► Employment Advice

    Your Rights as an Employee 1- Contracts

This is one of a series of factsheets covering your rights as an employee, other factsheets in the series include:
  • The Minimum Wage
  • Working Hours
 
Contracts
Although you may not have anything in writing when you first start work a “contract” still exists. Your agreement to work for an employer and your employer’s agreement to pay you for that work is a legally binding contract which gives both you and your employer certain rights and obligations as soon as an offer of employment is accepted.
 
If you do not have a written contract containing all the terms and conditions of your employment the minimum requirement is that your employer provide you with a written statement of the main terms and conditions of your employment within two calendar months of your starting work. The written document your employer must give you is known as the “principle statement “and it must include:
  • Your name
  • Your employer’s name
  • The address of your place of work and employers address (or places of work and employer’s address, if you are required to work in more than one location)The date when your employment began
  • Your job title or a brief description of the work
  • Your rate(s) of pay and when you will be paid
  • Your hours of work
  • Your holiday and holiday pay entitlement
  • Your entitlement to sick leave and sick pay
  • Information about pensions and pension schemes, whether or not offered by your employer
  • Details of the existence of any collective agreements which may affect the terms and conditions of your employment
  • Notice period to terminate contract for you and your employer
  • The period for which your employment is expected to continue if you are not a permanent employee or the date on which your employment will end if you are a fixed term worker
  • Information about disciplinary and grievance procedures

There are only a few exceptions to the requirement to provide this statement. If your employer refuses to give you either a contract or a written statement containing the information listed above please contact an advisor for information on what to do next.

Students’ Union Advice Centre, First Floor, Coventry University Students Union, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FJ
Telephone 024 7679 5200
Email:suadvice@coventry.ac.uk
www.coventry.ac.uk/cusu

 

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