What payment details should be included in a contract of employment?
Should any benefits available to an employee be listed in the contract of employment?
Is it ever permissible for an employer to withhold bonus payments?
How should an employer go about setting up an employee share scheme?
When may an employer withdraw the use of a company car?
Are employee benefits taxable or non-taxable?
Is the company Christmas party a taxable benefit?
If an employer provides an employee's accommodation is it permissible to require the employee to leave the accommodation at the termination of employment?
What are an employer's duties regarding employee expenses?
Can an employer require employees to pay for their uniforms?
If an employee abroad on a work-related trip is unable to return to the UK due to travel disruption, is the employer responsible for paying for his or her accommodation and food?
If an employee abroad on a work-related trip is affected by travel disruption, is the employer responsible for the cost of alternative travel arrangements for the employee to return home?
Are long-service awards incompatible with the Equality Act 2010?
No, long-service awards are not necessarily incompatible with the
age discrimination provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Service-related benefits
- although not age-related benefits - are subject to a limited exemption
contained in para.10 of sch.9 to the Equality Act 2010. The exemption means that
long-service awards such as additional holiday or pay are allowed, provided that
they are awarded on the basis of service of five years or less. If this is the
case no further justification is required.
The five years of service can be either the length of time that
the worker has worked at or above a particular level in the business, or the
length of time the worker has been working for the employer in total. A
different method can be adopted in relation to different benefits. In
calculating the length of time that a worker has been working, the employer may
discount any period during which the worker was absent, unless, in all the
circumstances, it would not be reasonable to do so.
In addition, there is a general exception for all other
service-related benefits, provided that it reasonably appears to the employer
that the way in which it uses the criterion of length of service fulfils a
business need of the undertaking, for example by encouraging the loyalty or
motivation, or rewarding the experience, of some or all of its workers. In order
to meet these requirements, the employer would need evidence from which it can
conclude that there is a benefit to the business. This could include information
gathered through monitoring or staff attitude surveys.
The service-related exception does not apply to service-related
benefits arising as a result of termination of employment, for example
redundancy pay.
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Is it still permissible to award greater holiday entitlement to employees who have, for example, 10 years' service?
Where it is a company's policy to give a small gift to employees who have completed periods of service of multiples of 10 years could this be discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010?
Do employers have to account for VAT in relation to vouchers and other goods and services provided to employees under salary-sacrifice arrangements?
When did the changes in relation to the VAT treatment of taxable benefits under salary-sacrifice arrangements come into force?
Do employers have to account for VAT in relation to childcare vouchers provided to employees under salary-sacrifice arrangements?
How does the decision in the AstraZeneca case affect the income tax treatment of benefits to employees under salary-sacrifice arrangements?
Is it permissible for a salary sacrifice arrangement to reduce an employee's pay to below the level of the national minimum wage?