Articles Employment Law Complex Employment Laws - more every year

Complex Employment Laws

As every company owner knows, and the rest are about to find out, the UK has some very complex employment laws. If you are an employer then it is best to retain the services of a good employment law solicitor if you don't want to find yourself on the wrong side of that law.

When you employ people; you have legal responsibilities right from the beginning of the relationship and even before. You should take great care when you write an advertisement looking to employ people. Anti-discriminatory laws say that you cannot pick and choose when it comes to religion, race, gender or sexual orientation, you should also not discriminate on grounds of age or the fact that a woman has children.

Once you have decided to employ someone and have provided them with a contract then the next step is to find out about the laws governing tax and insurance. You will have to register before you can start taking tax and insurance payments from your employees' wages. When employees are on company premises then under the law you are responsible for their health and safety. While there are guidelines regarding health and safety at work it is largely up to you to decide what is safe and what is not.

Contracts, work permit and holidays

If you are employing somebody then it is up to you to find out whether or not they need a work permit before they can start. When you own a company then you need to be aware that there are rules governing who you can employ and in what capacity - it is your responsibility as the employer to find out whether any of your staff need a work permit in order that they can work.

You should provide your employees with contracts that state the amount they will be paid, how long they have to work, whether they will get breaks and what holiday entitlement they should have. Under UK law you are also bound to pay your employees at least the Government minimum wage.

You should provide your employees with company information such as whether they close on bank holidays and what the policies and procedures are for settling grievances and finding out about sick pay and pensions etc.
 
There are rules governing sickness and there are rules governing what is a dis-missable offence and what constitutes unfair dismissal. You need to know the what constitutes unfair dismissal because if you are accused of it you could be taken to a tribunal and ordered to pay substantial compensation to your ex employee. These are just some of the UK's complex employment laws.

Deminos are HR Outsourcing and employment law specialists. To find out more please call us on 0191 460 1111 or visit http://www.deminos.co.uk

 

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