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Chapter 14
Employment rights and responsibilities
Tutor Delivery Pack
Employment rights
and responsibilities legislation
Session Objectives
Background reading prior to the delivery of this session:
Chapter 14 Plumbing NVQ and Technical Certificate Level 2,
2nd Edition
On completion of this session you should be able to:
Outline the basic detail of legislation relating to employment law
Outline the key aims of employment legislation in protecting the
rights of employees at work
Describe the main aims of legislation providing protection against
discrimination at work.
Wages rules
- Establishes minimum procedures for making wages payments
- Makes unauthorised wage deductions illegal
- Requires employer to make a guaranteed payment, even when
the employer cannot find work
- Establishes specific requirements for Sunday working
- Requires the employer to provide a statement of employment
(formally known as a contract of employment)
Full-time workers
Part-time workers
Casual labourers
Agency workers
Piece workers, including
homeworkers
1 What are the two main reasons that an employer may consider
making an employee redundant?
2 What is the primary piece of legislation that requires an employer to
provide a Statement of Employment Terms & Conditions?
3 If you have an in-company dispute with your employer, or you feel you
have been unfairly dismissed, what arrangements are in place to
establish that your case has been handled fairly by your employer? To
whom should you refer the matter?
Recommended sources of reference:
Plumbing NVQ and Technical Certificate Level 2, 2nd Edition Student Book
ACAS website www.acas.gov.uk
Google search www.google.co.uk
Pearson Education Limited. This material is not copyright free.
What are the two main reasons that an employer may consider
making an employee redundant?
Sex discrimination includes the way employers recruit, train, promote and
dismiss people.
These regulations apply to all employers in the private and public sectors.
The regulations cover employees and other workers, office holders, partners of firms
etc. of any age.
The Act makes it unlawful for an employer of any size, with the exception of
the armed forces, to directly discriminate against a disabled person.
Note: Other items of legislation, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act,
can take precedent over the Disability Discrimination Act, for example
when a particular disability in a particular job role may give rise to health
and safety concerns.
Pearson Education Limited. This material is not copyright free.
In-company employment
policies and procedures
Session Objectives
Background reading prior to the delivery of this session:
Chapter 14 Plumbing NVQ & Technical Certificate Level 2, 2nd
Edition
On completion of this session you should be able to:
Outline the purpose of the statement of employment and supporting
handbooks
Outline the range of procedures contained in the statement of
employment and the typical employment arrangements that must
be put in place by companies to comply with employment law
requirements.
Statements of Employment
By law, you currently have an entitlement to 4.8 weeks of paid leave per year.
Your employer may include public holidays as part of the annual leave entitlement and
may set the times when you take holidays, such as during the Christmas shutdown.
If your employment ends and you have leave due, you have a right to be paid for the
leave time due and not taken.
Time off work may also be permitted to carry out other duties, such as:
- Dealing with emergencies involving dependents (close family)
- Jury service
- Trade union duties.
These items are normally on an unpaid basis unless referred to otherwise in your
employment statement. Jury Service attracts an allowance from the Courts.
Working Hours
The JIB for PMES National Working Rules for the plumbing
industry indicate a 3 7.5 hour standard working week.
Legal requirements for working hours are laid down in the Working
Time Regulations.
Workers aged 18 or over cannot be forced to work for more than
48 hours a week on average.
Most workers can agree in writing to work longer than the 48-hour
limit. The agreement must be signed by the worker. The worker
can, with notice, then opt-out of this agreement at a later date.
Young workers under age 18 are restricted to a maximum working
week of 40 hours, and each working day must be no longer than 8
hours.
Termination of Employment
An employer must provide fair and reasonable grounds for
dismissal.
If you have been in employment for 12 months or more, then a
claim of unfair dismissal can be made to an employment tribunal if
the grounds are deemed to be unfair.
There are exceptions in relation to the 12 month period, for example
a case of unfair dismissal on the grounds of discrimination can be
brought at any time.
The notice period for a dismissal should be a minimum according to
the following:
- one week if employed between one month and two years
- an additional weeks notice for every continuous year of
employment between two and twelve years
- minimum twelve weeks notice if in continuous employment for
12 years or more.
Pearson Education Limited. This material is not copyright free.
