The law around employment rights changes so frequently, so you might want to refresh your knowledge of some of the simple stuff.
1. National minimum wage
For over 21s, the current minimum wage stands at £11.44 an hour, but is due to increase from April 1 2025 to £12.21. For 18-20 year olds, this is slightly lower, at £8.60, which will increase to £10 next year. Under 18s, the same rate is £6.40, and will go up to £7.55. The separate apprentice rate is currently £6.40 and will increase to £7.55 also.
Any tips that are paid during work hours should be given on top of their wage, not taken out. Apprentices who have been working in that position for a year have the right to receive a minimum wage. Whenever it comes to paying your employees, they should have a slip, detailing the money made and paid.
2. Working hours
On average, you can’t expect an employee to work more than 48-hour weeks. If your employee is a young worker, this goes down to 40 hours a week. Some jobs allow for longer working hours, and are an exception to this rule. This includes some roles in the armed forces, emergency services, and those who work out at sea.
If you want someone over the age of 21 to work longer hours than their rights dictate, you will need to receive a written agreement from them; you can’t force them into this.
3. Paid holiday
Every full-time employee has the right to 28 days of holiday every year, but bank holidays can be included in this. Part-time employees are entitled to a pro-rata rate. While on holiday, an employer needs to pay their employee the same rate that they’d be paid during a working day. An employer can require members of staff to take some of their holidays at a certain time, such as over the Christmas period. This should be discussed before you accept the job.
4. Maternity and paternity leave
Parents-to-be/parents have the right to paid maternity leave. Maternity leave can be taken when the employee has 11 weeks before the baby is due and can run up to 52 weeks.
Preferably, the employee should notify their employer that they are expecting when they are 15 weeks before their due date, so the employer has some notice. Most female employees have the right to take up to around a year in maternity leave.
By law, female employees have to take at least a fortnight off after the baby is born, even if they decide not to take the full amount of time off offered. Factory employees need to take at least four weeks, due to the often physically challenging work environment.
Statutory Maternity Pay can be paid for up to 39 weeks as follows:
- the first 6 weeks: 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax
- the remaining 33 weeks: £184.03 or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower)
If an employee’s partner is having a baby, they’ll be entitled to 1 or 2 weeks’ paid Paternity Leave, but may also qualify for shared parental leave, whereby you can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay.
Find out more information here.
5. Whistleblowing protections
Whistleblowing refers to an instance where an employee reports certain types of wrongdoing by a company they work for (though you may not always work for them). This is protected by law and employees can’t be treated unfairly or lose their job because of it.
Some complaints that would count as whistleblowing are:
- A criminal offense
- Health and safety issues
- Damage to the environment
- Miscarraige of justice
- Someone covering up wrongdoing
- Inefficient insurance
6. Data protection
The Data Protection Act 2018 controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses and the government (which includes an employer). This includes information such as race, ethnic background, sexual orientation and more. The full list can be found here.
An employee has a right to find out what information their employer has stored and what it is using it for. This includes the right to:
- Access personal data
- Have incorrect data updated
- Have data erased
- Stop the processing of your data
- Data portability
- Object to how your data is processed
Remember that this also applies if they’ve interviewed for the job, even if they don’t end up working for that organisation.
7. Flexible working law
As of April 6, 2024, employees have enhanced rights over how and when they work. This means workers can ask for part-time or flexible hours from their first day working and can make two flexible working request in a 12-month period.
As well as part-time work, employees can also ask for:
- Term time
- Flexi-time
- Job sharing
- Compressed hours
- Adjustment to start and finish times
Remember that employer do not have to comply with these, they simply have to consider them (they’re obliged to give an answer within two months), and will have to consider all options before rejecting a request.