Determining continuous employment

Updating author: Nicola Stibbs

XpertHR editor: Zuraida Curtis

Summary

• Qualification for many statutory employment rights is dependent on the employee having been continuously employed for a specific period. (See Qualifying periods for statutory employment rights)
• A person is treated as being in continuous employment if they are employed under a contract of employment. (See Continuity of a period of employment)
• A period of continuous employment is reckoned on a week by week basis. (See Weeks that count)
• Some weeks do not break the continuity of a period of employment but must be discounted when computing an employee's total period of continuous employment. (See Breaks in employment that count towards continuous employment; Industrial disputes; Reinstatement after military service and Employment outside Great Britain)
• In prescribed circumstances, a change of employer or a change in the ownership of an employer's business does not break the continuity of an employee's period of continuous employment. (See Continuity and a change of employer)