Duration and Transfer of Employment
Continuous Employment
Working out the length of an employee's service isn't always straightforward but is often important. There are detailed Regulations which provide for breaks in employment to be bridged in certain circumstances. It should also be noted that periods of part-time employment, irrespective of the number of hours worked per week, will count in working out the length of employment. Many of the statutory employment protection rights, such as the right to claim a redundancy payment and compensation for unfair dismissal, apply only to employees who have built up sufficient continuous employment. Also the calculation of a redundancy payment and of the basic award in unfair dismissal proceedings is based on the employee's length of continuous service.
Transfer of Undertakings
Far-reaching rules for the protection of employees' rights and the transfer of an undertaking are contained in the Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) Regulations of 2006. The Regulations apply where an "undertaking" is "transferred" from company A to company B. An undertaking could be anything from a whole business to, in some cases, a single employee.
Individuals who are employed by company A "immediately before the transfer" automatically become the employees of company B from the time of the transfer on the terms and conditions they previously held with company A. In addition company B inherits company A's rights and (perhaps more importantly) liabilities in relation to those individuals. The regulations also impose important obligations on the employer of employees affected by the transfer to provide information to, and consult with, representatives of the employees. This is a particularly complex area and warning bells should ring whenever any part, or indeed the whole of a business, changes hands.
Terms and Conditions
Every employer is required to give each employee a written statement of particulars of certain terms of his or her employment contract not later than two months after the beginning of the employee's employment. Whilst salary and benefits are mostly for agreement between employer or employee, it should be noted that employers must now comply with the National Minimum Wage.
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