Chapter 13
Employment (1): The contract of employment,
employment rights and dismissal
This is the first of two chapters on employment law. This chapter begins by considering
how a contract of employment is formed and the terms such a contract might contain.
It then considers several statutory employment rights, before concluding by considering
rights which arise when an employee is dismissed or made redundant.
The following chapter considers discrimination in employment and health and safety
at work.The contract of employment
In Chapter 9 vicarious liability was explained and the ways in which the courts decide
whether a contract of employment exists were considered (see pp. 261– 5). Like other con-
tracts, a contract of employment can be created orally or in writing, and will contain both
express and implied terms. The express terms would be agreed by the parties, the implied
terms would be implied by the courts.particulars Written statement of employment
Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) requires an employer to provide
all employees with a written statement of employment particulars. The statement, which
has to be provided within two months of the employment beginning, must contain the
following particulars:
(i) The names of the employer and the employee.
(ii) The date on which the employment began.
(iii) The date on which the employee’s period of continuous employment began, taking
into account whether any previous employment is to count as continuous employ-
ment. (Continuous employment is important in relation to dismissal and redundancy,
as we see later in this chapter, on p. 366.)
(iv) The scale or rate of pay and the method of calculation.
(v) The intervals at which payment is made (weekly, monthly, etc.).
(vi) Any terms and conditions relating to hours of work.
(vii) Any terms and conditions relating to holiday entitlement, sick pay or pensions.
(viii) The length of notice which either party needs to give to end the employment.
(ix) The job title of the employee, or a brief description of his duties.