Employees Rights and Responsibilities

As an employee in the UK, the law sets out certain rights and responsibilities that you have. In simple terms it means that your employer has certain obligations to you and you have certain obligations to your employer.

Employee rights and responsibilities in the UK are different depending upon what type of worker you are. Therefore, your rights and responsibilities may be different if you are an agency worker, a casual worker or if you are self employed. For the purposes of this article however we are going to look at the rights and responsibilities of those on a regular, full-time contract as these are the most common form of contract in the UK.

Employee Rights

As a full time worker in the UK, you are entitled to the following statutory rights (other types of contract such as part time workers and temporary workers may qualify for some but not all of these rights):

1. The right to a written statement of terms
2. The right to time off for training or study if 16 or 17
3. The right to payment that is at least the National Living Wage
4. The right to an itemised payslip
5. The right to not having illegal deductions made from their pay
6. The right to paid holidays (at least 28 days per year)
7. The right to time off for trade union duties
8. The right to paid time off for ante-natal care
9. The right to paid maternity and paternity leave (as appropriate)
10. The right to paid adoption leave
11. The right to paid time off to look for work when facing redundancy
12. The right to ask for flexible working
13. The right to unpaid parental leave or unpaid reasonable time off in emergencies to look after dependents
14. The right to work no more than 48 hours per week (although workers can opt-out of this requirement)
15. The right not to be discriminated against
16. The right to regular rest breaks
17. The right to claim redundancy pay or compensation of unfairly dismissed
18. The right to carry on working until the age of 65
19. The right to a notice of dismissal as long as you have worked for your employer for more than a month and a right to written reasons for dismissal as long as you have worked there for more than one year

Employee Responsibilities

Sometimes a contract of employment will explain what obligations and duties are owed by an employee to their employer, sometimes they will not. However, under UK law there are a number of fundamental responsibilities that all employees have to their employer:

1. To do what a reasonable employee would do in any situation
2. To be honest
3. To not to disrupt business (this can include industrial action)
4. To carry out instructions by the employer (as long as they are legal)
5. To expose any convictions or spent convictions.
6. To report wrongdoing by other employees
7. No to disclose any of the employer’s private or confidential information
8. To look after the employer’s property
9. Not to take bribes or other commit fraud
10. To be prepared to change when the job changes
11. To work with reasonable care and skill
12. To give up the rights to any inventions to the employer if these are developed by the employee during the course of their employment

Employees may be subject to other rights and responsibilities depending upon their particular circumstances and you should always check your contract to know what these are.