Ten Employment Tips Everyone Should Know

1. Employment contracts

Employers are obliged to give an employee a written statement of certain particulars of their employment within the statutory period after work commences. The statement should cover:

• The full names of both employer and employee, and the address of the employer
• The place of work, or a statement that the employee may work in various places
• The job title and the nature of the work
• The date the contract of employment commenced
• For a temporary contract, the expected duration; for a fixed-term contract, the expiry date
• The rate or method of calculating remuneration, and the intervals at which it will be paid
• Terms relating to hours of work, including overtime
• Terms relating to paid leave, other than paid sick leave
• Terms relating to sick leave, or payment due to incapacity resulting from injury
• Details of pensions or pension schemes
• The period of notice the employee must give and is entitled to receive, whether by statute or contract
• Reference to any collective agreements directly affecting the employee's terms and conditions

Many difficulties would be avoided if employers took the time to get this statement right: it heads off later arguments about what the contract actually contains. Any subsequent change must be confirmed in writing with the employee. We recommend a carefully drafted contract, but at the very minimum a statement covering the above should be in place.

2. Equality

The Employment Equality Acts prohibit discrimination on nine grounds: gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race (colour, nationality or ethnic or national origin), and membership of the Traveller community. The prohibition covers access to employment, conditions of employment, training or experience, promotion, and the re-grading or classification of posts.

3. Working time

The main provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 are a maximum average net working week of 48 hours, a daily rest break of 11 consecutive hours, rest breaks while at work, a weekly rest break of 24 consecutive hours, and a maximum average of 8 hours' night working, with an absolute limit of 8 hours in any 24-hour period where night work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain.

The 48-hour maximum can be averaged according to a number of rules, generally over a four-month period, or over six months for work that is seasonal in nature. Employees can also enter a collective agreement with their employer approved by the Labour Court. There are other exceptions, and employers should familiarise themselves with them.

4. Family friendly rights

A range of rights fall under this heading, including maternity leave, parental leave, force majeure leave, adoptive leave and carer's leave. Maternity rights and parental leave are the two employers tend to be most familiar with. Under the Maternity Protection Act 1994 an employee has a general right to return to work, and a similar general right to return to the position they held before maternity leave.

5. Holidays

Holiday pay is earned against time worked. All employees, whether full-time, part-time, temporary or casual, earn holiday entitlements from the time work commences. An employee is entitled to four working weeks in a leave year in which they work at least 1,365 hours. In respect of each public holiday an employee is entitled to a paid day off on the holiday, a paid day off within a month, an extra day's annual leave, or an extra day's pay.

6. Dignity at work and bullying

Every employer must take measures to ensure employees are not subjected to verbal or physical bullying or harassment, whether from managers, co-workers, customers or suppliers. Case law has extended this to out-of-work activities. Claims arising from stress caused by bullying are increasing. Complaints must be dealt with seriously and in a way that does not add to what the employee is already experiencing, and every employer should have a properly drawn-up policy on bullying in the workplace.

7. Transfer of undertakings

A transfer of undertaking occurs where a business, or part of a business, is taken over by another employer as a result of a merger or transfer. The new employer is legally obliged to take on the existing staff of the business concerned. The employee is entitled to terms no less favourable than those they enjoyed immediately before the transfer, and accrued service is deemed to have been with the new employer. A breach gives rise to legal claims, potentially including unfair dismissal.

8. Varying terms and conditions

Employers should be careful about altering the terms and conditions of employment: doing so can amount to a breach of contract. A contract of employment should be changed by negotiated agreement wherever possible. This is a complex area, and the risk is that an employer unilaterally alters the contract and is then faced with a dismissal claim.

9. Unfair dismissal

Unfair dismissals law rests on two fundamental principles: substantial grounds must exist to justify terminating a contract of employment, and fair procedures must be followed in effecting the termination. Employees with the required period of continuous service who have not reached the normal retirement age are covered. Where notice is given, it must specify the date of termination, or be given in such a way that the date is ascertainable.

Every employer should have a carefully constructed contract of employment together with an office manual setting out the mechanisms to be followed where an employee is dismissed. This is an extremely contentious area, and one to handle with great care.

10. Redundancy

A dismissal is not unfair if it resulted wholly or mainly from redundancy. Redundancy is therefore a defence to a claim of unfair dismissal, provided the employee has been fairly selected. Strict adherence to the definition of redundancy is required if an employer is to rely on it.