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?
Is it still permissible to award greater holiday entitlement to employees who have, for example, 10 years' service?
Employers can award additional holiday entitlement to employees with long service only if this falls within the
"business need" exception for service-related benefits. Paragraph 10 of sch.9 to the Equality Act 2010 provides an absolute exception from the
Act for service-related benefits awarded by reference to a length of
service criterion of up to five years. It also allows a length of service
criterion of more than five years where it "reasonably appears" to the employer
that the way in which the criterion is used "fulfils a business need", for example by encouraging the loyalty or motivation, or
rewarding the experience, of some or all of its workers. The "business need" test is not the same as the standard age discrimination
objective justification test, because there is no requirement to show
proportionality. The standard of proof necessary for an employer to take advantage
of this exception is, therefore, lower.
Many benefits based on length of service arguably seek to
reward loyalty or experience. However, the employer will still need evidence
from which it can reasonably conclude that there is a benefit to the business. This
might include information gathered through monitoring, staff attitude surveys
or focus groups. The employer should, therefore, go through a process of
actively considering whether or not the long-service criterion it imposes for receipt
of increased holiday entitlement does actually fulfil a business need, and
should set out in writing its reasoning and conclusions.
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