Employment Rights Basics

Employment rights depend on your status, your contract and the law where you work. They cover pay, hours, leave, safety and how you can be dismissed. This page sets out the questions to ask and the records to keep. This is general legal information, not legal advice, and the names of documents, the thresholds and the procedures differ by country and jurisdiction, so check the rules where you live.

Employee, worker or contractor

Your label matters less than the reality of the arrangement. If someone controls when and how you work, provides the tools, and pays a regular wage, you are likely an employee even if the paperwork calls you a contractor.

Employees usually gain the strongest protections. Casual and agency staff often sit in a middle category with some rights only. Self-employed contractors have the fewest, though some places have tightened the tests after cases involving drivers and delivery riders. Get your status checked formally if it decides whether you can claim.

• Employee - Someone working under a contract of service, with full rights.
• Worker - A middle category with some but not all rights.
• Status test - The factors a court or tribunal weighs to decide your category.

The written statement and your contract

Most places require a written statement of the main terms within a set period of starting work. It should cover pay, hours, place of work, holiday, sick pay and notice. It is evidence of the terms, not the whole contract.

Read the clauses on overtime, deductions, restraint of trade and probation carefully, and ask about anything unclear before you sign. Keep a copy of everything you sign, plus any staff handbook you were given, because those documents usually count as part of the deal.

• Written statement - The document listing your main employment terms.
• Deduction - Money taken from wages, which usually needs a legal basis.
• Restraint of trade - A clause limiting what you may do after you leave.

Pay, hours and leave

Check the minimum wage for your age band, whether tips count towards it, and whether unpaid time before opening or after closing counts as work. Keep your own record of hours, because payslips do not always match the time actually worked.

Overtime rules differ. Some places require a premium rate above a set number of hours, while others enforce a maximum weekly average across a period. Verify how holiday accrues, whether public holidays are extra, and how unused leave is paid out when you leave. Report underpayment to the labour authority or to a union rather than wait.

• Minimum wage - The lowest hourly rate an employer may legally pay.
• Accrual - The rate at which paid leave builds up as you work.
• Payslip - The statement of pay and deductions for a period.

Fair treatment and safety

Discrimination law usually protects characteristics such as sex, race, disability, age, religion and sexual orientation. It covers hiring, pay, promotion and dismissal, and it covers harassment by colleagues as well as managers.

Employers must provide a safe workplace and make reasonable adjustments for a disability. Report hazards and incidents in writing and keep medical evidence. Whistleblower protections cover reports of illegal conduct in many jurisdictions, and they often protect you even where the report turns out to be mistaken.

• Reasonable adjustment - A change to the job or workplace to remove a disadvantage.
• Harassment - Conduct that violates dignity or creates a hostile environment.
• Whistleblowing - Reporting wrongdoing at work, which is protected by law in many places.

Dismissal, notice and deadlines

A dismissal can be lawful if there is a fair reason and a fair process. The usual fair reasons are misconduct, capability, redundancy and a legal bar on continuing to work. Unfair dismissal claims often need a qualifying period of service, except where discrimination or whistleblowing is involved.

Act quickly. The time limit to raise a grievance or file a claim is short, often three months from the act complained of, and it can run from the date of dismissal rather than the date you find out. Get advice from a union, an employment lawyer or a free legal advice service before that window closes, and never refuse to attend a disciplinary meeting without advice first, because a refusal can itself be treated as misconduct.

• Notice period - The time either side must give to end the employment.
• Grievance - A formal complaint raised with your employer.
• Qualifying period - The length of service needed before some claims can be brought.