Employers’ statement of terms

An employer is under an obligation to provide an employee with a written Statement of Terms within 2 months of the employee starting work.

In many cases this is dealt with by the provision of a written Contract of Employment.

An Employment Statement should cover the name and addresses of the parties, the date the agreement commenced, the date when the employee’s continuous employment began, remuneration provisions, hours of employment, holiday provision, sickness procedure and provision, any pension scheme details and notice period. Further the document should include for each employee a job title and description, place of work, length of any particular Contract, details of collective agreements and any Disciplinary Rules or Grievance Procedure in effect in a work place by the employer.

The statement of main terms must specify any procedure applicable to the taking of disciplinary decisions relating to an employee, or to a decision to dismiss the employee or referring the employee to the provision of a document specifying such a procedure.

The employers must now provide written details of dismissal as well as disciplinary procedures. Thus the note of procedures needs to cover absence; capability and redundancy dismissal procedures as well as misconduct procedures.

A written contract of employment or letter of engagement counts as the statutory written statement of terms as long as it contains the necessary provisions.

The requirement to provide written details applies to ALL employers big or small.

The financial penalty for non compliance is now either 2 or 4 weeks pay (capped at the maximum, currently £430 per week). This is however NOT a free standing claim and can only be made as part of another claim ie. Unfair dismissal.