• Two weeks – the period of compulsory maternity leave – no woman can be required or permitted to work within two weeks of childbirth (four weeks for factory workers).

• Three months – the time limit for bringing most tribunal claims. But don’t forget that the time limit for bringing a claim for unfair dismissal is extended by three months if the statutory dismissal procedure applies and the employee bringing the claim “had reasonable grounds for believing” that a dismissal or disciplinary procedure was being followed when the original time limit expired. And, in cases where the grievance procedure applies, ie most tribunal claims that do not concern an express dismissal, the time limit is automatically extended by three months if the employee submits a written grievance to the employer before the original time limit expires.

• Four weeks – the time period before the expected week of childbirth (EWC) when a pregnancy-related illness can trigger the start of maternity leave. A woman’s maternity leave will commence on the day following the first day after the beginning of the fourth week before the EWC on which she is absent wholly or partly because of pregnancy.

• Five years – the service period up to which there is a blanket exception for benefits under the age discrimination legislation. For example, where employees become eligible for private health insurance after one year, this will be entirely lawful as the benefit accrues within the first five years of service. An employer may also be able to justify a service criterion of longer than five years by reference to a business need - although this will not automatically be the case.

• Six months – the minimum length of time before the intended retirement date that an employer can inform an employee of the date on which his or her employment will terminate and of the right to request to continue working beyond this date. The maximum time before the intended retirement date that the employer can give this information is 12 months.

• Seven weeks – the “short” fixed period of ACAS conciliation applying to claims such as a failure to pay wages, unauthorised deductions from wages or failure to pay a redundancy payment. Other claims such as unfair dismissal are subject to a standard conciliation period of 13 weeks, while there is no fixed period of conciliation for equal pay, discrimination and whistleblowing claims, which tend to be complex and unsuited to a fixed period.

• Eight weeks – the required notice for a woman to return before the end of her full maternity leave period (now one year for all women with an EWC on or after 1 April 2007). The required notice for early return is just 28 days for a woman whose baby was expected prior to 1 April 2007.

• Nine – the number of statutory bank holidays in Scotland, taking into account the new St Andrew’s Day bank holiday on 30th November. But this doesn’t mean that employees in Scotland are entitled to an extra day’s holiday - don’t forget that any right to time off on particular bank holidays is dependent on the contract or agreement between the employer and employees. However, as the purpose behind the new St Andrew’s Day bank holiday date is to encourage a national celebration, it is expected that employers will substitute the St Andrew’s Day holiday in favour of another local holiday.

• Ten – the minimum percentage uplift to compensation where the employer has failed to comply with one of the statutory dispute resolution procedures. The maximum is 50%. Conversely, where the failure is on the employee’s part, any award may be reduced by between 10% and 50%. There may, however, be exceptional circumstances where it would be unjust or inequitable to increase or decrease the award by at least 10%.