. Drop us an email, if you have any further questions or you would like additional support.
What rights do employees have?
Employees have various rights including:
Protection against unlawful discrimination
The right not to be unfairly dismissed
Payment of Statutory Sick Pay
Maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave, parental bereavement leave and pay
Statutory redundancy pay
The National Minimum/Living Wage
Itemised payslips
Protection against unlawful deductions from wages
The statutory minimum level of paid holiday
The statutory minimum length of rest breaks
Receiving notice of termination of employment
Time off for family emergencies
To not work more than 48 hours on average per week (or to opt out)
A written particulars of employment (or employment contract) must be issued to employees either on or before their first day of employment.
Some of these rights apply from day one of employment (discrimination claims prior to employment e.g. in the recruitment process) and some after two years service.
What are the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010?
It is unlawful to discriminate (either directly or indirectly) and treat someone unfairly based on the following protected characteristics:
Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage or civil partnership
Pregnancy or maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation
What do employers need to give to employees when hiring?
A written particulars of employment (or employment contract) must be issued to employees either on or before their first day of employment. This is a legal obligation and must contain certain information which sets out the employee’s basic terms and conditions of employment. There are a number of clauses which you must include so it’s often wise to get professional advice.
In addition to a contract, it is also helpful for your new employee to have details regarding your pension scheme, code of conduct and values of the business, an employee handbook or culture guide and any equipment they might need in their role.
What are the Statutory payments for 2024/2025?
Statutory maternity pay (SMP):
First six weeks – 90 per cent of employee’s average weekly earnings. Remaining weeks at £184.03 or 90% per cent of earnings if lower.
Statutory adoption pay (SAP):
First six weeks – 90 per cent of employee’s average weekly earnings. Remaining weeks at £184.03 or 90% per cent of earnings if lower.
Statutory paternity pay (SPP):
£184.03 per week or 90% per cent of earnings if lower, for a maximum of 2 weeks.
Statutory shared parental leave pay:
£184.03 per week or 90% per cent of earnings if lower.
Statutory Parental Bereavement leave pay:
£184.03 per week or 90% per cent of earnings if lower.
What is the National Living Wage and the National Minimum wage?
Aged 21 and over: £11.44 an hour
Aged 18-20: £8.60 an hour
Aged 16-17: £6.40 an hour
Apprentice rate: £6.40 an hour
What are the fair reasons for dismissal?
There are only five fair reasons (Employment Rights Act 1996) for dismissal which are:
Conduct – when the employee has done something that's inappropriate or not acceptable
Capability – when the employee is not able to do the job. This also covers absence due to long term sickness.
Redundancy – when the job is no longer needed
Contravention of a statutory duty/restriction – when the employee cannot do their job legally, for example a driver who's banned from driving
Some other substantial reason' – a term used for a wide variety of other situations
Before dismissing an employee, you need to make sure that you:
have a potentially fair reason
are able to show that you acted reasonably in treating the reason as sufficient for dismissal
you followed a fair process
What employment policies do you need?
As a bare, legal minimum, every business should have a health & safety policy (if you have more than 5 employees) and a discipline/dismissal and grievance policy.
It is also good practice to have the following policies:
Equal opportunities
Equality and diversity
Bullying and harassment (or code of conduct)
Sickness and absence management
Family leave
Data protection
Social media
What are the rules on breaks?
An employee over the age of 18 has the right to an uninterrupted break of at least 20 minutes if they work more than 6 hours in a day.
They should take this break away from their workstation (for example, away from their desk) and not at the very start or end of the working day. The break is unpaid unless it says in the employment contract that it is paid.
For employees which are school leaving age and under 18, they are entitled to a 30-minute break if their working day is longer than 4.5 hours.
What is the legal holiday entitlement?
All employees are entitled to a statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks holiday which includes the 8 normal bank holidays. Part-time employees are also entitled to 5.6 weeks which is pro-rated to the amount of days which are worked.
Employees who start or leave part way through the holiday year will have their entitlement pro-rated. This also applies for employees on a fixed term contract. However, if you have employees who are on part-year contracts, they are also entitled to 5.6 weeks regardless of how many weeks they work.
For employees working the fixed hours which do not vary, their holiday pay will be based on their normal rate of pay. For those employees who have no fixed or regular hours or do variable hours (including lots of overtime), their holiday pay will be based on the average pay they got paid over the previous 52 weeks.