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Under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee has the right to be issued with a Statement of their Main Terms and Conditions of Employment, which must contain certain information about their employment, such as when their employment commenced and rate of pay amongst other things.
This Statement must be provided to an employee within 8 weeks of their starting employment with you. If you fail to provide this to them, they could bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal who could determine what they consider the terms and conditions of employment to be, and could make an award to the employee of 2 – 4 weeks pay.
Whilst the potential award of compensation is concerning for employers, what is more irksome is the fact that the Tribunal can determine what they consider the terms and conditions of employment to be, by considering the conduct of the parties.
Some employers think (wrongly) that by not having anything in writing, their employees do not have any rights. On the contrary, this can be more dangerous for employers as contractual terms are then implied by conduct and the result of this could be that the employer ends up being bound by terms that he did not intend.
It is therefore imperative for employers to provide their employees with contracts as early into the employment relationship as possible (and certainly within 8 weeks of the start date), to ensure they dictate the terms of employment and thus protect themselves from spurious claims.
If you would like any further information regarding contracts, please contact us.
