Merton Solicitors

Our specialist employment law team advise employees on a wide range of employment problems and employee rights. An initial assessment of your employment law question or problem is provided free. From experience of providing employment law advice, we list below a selection of the most commonly asked questions and answers

• What are potentially fair reasons for dismissal?

Retirement, redundancy, capability or conduct are the main reasons although there is a catch all “some other substantial reason” justification

• What minimum notice is necessary for dismissal?

Subject to the employer possibly being entitled to immediately dismiss without further pay, for example for gross misconduct, unless a contract stipulates a longer period, the minimum period of notice required to terminate a contract of employment for employees with continuous employment of between one month and 2 years is 1 week’s notice. Employees with 2 complete years’ continuous employment or more are entitled to one week’s notice for each complete year, up to a maximum of 12 weeks’ notice after 12 years

• What is the minimum notice an employee should give to an employer?

Unless a contract stipulates a longer period the minimum notice to be given by an employee, with at least one month’s continuous employment, is one week.

• What is redundancy?

The general overall description of legal redundancy is where a business has closed, the workplace has closed or there is a reduction in the type of work the employee was undertaking

• What is constructive dismissal?

If is for an employee to claim constructive unfair dismissal when they have resigned but feel they had no choice but to do so. In order to convince an Employment Tribunal that they were constructively dismissed the burden is on the employee to establish that the employer has fundamentally  breached the employment contract and that he or she resigned as a consequence of that breach.

• What are the maternity leave basic entitlements ?

Since 6 April 2008 any female employee is entitled to up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave regardless of length of service.

• What are the paternity leave basic entitlements ?

Provided they are an eligible a male (or female if in a civil partnership) an employee is entitled to take up to two weeks paternity leave within the first 56 days of the date of childbirth. Parental leave must be for the purpose of caring for the child or supporting the mother of the child in caring for the child. In order to be eligible for paternity leave the employee must be continuously employed by their employer for at least 26 weeks ending with the week immediately before the 14th week before the expected week of childbirth be the father of the child, or married or civil partner of or otherwise the partner of the child’s mother, if not the child’s biological father have or expect to have responsibility for the upbringing of the child

• What is parental leave?

Since 1999 employees have had the right to take a reasonable amount of time off work to make any necessary long-term arrangements for dependants if this involves :-

• Making  longer term care arrangements for care of a dependant who is ill or injured
• Dealing  with the consequences of the death of a dependant
• Dealing  with unexpected disruption, termination or breakdown of arrangements for the care of a dependant
• Dealing with an unexpected incident which involves the employee’s child during school hours

The right is available only to employees and is irrespective length of service or if the employee works full time or part time or is employed on a permanent, temporary or fixed term basis. The leave is unpaid