Employer’s Legal Requirements

An employer’s legal requirements will be outlined firstly in the Employment Contract with the employee, and secondly via a number of implied terms which are placed on the relationship by statute and case law.

The employer’s obligations need to be clearly understood to avoid any future issues and/or claims which may arise and result in a great deal of time and expense.

Legal implied terms

This is not a comprehensive list but will cover some of the most relevant terms which clarify employers’ legal obligations,

• Working hours/rest breaks

The Working Time Regulations 1998 will set out the amount of hours that a worker should work and rest breaks they are entitled to;

• Duty of Fidelity: It is implied that an employee will serve his employer with good faith. This continues throughout the contract of employment.
• Duty of confidentiality;
• Duty not to compete;
• Duty not to disrupt the employer’s business;
• Duty not solicit the employer’s customers;
• A duty to misuse the employer’s property.

These duties are relevant to all employees. As well as this a number of obligations will be set out in the employment contract. This will usually specify details in relation to holiday pay, sickness absence, equality policies, disciplinary policies and notice periods to name but a few.

In addition to this it is common for employers to have staff handbooks which will set out further details for company policies such as disciplinary, grievance, equality, bullying/harassment, confidentiality and data protection.

As well as this, an employer will have a legal duty to do the following:

• Provide work to the employee. This is distinguishable from a self-employed contract whereby a contractor will not have an obligation to undertake work and the company will not have an obligation to provide the work.
• Duty to pay wages: if an employee has performed the work in accordance with the terms then he has a right to be paid. It does not extend to situations whereby the employee refuses to work. There are also very strict guidelines in relation to any reduction in wages and/or commissions/bonus payments.
• An employer will have to give reasonable notice to the employee this will be set out by statute if it is not stated in the employment contract.

Health and Safety

The employer has an obligation to provide the employee with a safe working environment. It is standard practice for employers to implement health and safety manuals. The obligation of the employer stretches as far as obliging them to take reasonable steps to provide a safe work place, it is not a strict liability and an employee will also have to take some responsibility for their actions.

References

The employer must be very careful when providing references in relation to former employees. If they provide references that seem to be misleading or derogatory, there is a potential for a claim against them.

There is an overriding duty of mutual trust and the confidence between both parties. If either side are seen to have acted unreasonably and caused a breakdown in trust and confidence then this gives the potential to be a repudiatory breach allowing the contract to be terminated either by the employer for gross misconduct or by the employee for constructive dismissal.

These relate to just some of the employer’s legal obligations and advice should be sought if a company is any doubt as to what they are obliged to do in relation to their workers. Employment law is increasingly changing and it is important that employers are up to date on the current legislation.

This article courtesy of Ben Jones, head of employment law at Darlingtons, solicitors in London. Please contact Darlingtons for all your employment law requirements, whether as employer or employee.