Wages
Wages (continued)
The JIB for PMES produces national standard terms and conditions
of employment for plumbing operatives. These are often regarded as
the minimum pay and conditions for plumbing operatives. This
includes pay rates for apprentices.
- Trained plumber Level 2 qualified with post-qualification
experience
- Advanced plumber Level 3 qualified with post-qualification
experience
- Technical plumber Level 3 qualified with significant postqualification experience and significant job responsibilities
Sick Pay
Procedures for reporting in sick are normally laid out in the
statement of employment or staff handbook.
In most cases you will be required to submit a self certificate of
sickness for periods of up to 7 days.
Sickness periods over 7 days normally require a medical certificate
provided by a GP.
Your employer will expect you to notify him/her of your inability to
work due to sickness as soon as possible and to keep them updated
on progress if the sickness period becomes longer term.
If you are off sick for 4 consecutive days or more (assuming a
doctors certificate is provided) you are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay
(SSP).
SSP is paid by the employer in the same way that wages are paid.
Pearson Education Limited. This material is not copyright free.
Redundancy Pay
Employees have the right to a lump-sum 'redundancy payment' if
they are dismissed because of redundancy.
The amount of redundancy pay is related to the employee's age,
length of continuous service with the employer and weekly pay up
to a maximum.
The employer must provide a written statement showing how the
payment has been calculated, at or before the time it is paid.
Maternity Leave
All pregnant employees are entitled to paid time off for antenatal
care.
All pregnant employees are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity
leave 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave and 26 weeks of
Additional Maternity Leave.
Pregnant employees who meet qualifying conditions based on
their length of service and average earnings are entitled to up to
3 9 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP).
Women who are not entitled to SMP but meet qualifying conditions
based on their recent employment and earnings may claim up to
3 9 weeks of Maternity Allowance, paid directly by Jobcentre Plus.
Paternity Leave
Employees must satisfy the following conditions in order to qualify for
paternity leave. They must:
have or expect to have responsibility for the childs
upbringing
be the biological father of the child or the mothers husband
or partner
have worked continuously for their employer for 26 weeks
ending with the 15th week before the baby is due.
Employers can ask their employees to provide a self-certificate.
Eligible employees can choose to take either one week or two
consecutive weeks of paternity leave (not odd days).
Only one period of leave is available to employees regardless of
whether more than one child is born as the result of the same
pregnancy.
Pearson Education Limited. This material is not copyright free.
Pensions
Any occupational pension provision eligible to you will be laid down
in your statement of employment.
If a company scheme is not available to you, then
State pension arrangements apply
As a minimum, organisations employing five or more people
are obliged to offer access to a stakeholder pension scheme
if
they do not already offer pension provision.
The JIB for PMES National Working Rules state that an
occupational pension scheme should be made available to
plumbing employees.
The plumbing industry operates its own pension scheme known as
Pipeline.
Session Objectives
Background reading prior to the delivery session:
Chapter 1 and Chapter 14 Plumbing NVQ and Technical
Certificate Level 2, 2nd Edition
On completion of this session you should be able to:
outline the position and grouping of the plumbing industry in
relation to other construction related industries
outline the role of the main plumbing industry bodies
recognise the range of career opportunities in plumbing that are
available on completion of craft qualifications.
Construction trades
Plumbing
Electrical etc.
Bricklaying
Joinery
Plastering
Etc.
The construction
trades deal with the
fabric of the building.
Electrotechnical industry
Electrical installation
Security systems
Telecommunications
Plumbing
Heating & ventilating
Refrigeration
Air conditioning
UNITE
Deals with such issues as pay and conditions, health and safety
and advice and guidance on employment issues
Pearson Education Limited. This material is not copyright free.
Plumbing NVQ and Technical Certificate Level 2, 2nd Edition Student Book
Career paths
Identify a range of job roles that a plumber may develop into in the
following:
Manufacturing
Public sector
Education & training
Large building services company
Identify a range of job roles that a plumber may develop into in the
following:
Manufacturing service engineer, service manager, research &
development, general management, etc.
Public sector services designer, facilities manager, general
manager, etc.
Education & training tutor, assessor, centre manager, etc.
Large building services company designer, supervisor, general
manager, project engineer, etc.