Employment Questions and Answers from HR Dept
26/07/2023 - Category: Guest-Blogs
At a recent breakfast meeting, Mid Devon Network memeber, HR Dept led a questions and answers session on the topic of employment. They have very kindly typed up the answers to some of the questions answered. We hope that you find them helpful
If you have any questions about this or any hother HR related issue, please contact me on debbie.olver@hrdept.co.uk or 01392 349560
Q: Its ok to use the phrase “at least 5 years experience needed” in a job advert.
A: FALSE – this would be age discrimination
Q: I don’t need to provide my employees with a written contract of employment.
A: FALSE – You have to provide a contract either before or on the first day of employment
Q: An award for unfair dismissal at Tribunal can be increased by 25% if you don’t follow the ACAS Code of Practice.
A: TRUE
Q: An employee must have been employed for 26 weeks before they can take paternity leave
A: TRUE - You must have worked continuously for the Company for 26 weeks calculated as at the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
Q: An employee must have been employed for 26 weeks before they can take maternity leave.
A: FALSE - Pregnant employees are entitled to maternity leave from the start of their employment (this is different to maternity PAY, to qualify for maternity pay they must have worked continuously for the Company for 26 weeks at the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth)
Q: The average number of days lost due to sickness absence in a year per employee is 6.6.
A: FALSE - It is 5.7 days which equates to 185.6 million days lost per year in the UK (Data from 2022)
Q: An employee has to have worked for you for 2 years to qualify for a redundancy payment.
A: TRUE
Q: To lodge a tribunal claim for unfair dismissal requires an employee to have 2 years service.
A: TRUE
Q: To lodge a tribunal claim for discrimination requires an employee to have 2 years service.
A: FALSE - Discrimination claims can be lodged from day one
Q: I have to give a monthly paid employee who has five years' service one month’s notice.
A: FALSE - The statutory minimum is 1 week's notice for each year of completed service up to a maximum of 12 weeks, so 5 weeks' notice in this case unless the contract of employment gives more than this.
Q: With a flexible working request, I have to give priority to an employee returning from maternity leave.
A: FALSE - You can't put one request above another. First come first serve is the fall back. A business has a legal obligation to consider any flexible working request but they don’t have to agree, however there are only set reasons why you can turn a request down. The rules around requests are likely to be changing in the near future though.
Q: All employees are eligible to request flexible working regardless of the reason
A: TRUE - this used to be for parents with children under the age of 6, then under 18, then anyone with caring responsibilities at all, now it is open to anyone. You can make one request in a twelve month period.
Please note that HR Dept or the Mid Devon Network accepts no liability for the content of this article or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided, as with all HR, Employment and HS issues advice should be sought at the beginning on any issue from professionals
