Even so, an employee need not wait to be given them
and, if the employer is not complying with its obliga-
tions, an employee can request one if he or she has never
had one or it is out of date. Dismissal for asserting this
right is automatically unfair and there is no service
requirement by reason of s 104 of the ERA 1996.
Under the Employment Act 2002 money compensation
can be awarded where there is a claim, e.g. for unfair
dismissal and the written particulars are incomplete,
inaccurate or non-existent. (See further, this page .)
Health and safety
Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act
1974 states that an employer must prepare, and revise
when necessary, a statement of his policy in regard to the
health and safety at work of his employees and arrange-
ments for carrying out the policy. This must be con-
tained in a separate document but it is often given out
with the written particulars which we are now looking
at. Employers with fewer than five employees are not
required to give this statement (Employers’ Health and
Safety Policy Statements (Exception) Regulations 1975
(SI 1975/1584)).
Exemptions from the written particulars
requirements
There are some situations under the 1996 Act where an
employer does not have to give the written particulars.
Those which may be found in the average business are:
1 Employees with fully written contracts containing all
the necessary terms need not be given also the written
particulars.
2 It is not necessary to give an employee written particu-
lars if he is employed for a specific job, e.g. to clear a
backlog of office work, which is not expected to last
more than one month. If it does last for more than one
month, the worker is entitled to written particulars.
It should be noted that certain of the former exceptions,
e.g. that there was no need to give particulars where the
employee was the husband or wife of the employer,
have been repealed so that particulars are required, for
instance, in the husband/wife situation.
A sample statement in terms of an actual employment
appears in Fig 16.1.
Legal status of the statutory particulars
In this connection the decision of the EAT in Lovettv
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council(1999) is worth
noting. The claimant in this case was told at his inter-
view and in a subsequent letter of appointment that his
promotion would depend on his ‘gaining the appro-
priate qualifications and experience’. When he received
his written particulars there was a document attached
that added another requirement, i.e. ‘the needs of the
department’. The EAT held that the terms of the docu-
ment also applied since they amplified and explained the
letter of appointment. The EAT was applying Robertson
and Jacksonv British Gas Corporation(1983), where the
Court of Appeal ruled that the statutory statement of
particulars is neither the contract itself nor conclusive
evidence of it.Employment particulars: changes
effected by the Employment Act 2002
The following sections of the 2002 Act make amendments
to relevant sections of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Section 35 provides that all stages of the new minimum
disciplinary and dismissal procedures (see below) must
be set out in the written statement.
Section 36 removes the exemption for employers that
have fewer than 20 employees in terms of giving details
of disciplinary rules and procedures. All employers have
now to state these in the written particulars.
Section 37 allows particulars included in a contract of
employment or letter of engagement to form all or part
of the written particulars. It also enables such documents
to be given to the employee before the employment begins.
Section 38 provides for tribunals to award monetary
compensation to an employee where, on a claim being
made, e.g. for unfair dismissal, it appears that the par-
ticulars received are incomplete or inaccurate. Where
this is so, the tribunal may increase any award made
against the employer by between two and four weeks’
pay, according to whether the statement is merely inac-
curate or has never been issued at all. One or two weeks’
pay is also to be awarded where compensation is not a
remedy for the particular complaint or is a remedy not
chosen by the tribunal, as where it awards reinstatement
in the job. Formerly there was no monetary penalty on
the employer where particulars were incomplete, inac-
curate or non-existent.Employment Act 2002 – statutory disciplinary
and grievance procedures
Schedule 2 to the Employment Act 2002 sets out standard
procedures that apply in all employments. The employerPart 4Business resources