The following Employment Tax guidance note by Tolley in association with Hannah Freeman at Old Square Chambers provides comprehensive and up to date tax information covering:
Note: the case references in this guidance note are all subscription sensitive.
The length of time for which someone has been continuously employed is important because it affects a persons statutory rights:
ERA 1996, ss 211–219
In order to calculate continuity of employment for the purpose of allocating the appropriate statutory rights to an employee, a statutory formula must be used. This statutory formula will override any other method of calculation in the contract of employment to the extent that the alternative method relates to statutory rights.
Continuity of employment will often also be important when assessing an employees contractual benefits. Many contracts will give greater benefits to employees the longer they work. For example, some employees become entitled to more sick pay once they have been working for a certain number of years. The statutory continuity of employment formula is often used to calculate the continuity of employment period for this purpose. However, in relation to contractual rights and benefits, the parties are free to deviate from the statutory continuity of employment formula.
The start of the continuous period of employment will usually be the employee’s first day of work. However, strictly, the period starts when the relationship between the parties begins to be governed by a contract of employment. This is the start date of the contract rather than the first day that the employee attends work. If a contract starts on 1 June, but the employee is off sick and does not in fact attend until 8
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