UK Employment Law\ Employer\ Types of employment contract.
Types of employment contracts
An employment contract is an agreement between you and your future employer. It establishes your employment rights, responsibilities and duties. These are called the ‘terms' of the contract. You should see our separate section on these.
Your contract doesn’t have to written down in order to take effect in law, but under British legislation, you are entitled to a document containing your employment terms within two months of starting work.
Employed or self-employed?
If your employer provides you with work, sets down the times for you to complete tasks, supplies tools and equipment, and also deals with financial matters (such as your tax and national insurance contributions) then you are being treated as an employee.
As a self-employed worker, you decide whether to accept work and how to perform it. You also make your own arrangements for holidays or sickness, pay your own tax and NI contributions. However, it is not always the case that someone described as a self-employed worker is actually self-employed. Do not take for granted either that carrying out tasks on your employer’s premises or at your employee’s home has any sway over the real legal status.
The deciding factor comes down to whether you are genuinely in business on your own account. A tribunal may need to determine this first, before moving on to whether there has been a breach of any employment contract.
Casual work
This kind of arrangement is used for workers who have more than one job but are regularly employed by an individual employer.
Fixed term
This is where you are contracted to carry out work for an employer between a start and end date.
Home working
An employer may contract you to carry out tasks for his/her business, but without the need for you to be based at the company’s office/factory.
Job share
You may be given a position sharing a workload with someone else. Therefore, in effect you would be part-time.
Flexi-time
This is when the contract tells you how many hours need to be worked, but does not strictly stipulate when you must work them.
Part-time
Part time workers are entitled to a list of contractual terms similar to full-time employees. It can be deemed discriminatory if a full-time worker is given privileges when the part-time worker isn’t. You will have the right to:
- the same rights as full-time employees;
- take part in the same training as full-time staff;
- holiday entitlement pro rata to comparable full-time workers;
- contractual and parental leave in the same way as full-time workers;
- not be treated less favourably when workers are selected for redundancy
Term-time
This is a type of part-time working where you are allowed to reduce the amount of your working hours. It also allows you to take time off during school holidays. These contracts are especially designed for parents with children at school. The terms allow parents to deal with childcare.
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