Employment Practice

Key points §   Although employees returning to work after maternity leave have no statutory right to do so on a part-time or job-sharing basis, recent amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 mean that the parents (or adoptive parents) of children under the age of six, or of disabled children under the age of 18, who have been continuously employed for 26 or more weeks, now have the right (without penalty) to apply to their employers for a more flexible pattern of working hours. In short, they have the right to seek to vary their contracts of employment so as to enable them to spend more time with their children. Their employers may not reject any such application 'out of hand', but must consider the implications and be prepared to offer sound business reasons if they decide to reject it. If, on the other hand, an employer agrees to accommodate the employee's request, the variation in the employee's terms and conditions will be permanent and irreversible. §   It is...

Key points §   With the coming into force on 1 October 2002 of the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, employees on fixed-term or task-related contracts, or on contracts intended to come to an end on the occurrence or non-occurrence of a particular event, have the right not to be treated less favourably than comparable permanent employees working in the same establishment. In short, they have the right to be paid the same as those employees and to enjoy equivalent terms and conditions of employment (albeit, in appropriate circumstances, on a pro rata basis) including equal access to their employers' occupational pension schemes. §   Fixed-term employees have the right also to be afforded equal access to opportunities for transfer, promotion or developmental training, and must be informed of any suitable vacancies that may arise within the establishment in which they work. On completion of four year 's continuous employment under on...