Personnel Documentation

Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 makes it mandatory for employers to provide the employees with a statement of initial employment particulars (otherwise referred to as a contract of employment) not later than 2 months after the beginning of the employment.

A failure to provide a contract of employment within this time scale may lead to an employee being awarded compensation for an employer's failure to provide their contract of employment.

Drafting a contract of employment can be a complex matter. The contract of employment must contain certain particulars. Some of these requirement are listed below:

The name of employer and the employee
Date when the employment began
The date on which continuous employment began taking into account any employment with a previous employer following a TUPE Transfer
The intervals at which remuneration is paid
Terms and conditions relating to hours of work
Entitlement to holidays, including pubfic holidays and holiday pay including entitlement to accrued holiday pay on the term: 131 km, of employment to be correctly calculated
Incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provision for sick pay
Pensions and pension schemes
The length of notice which the employee is obliged to give and entitled to receive to terminate the contract of employment
The title of the job which the employee is employed to do or a brief description of the work for which he is employed
Where the employment is not intended to be permanent, the period for which it is expected to continue or if it is a fixed term, the date when it is to end
Either the place of work or where the employee is required or permitted to work at various places, an indication of that and of the address of the employer