LPC Law Notes Employment Law Notes
A collection of the best LPC Employment notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (a former Oxford law graduate) could find in 2014 after combing through seventeen LPC samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of Employment Law notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is full...
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Employment Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
LPC
EMPLOYMENT LAW AND PRACTICE
REVISION NOTES – Employment Status /Employment Contract
- ELECTIVE 2016 -
Employment status
Employee = S230(1) ERA 1996 - an individual who ... works under ... a contract of employment
How do we assess employee status?
How is the individual paid?
Who pays tax and National Insurance?
Who provides the tools and equipment?
How integral to the business is the individual’s role?
Is the individual paid for sickness and holiday?
Is the individual subject to the disciplinary and grievance policy?
Is the individual a member of a company pension scheme?
Where does the economic risk lie?
How did the parties view the relationship at the outset?
How was the arrangement terminable?
Employment contracts
Section 230(2) - a contract of service ... whether express or implied, and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing
Mutual obligations - employee to work and the employer to pay for that work
Written contracts - must have clauses for: duration, duties/mobility, qualifications, remuneration/illness/holidays, pensions, confidentiality, inventions/discovery, restrictive covenants
Express and implied terms
Express terms
S1 ERA 1996 - employers must give their employees a written statement of the main terms of their contract within 2 months of commencing.
Must contain:
Parties;
Commencement date;
Salary and pay day/frequency;
Hours;
Terms relating to (i) holidays/holiday pay; (ii) sickness/sick pay; (iii) pensions;
Notice period (and/or fixed term expiry);
Job title and/or job description;
Place/s of work;
Provisions for working outside UK;
Disciplinary/dismissal rules/grievance procedures;
A statement of terms and conditions is not a contract, but instead confirms the main express terms of the employment contract - not definitive of entire contract, but it does provide an evidential basis of the most important terms.
Must state job title or brief description to comply with s1
s1(3) and s1(4) minimum contractual requirements = pay; job description; hours of work; place of work; relocation; holiday; pension; sickness provisions; notice period; disciplinary; grievance procedures; confidentiality
Both sides agree the terms - may be written or oral, but it is sensible to put them in writing can be unlimited or fixed term and can be full or part time
Terms may be express/implied
courts will sometimes imply terms into a contract
E.g. mutual trust and confidence - When breached, it may entitle either side to terminate. If the employer breaches = employee (with 2yrs continuous employment) may resign and claim constructive unfair dismissal.
Implied terms
Statutory - National minimum wages, working time regulations, equality
Common law -employee/employer
Employer = duty to pay wages and provide work, duty to indemnify employees, duty to take reasonable care of safety/working conditions, duty of mutual trust/confidence, duty to take reasonable care in giving references, duty to notify on termination without notice, duty to hive reasonable notice
Employee = duty to give personal service, duty to obey reasonable orders, duty of reasonable care and indemnity, duty of fidelity/good faith, secret profit, competition, conflict interest/duty, trade secrets/confidential info
Minimum rights of employment
Statutory minimum notice - s86(1)
Period of continuous employment | |
---|---|
1 month to 2 years | 1 week |
2 years to 12 years | 1 week for each year (max. 12) |
12 years plus | 12 weeks |
Protection of wages - Pt II of the ERA 1996
protects an employee if an employer fails to pay the wages due under the contract, and
prevents an employer from making deductions from an employee’s wages unless they are authorised
For claims presented after 1 July 2015, there is a maximum of 2 years’ deductions that can be claimed
National minimum wage / national living wage
April 2016 | |
---|---|
25 and over | 7.20 |
21 to 24 | 6.70 |
18 to 20 | 5.30 |
Under 18 | 3.87 |
Apprentice | 3.30 |
Working hours - Working Time Regulations 1998
set out maximum weekly working hours
provide for certain minimum rights to have breaks and paid annual leave
Post-1/7/15 a maximum of 2 years’ back pay
Maximum working week | 48 hrs per week |
---|---|
Daily break | 20 mins every 6hrs |
Daily rest | 11 hrs every 24 hrs |
Weekly rest | 24 hrs every 7 days |
Paid annual leave | 5.6 wks every 52 wks |
Restraint of trade
Protect an employer’s business after the employee has left.
They may be expressly included in a contract - must be reasonable in time and area and necessary to protect the employer’s business interests
Prima facie – unenforceable as a matter of public policy
Burden of proof on the employer to show they are compliant (balance of probabilities)
Enforceable if:
Legitimate business interests
Trade connections/goodwill (employer must show breach would cause actual/potential harm to business)
Trade secrets / highly confidential info (that if disclosed to a competitor, would be liable to cause real or significant damage to the owner of the secret which the owner had tried to limit dissemination of(Lansing Linde v Kerr))
Employers’ interest in maintaining stable and trained workforce (only enforceable as...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Employment Law Notes.
A collection of the best LPC Employment notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (a former Oxford law graduate) could find in 2014 after combing through seventeen LPC samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of Employment Law notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is full...
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