Your contract
Your contract of employment is the agreement that you and your employer
enter into under which you have certain mutual obligations. If you don’t
have one before you begin a job, a contract comes into existence as soon
as you start work and, by doing so, prove that you accept the job on the
terms and conditions offered by the employer. Both you and your employer
are bound by the terms offered and accepted.
Your contract doesn’t have to be written down, unless it is a contract of apprenticeship: its terms can be written, oral, implied or a combination
of all three.
Implied terms include:
-
matters that are too obvious to be expressly agreed, for example, that
as an employee you must accept reasonable instructions from your employer;
-
things that are necessary to make the contract workable;
-
things that are established by custom and practice in your organisation
or industry.
Written statement of employment particulars
In this country, contracts are often verbally agreed rather than written
down. If you are employed for one month or more, you are entitled by law
to a written statement that sets out the main details of your employment.
It is your right entitled to receive this within two months of starting
a new job. This statement won’t necessarily cover every aspect of your
contract, but can provide important evidence of the principal terms and
conditions.
Your written statement must include the following information:
- your name and that of your employer;
- the date your employment began;
- your wages salary and the intervals at which you are to be paid;
- your hours of work;
- your holiday entitlement;
- your sick leave entitlement, including any entitlement to sick pay;
- pensions and pension schemes;
- the entitlement of you and your employer to notice of termination;
- your title of job or a brief job description;
- where it is not permanent, the period for which your employment is expected
to continue or, if it is for a fixed term, the date when it is to end;
- your place of work or, if you are required or allowed to work in more than
one location, an indication of this and of the employer’s address; and
- details of the existence of any relevant collective agreements which directly
affect the terms and conditions of your employment – including, where the
employer is not a party, the persons by whom they were made.
If you are normally employed in the UK but will be required to work abroad
for the same employer for a period of more than one month, the statement
must also cover:
- the period for which your employment abroad is to last;
- the currency in which you are to be paid;
- any additional pay or benefits; and
- terms relating to your return to the UK.
If there is no information to be given for one or more of these items,
for example, if you have no pension entitlement, your written statement
must say so.
The statement must also include details of your employer’s disciplinary
and grievance procedures, and state whether or not a pensions contracting-out
certificate is in force for the employment in question.
If there is a dispute and you don’t have a written contract, a court
or tribunal will decide what the actual terms of your contract are by looking
at all the other documents and evidence. These include:
- your written statement of employment particulars;
- your offer letter, if you were sent one. These letters often contain important
information about your terms if you accept the job;
- agreements between your employer and any trade union representing the workforce;
- any terms stated in an advertisement for the job;
- your employer’s works’ rules and staff handbook, including rules placed
on the staff noticeboard by your employer;
- spoken agreements between your employer and all or individual employees.
Changes to your contract
Neither you nor your employer can change (or vary) the terms and conditions
of your contract without the agreement of one another, though the contract
itself may include provisions which allow your employer to make changes.
For example, if you are required to move to a different place of work or
undertake a different type of work and the change is covered by a provision
in your contract, then the change will be lawful.
A change in the terms of your contract, or variation, can be made by
mutual agreement, and it is always open to both you and your employer to
seek to renegotiate the terms and conditions with each other. Your contract
can also be changed by collective agreement, if it, either expressly or
by implication, allows for this. A collective agreement is one between
an employer (or an association representing employers) and a trade union
representing employees. Your contract can be changed by a collective agreement
even if you are not a member of a trade union and your written statement
of employment particulars must list any collective agreements that directly
affect your terms and conditions.
If a there is a change to your contract which affects any of the terms
and conditions that must, by law, be stated in your written statement of
employment particulars, you are entitled to written notification of the
change as soon as possible, and not more than a month after the variation.
If you object to a change in your contract but continue to work under
the new terms and conditions without making your objections known to your
employer, after a time you could be deemed to have accepted it by implication
and the change then becomes part of your contract.
If you refuse to accept a variation
If your employer wishes to change the terms and conditions of employment
and, once consulted, you object to the variation, your employer may decide
to dismiss you, thereby terminating your contract. As usual in the event
of dismissal, you must be given the appropriate statutory or contractual
notice, or pay in lieu of notice, and any other related contractual obligations
have to be fulfilled. Your employer would then be free to offer the job
on different terms and conditions either to you or to another applicant.
Once dismissed, if you considered the employer’s actions to have been
unfair you are entitled to make a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment
tribunal – providing you had at least one year’s continuous service with
the employer. Such complaints must normally be made within three months
of the date the employment ended. A tribunal would consider all the circumstances
of the case in deciding whether or not the dismissal was in fact unfair.
These would include the employer’s reasons for wishing to vary the terms
and conditions and your reasons for opposing the variation.
If your employer attempts simply to impose a variation of contract on
you without your agreement, this will be a breach of contract. You may
have various means of redress available in law, in a county or other civil
court, or at an employment tribunal.
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