What You Need To Know About British Employment Law

Are you well informed about British employment law? If you are running a company, then ignorance could be costly. It's important to know both what you owe to your employees and what they owe to you. UK employment law is changing all the time, with laws to cover many aspects of employment, work and health and safety. It's not always easy to know what to do in each situation, so here's an overview of some of the major pieces of legislation you should be aware of.

Pay is a key issue for most employees, especially those at the lower end of the pay scale. Since the advent of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, which followed the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, there are minimum thresholds for what you can pay your workers. At the moment, most workers over 21 receive £5.52 an hour, but there are some exceptions, and younger workers receive a lower rate.

Employees also want to know about time off. We may love our jobs, but we still want to be able to plan our holidays. Under British employment law, as set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998 (amended 2003), workers have to work a maximum average of 48 hours a week over a period of several weeks. There are also provisions for holiday entitlement and rest periods while working.

Maternity Rights

British employment law also has a number of regulations which govern the rights of parents (including new parents and adoptive parents). These laws cover the right to take parental leave, maternity leave, paternity leave and adoption leave, as well how much they will be paid and when they must return to work. Some of the laws to know about are:

•  Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999
•  Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (General) Regulations 2002
•  Flexible Working (Eligibility, Complaints & Remedies) Regulations 2002

It's also important for employers to be aware of British employment law relating to workplace discrimination. Have a look at the following laws:

•  Disability Discrimination Act
•  Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
•  Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
•  Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
•  Equal Pay Act 1970
•  Gender Recognition Act 2004
•  Race Relations Act 1976
•  Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Under these laws, employers may not discriminate, either during recruitment or employment, against people because of age, disability, gender, race, religious belief or sexuality.

Deminos are HR Outsourcing and employment law specialists. To find out more please call us on 020 7870 1090 or visit http://www.deminos.co.uk