378 Chapter 13Employment (1): The contract of employment, employment rights and dismissal
n All employees are entitled to take time off work to look after dependants in an
emergency.
n Parents with children under 16 years old have the right to apply for flexible working.
However, the employer need not grant this.
n When a business is transferred from one employer to another, the contracts of employ-
ment of all the employees are also transferred.
n All employees are entitled to be paid at least the national minimum wage. There is a
minimum rate for workers aged 20 or over and lower rates for workers aged under 20.
n Workers should not work more than 48 hours a week. However, individual workers
can agree in writing that this limit should not apply.
n Unfair dismissal is a statutory remedy which gives a dismissed employee with at least
one year’s continuous employment a right to a fixed payment.
n An employee is wrongfully dismissed when he is dismissed without having been
given the notice to which he is entitled.
n In order to claim redundancy, an employee must have at least two years’ continuous
employment since reaching the age of 18.Practice questions
1 Jane works for Ace Supplies Ltd. She has four years’ continuous service and earns £20,000
a year. Jane has recently discovered that she is pregnant and that the baby is due in six
months’ time. Advise Jane of her rights to take maternity leave and the amount of any
maternity pay which she will receive.2 Jane’s partner, Harry, wants to take paternity leave when Jane’s baby is born. Explain the
requirements which he will need to satisfy. Explain also the length of time which he will be
able to take off and the amount of paternity pay which he will receive. Harry has worked for
Ace Supplies Ltd for five years and earns £20,000 a year.3 Explain the main differences between unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal. Which remedy
would be likely to be more useful to: (a) a very highly paid football manager; and (b) a long-
serving factory worker if they were both wrongfully and unfairly dismissed?4 On what six grounds can an employer justify a dismissal, so that the dismissal may not
amount to unfair dismissal?5 An employee is dismissed for the following reasons. Which of the reasons would mean that
the employee was made redundant?
(a) Because the employer is going out of business.
(b) Because the employee was convicted of drinking and driving.
(c) Because the employee became too ill to do the job properly.
(d) Because the employer no longer did the type of work which the employee was employed
to do.
(e) Because the employer is transferring his business to a new site several hundred miles
away.