Employment Rights
Employment law & workers' rights
These days, there is an enormous volume of legislation giving special rights and protections to employees in the UK. These employment rights are designed to ensure that all workers are treated equally, fairly and lawfully. It is important to be aware of your basic employment rights so that if something should go wrong at work, you know whether you are legally entitled to have the matter resolved.
Statutory protection for employees
The main statutory protection for employees is as follows :-
The National Minimum Wage
The current rate for the national minimum wage is £6.08 per hour, and this now applies to home workers as well.
The young workers' (18 - 21 year olds) current rate is £4.98 per hour (from October 2010).
In addition, a new rate for 16 and 17 year olds was introduced in October 2004. This is now £3.68 per hour (please note that apprentices are exempt from the new young workers’ rate).
The Working Time Regulations
The Working Time Regulations came into force in the UK in October 1998.
The Regulations have introduced some new fundamental rights for workers, which are summarised here. As with all legislation, there are exceptions and anomalies, and the details contained here are only a rough guideline. The particular areas of likely interest are:
- the maximum 48-hour week
- compulsory rest breaks
- paid annual leave
The Maximum 48-Hour Week
Under employment law, an employer cannot compel an employee to work more than 48 hours per week over a 17 week period, unless the worker has agreed to this in writing. Such an agreement can only be reached on an individual basis, and cannot be considered the default for any particular position or industry. "Working time" is defined as when a worker is "working, at his employer's disposal and carrying out his activities or duties" - all three elements must be present. If the employer insists upon the employee working more than the average 48 hours, the employee can complain to an Employment Tribunal and, if upheld, can claim unfair dismissal.
Compulsory Rest Breaks
Adult workers are entitled to 24 hours off in each 7 day period and young workers (15-18) are entitled to 2 days in 7.
In addition, adult workers are entitled to at least 20 minutes uninterrupted rest if their working day is longer than 6 hours, and they must have at least another 11 consecutive hours in each period of 24 hours worked. Young workers are entitled to 30 minutes rest if their working day is over 4.5 hours long, and no less than 12 consecutive hours rest in each 24 hour period.
Paid Annual Leave
All workers are entitled to paid holiday from the day they start work, at the rate of 1/12 of their annual entitlement per month worked.
From April 2009, all workers are entitled to 28 days paid leave annually (up from the previous 20 days).
It should be noted that there is no legal right for employees to be given Bank and Public Holidays. Therefore, where a worker is paid for these days, they will count towards their annual leave entitlement.
For more information see www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10029788
For more information on employment rights see our pages on:
Know your employment rights
It was not long ago that employees had no specific employment rights which were enforceable against their employers, save for those rights which were set out in the employment contract.
All about employment contracts
When someone is offered a job and he accepts that job, he enters into a contract of employment with his employer. The employment contract contains all of the terms which both the employer and the employee are required to observe during the course of the employment, and is legally binding.
Employment legal aid for the legally needy
Legal aid is the term given to funding which the government provides to people on low and intermediate incomes in order to enable them to take advice from a solicitor, and to take court action to enforce their legal rights.