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EMPLOYMENT General

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CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT AND HOLIDAY LEAVE ENTITLEMENT • DATA PROTECTION • DISMISSAL FROM ROYAL SERVICES FOR PREGNANCY • SAFE WORKING ENVIRONMENT • SEXUAL HARRASSMENT • • • • •

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CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT AND HOLIDAY LEAVE ENTITLEMENT

QUESTION 1
I am a full time lecturer in Further Education. I am being informed that my entitlement to holidays is calculated on a pro rate basis for each complete month of service (contract of employment says same). This means that as I agreed a termination date of 20th of next month I will not get any entitlement for the 20 days I will work next month before I leave. Is this still correct? It seems very unfair that I have worked for most of a month but will not accrue any holiday entitlement for it (I normally accrue 3.6 days for each month worked). This means I loose 3.6 days! I'd be grateful for your advice.

Name S Date 22nd April, 2002

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ANSWER TO QUESTION 1

It would appear from your contract of employment that the employer is correct in that you agreed to the contract at the commencement of your employment. I would suggest that you approach uour personnel department and try to agree a pro rata holiday entitlement for your final month. A 2 day entitlement would be a compromise as you will have completed almost two thirds of a month.

Name Anne Date 28th April, 2002

QUESTION 2
My employment commenced on 27th June, 1997 and therefore I assumed that I would receive two weeks paid holiday for the August shutdown, in accordance with section 6.3. of the Contract. I received this reply to my enquiry from one of the company directors.
"In accordance with our main customer requirements our normal annual shutdown is around the end of July or beginning of August hence the terminology in paragraph 6.1."or at such times as may be determined by the Employer." For this reason we the Employer advise staff approximately nine months in advance of the date of our main shut-downs. In 1997 our customers closed later than normal forcing us to follow suit. Therefore the period in August that we were closed was to conclude the holiday entitlement for 1996/97."

Under my Contract Of Employment (which is dated 6th August, 1997) in the section on Holidays it states
"6.1. Holiday entitlement is 20 working days, paying being accrued over 48 week period at 3.33.hours per week which runs from 1st August to 31st July or at such times as may be determined by the Employer in addition to the normal public holidays.
6.2. Payment during holidays is calculated at the Employees normal hourly rate plus one third of that rate.
6.3. If the employee's employment commences or terminates part way through the holiday year his/her entitlement to holidays during that year will be assessed on a pro rate basis and deductions from final salary due to the Employee on termination of employment will be made in respect of holidays taken in excess of entitlement.
6.4. The employee must reserve sufficient holiday entitlement to be taken during the Employers normal shut-down periods at Christmas, adjoining the May bank holiday and for two weeks in August"
This decision appears to contradict the Contract of Employment.
What is the legal position on this?
DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER? DO YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER?
What rights does the employee have?

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QUESTION 3
I work 4 hrs mon-fri since i work 1/2 of fulltime i should get 20 1/2 days where as fulltime get 20 full days but at moment i am only getting 10 1/2 days a year. What do you think i should be entitled to?
Name r.s. Date 6th July, 2002

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ANSWER TO QUESTION 3

The amount of holiday entitlement will be dependant on your Contract of Employment, the Company and the length of time you have been with the company.
Normally the company leave year will run from set dates such as 1st April to 31st March. If you join part way through the year then it will depend on the amount of time you are with the company.
Therefore if a full time person has been with the company for 6 months by the end of the company leave year and a full time person is entitled to 20 days a year for a full year the full time person would be entitled to 10 days for the six months. As a part time person if you are with the company for six months by the end of the leave year you would then be entitled to half of the full time entitlement making 5 days for you.
Without knowing details of your scheme and your Contract of Employment it is difficult to comment further.

DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998 regulates the use of personal information which is being processed by equipment operating automatically. The information which relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information. The Act applies to computerised data and manual records. All data subjects have the right, on request in writing, to be provided with information on personal data relating to them.

DISMISSAL FROM ROYAL SERVICES FOR PREGNANCY

I am searching for any articles or Court cases that had to do with women veterans in the Royal Services and their dismissal from service for pregnancy. Please help. Thank you.

Name Carolyn Date 28th June 2002

SAFE WORKING PRACTICES

QUESTION 5
I am looking for any information regarding lone working by women in the retail drinks trade
I work for a large chain of off licenses. I am alone in the shop when lone working comes back into operation. I do have a contract of employmment. It is a part-time job. We do have panic alarms, but when the deputy-manageress was threatened with a large knife she was not able to get near them. There has been no additional security since we had the incident.
Prior to the incident we worked on our own during the day and a couple of hours at night although for the remaning two hours up to closing time we were doubled up. After the incident we refused to work on our own as we were all to nervous and frightened to do so. Now after a period of five weeks the company say we have to go back to being single-manned, which we do not want to do. It does not say in our contract that we have to work on our own. What myself and my colleauges want to know is can they sack us if we do not work on our own or do the company have to give us notice as we are all long-term staff and that would mean one weeks notice for every year that we have been employed. If they give us notice can the company say that we have to work out our notice single-manned, or can we say that we will work our notice but not on our own.

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SEXUAL HARASSMENT

QUESTION 6
I am the only woman working on the night shift in an engineering company. I am single and need to work. I have been unable to find alternative employment. You have to laugh off a lot of what goes on in an all male manual working environment just to survive.
Almost everything that is said has a double meaning. The Supervisor has now taken to touching me whenever possible, either putting his arm around me or making out that his hand caught me unintentionally. At present, leaving is not an option so I have to put up with it, but it makes going to work very uncomfortable.
The Supervisor has taken to suggesting that if I would like I can wear stockings and suspenders, or a bunny girl outfit for work that would be OK.
There is nothing serious enough to take to an Industrial Tribunal but just lots of small incidents which add up to an uncomfortable working environment. The Management know that it goes on but choose to do nothing about it.

What is the legal position on this?
What rights does the employee have?

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Employers need to watch out for employees who are uncomfortable in the presence of another specific member of staff.

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT includes
Flirting, which may be meant in a harmless context, but it is the interpretation by the recipient that matters.
Innuendo
Touching, which includes "not me, the spanner etc." Wind up or making fun of an individual. When this is carried out by someone in authority others will copy and increase the uncomfortable working environment for the individual.
When advances are rejected you are then accused of being bisexual or homosexual.

Where do you stand when sexy and in some cases pornographic calenders are in evidence? Companies should prohibit the display of sexually offensive material (eg pinups)

TIME LIMITS for bringing cases before an Employment Tribunal are tight and claims must be brought within 3 months of the date of the last incident complained of (Discrimination Cases) or 3 months from the effective date of termination of employment (Constructive Dismissal).