Whilst employees cannot make a claim to an Employment Tribunal until they have worked for two years they do have a host of rights from "Day One". Here is a review:- Rights When You Apply For A Job
- Not be discriminated against in a job selection process on the grounds of your sex (including pregnancy/maternity status), race (including nationality), disability, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief (including lack thereof), or being transgender.
Rights From Your First Day At Work
- A written statement of particulars showing how much you earn and any deductions that will be made from your pay. (Some or all of the information required to be set out in a written statement of particulars may be contained in a contract of employment, rather than in a separate document).
- Payment of at least the minimum wage.
- An itemised pay slip.
- No deductions (with some exceptions such as for tax) made from your pay unless your employer has the contractual power to make the deductions and you have agreed to them in advance.
- Paid holiday.
- If you are paying National Insurance contributions (applies to anyone earning over £112 per week (from April 2015 to 2016)), you can claim Statutory Sick Pay after you have been off sick for 4 days in a row.
- Equal pay with members of the opposite sex doing the same job, a similar job, or a job of equal value to you.
- 52 weeks maternity leave, even if you were pregnant when you started the job.
- Paid paternity leave.
- Unpaid leave to deal with unexpected emergencies involving family members or people who rely on you for their care.
- Time off for study leave.
- Although you need 2 years service before you are able to claim general unfair dismissal, you can already complain about dismissal on certain grounds (e.g. dismissal for whistleblowing, or on the basis of a protected characteristic such as your race or trade union activities).
Rights After A Month
- One weeks notice of dismissal (or more, if your contract entitles you to longer notice).
- Paid wages if you are laid off (this is where your employer has asked you to work for at least a day less per week than usual).
Rights After Two Years' Service
- Claim unfair dismissal in the employment tribunal.
- Statutory redundancy pay if you are dismissed due to redundancy. The amount of redundancy pay due depends on your age, your pay and your length of service.
- You have a right, on request, to written reasons for your dismissal. If you were dismissed because of pregnancy, maternity or childbirth, you have this right from day one of your employment, whether or not you make a request.
For more information contact Mark Serby at Wake Smith Solicitors [email protected]
