Under the section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA 1999), a worker who is required or invited by his employer to attend a disciplinary or grievance hearing, and makes a reasonable request to be accompanied, has the right to be accompanied at that hearing. The current ERA 1999, s 10 was substituted by section 7 of the Employment Relations Act 2004. Workers may choose the person they wish to accompany them. That person must be: • another of the employer's workers, or • a trade union official who is: ◦ employed by the trade union, or ◦ certified in writing

Restricted securities are, broadly, employment-related securities which: • at the date of acquisition • are subject to identifiable restrictions • that reduce the value of the securities For further details, see Practice Note: What are restricted securities? Enterprise management incentives (EMI), save as you earn (SAYE) and company share option plan (CSOP) options can all be granted over restricted securities. Likewise share incentive plan (SIP) shares can also be restricted securities. Restrictions typically have the effect of reducing the market value of employment-related securities (and hence any associated income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) charges) upon acquisition. In addition, further income tax (and possibly NICs) charges can also arise on subsequent chargeable events, including the lifting, variation or expiry of the restrictions,

An employee who takes ordinary or additional maternity leave is entitled to the benefit of all the terms and conditions of employment that would have applied had she not been absent, except ‘terms and conditions about remuneration’. Employees will therefore continue to accrue statutory and contractual holiday entitlement during ordinary maternity leave (OML) and additional maternity leave (AML). See the sections of Practice Note: Maternity leave headed: • Rights during ordinary and additional maternity leave, and • Holiday entitlement during maternity leave There is no statutory right to take public holidays as paid annual leave: the right to take leave on such days is governed by the express or implied

In the case of employee share options which are not tax-advantaged, there isn’t even a legal requirement to enter into a written contract when granting them—however, it is always preferable to do so in order to assist with enforceability and to avoid any future disagreements regarding the terms of the option. Therefore, it is standard practice to formally document the grant of a share option to an employee. Most often, that document takes the form of a deed in order to make sure that a validly binding contract is made. Depending on the particular circumstances, the deed can either take the form of a bilateral deed between the granting company and the option holder, or it can be a unilateral deed which is executed by the granting company only. A unilateral deed is often used by companies granting options to large numbers of employees, as it involves significantly less administration than requiring

The way in which a worker's entitlement to holiday interacts with other employment rights can cause significant practical problems. During ordinary maternity leave and additional maternity leave, an employee is entitled to the benefit of the terms and conditions of employment which would have applied if she had not been absent, except those relating to remuneration. Women therefore continue to accrue statutory and contractual leave in the normal way during maternity leave. In Merino Gómez, the ECJ held that the purpose of the entitlement under Article 7(1) of what is now Directive 2003/88/EC, the Working Time Directive (WTD) to paid annual leave is different from that of the entitlement to maternity leave. Maternity leave is intended: • to protect a woman's biological condition during and after pregnancy, and • to protect the special relationship between a woman and her child over the period which follows pregnancy and childbirth This means that, where the

The right under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR 1998) is to a total of 5.6 weeks' annual leave each 'leave year', made up of: • a basic entitlement to a minimum of four weeks' annual leave (20 days for a regular full-time worker) each leave year, implementing the right to annual leave under the Working Time Directive • an additional entitlement to 1.6 weeks' annual leave (eight days for a regular full-time worker) each leave year, which is a right under domestic legislation only For further information, see Practice Note: Holiday — Statutory holiday entitlement. The right to annual leave under WTR 1998 is a right to paid leave (see below for further observations in this regard). If (which seems likely in the case of a day here and there as unpaid leave) the contract continues during those days of unpaid leave, the employee

The employee’s adviser may wish to consider: • whether the employer might be jointly responsible for the alleged defamation • whether the employer might be vicariously liable for the alleged defamation • whether there is an implied right of indemnity • whether the alleged defamatory statement was libel (a defamatory statement published in written form) or slander (a defamatory statement in spoken or other temporary form) Joint responsibility for alleged defamation A defendant in a defamation action may wish to seek a contribution from another person who is jointly responsible for the publication of the statement complained of. Where the third party is found liable, the court will require them to pay a 'just and equitable' contribution, having regard to the extent of their responsibility for the damage in question. The procedure for responding to, and the management of, a claim for contribution or indemnity

The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 (FTE Regulations 2002), SI 2002/2034 contain a mechanism, derived from the Fixed-term Work Framework Directive for converting fixed-term contracts into permanent contracts in certain situations. The way the FTE Regulations achieve this is to state that the provision of any employment contract that restricts the contract's duration shall be of no effect, and the employee employed under it shall be a regarded in law as a permanent employee, where the following conditions are all satisfied: • the employee is employed under a contract that purports to be a fixed-term contract • either: ◦ that purported fixed-term contract has been renewed (or extended)

A relevant transfer does not terminate the contract of employment of any person employed by the transferor and assigned to the organised grouping that is subject to the transfer. Instead, the contract of employment has effect after the transfer as if originally made between the employee and the transferee. The transferee acquires: • all rights, powers, duties and liabilities under or in connection with the contracts of employment of transferring employees • liability for all pre-transfer acts and omissions of or in relation

Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) provides that an employee has the right to be given a written itemised pay statement by their employer at or before the time of the payment of wages, which must contain particulars of specified matters. There is no further guidance in ERA 1996 regarding the manner in which the pay statement must be ‘given’ but it is common practice for a pay slip to be given electronically, and this is a method that is endorsed by HMRC. Many payroll software suites allow for the electronic sending of payslips by email though it should be noted that the provisions of the GDPR should be complied with and such documents should be password protected and data should not be retained for longer than is necessary

For information on sexual harassment generally, and the duty to prevent it (in force from 26 October 2024), see Practice Note: Sexual harassment and the duty to prevent it. For information on employing children and young people, see Practice Note: Employing children and young people. We are not aware of any specific duty on an employer to inform the parents of a young worker that they have been sexually harassed at work. Risk assessments There are specific rules regarding risk assessments for young people and children. For these purposes, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSW Regs 1999), SI 1999/3242: • ‘young person’ means any person who has not reached the age of 18 (MHSW Regs 1999, SI 1999/3242, reg 1(2)) • ‘child’ means (in England and Wales) a person who is not over compulsory school age, as defined in

There is no general obligation placed on individuals or organisations to report crimes in England and Wales. An employer is subject to the same general moral duty which every citizen has to report crime. However, there are specific regimes where a failure to report suspected offence can itself be an offence. Whether such a duty applies depends upon the specific offence committed by the employee and the circumstances in which it has been committed. This response provides some examples of when such a duty might arise. An example of such a regime is in relation to money laundering offences. For more information, see Practice Note: Money laundering offences—failure to disclose offences. This Practice Note explains