Employers' Responsibilities
Employers need to be aware of their responsibilities, including
complying with employment law, tax and National Insurance as well
as work practices.
It is important to keep up with employment law and take notice
of changes as they may affect the way you work with your employees.
Centre for Independent Living - Belfast can provide you with up-to-date
information on employment law including fundamental statutory employment
rights.
Fundamental statutory employment rights
There are some statutory employment rights that apply to all employees
regardless of their hours of work or the length of time they have
been employed. Employees have the right to equal pay and not to
have unlawful deductions from pay, as well as the right to make
a complaint of unfair dismissal if dismissed on such grounds.
Domestic employers are not bound by Equal Opportunities, Fair Employment
or Race Relations legislation when selecting employees. However,
once you have employed someone, you need to ensure that you do not
discriminate against him or her. For example, it is unlawful to
dismiss a female employee for being pregnant. As a group, disabled
people have often faced discrimination in employment and therefore,
will want to ensure that they do not discriminate against anyone
on the grounds of gender, religion, disability etc.
Employees who have been employed for at least one month have the
right to written particulars of employment within two months of
starting work. These will incorporate method and timing of pay,
holiday entitlements etc. and should include a brief description
of the duties of the post and a job title.
Redundancy
Redundancy payments depend on how long a person has worked for
you and are linked to the hours he or she works weekly. Please see
our information sheet on redundancy.
Hours worked and breaks
Your Personal Assistant is under no legal obligation to work more
than 48 hours per week. An average is taken over a 17 weeks period
so don't worry if you sometimes need your employee to work extra
hours.
Personal Assistants are free to offer to work more than 48 hours
per week, but this must be agreed in writing. Employees are entitled
to a break of 20 minutes if they work for more than 6 hours per
day.
The rules that provide these basic rights and protections to employees
are known as the Working Time Regulations.
Other rights and protections your employees have under the regulations
include:
- A right to 11 hours rest a day.
- A right to a day off each week.
- A right to an in-work rest break if the working day is longer
than 6 hours.
- A right to 4.8 weeks paid leave per year.
Working at night
There are specific regulations on working hours at night. Employees
working at night can usually only be required to work an average
of 8 hours work in 24. Depending on the individual circumstances,
the regulations may not apply. You should check the situation with
Citizen’s Advice Bureau or a similar appropriate agency.
Holiday entitlement
All employees are legally entitled to 4.8 weeks paid holiday per
year. Public holidays may be included in the 4.8 weeks. Nobody is
exempt from this rule and it applies to full time staff and part
time staff on a pro-rata basis. Holiday entitlement applies from
the first day of employment but they would usually need to be accrued
before your employee takes them.
National Minimum wage
As an employer you must pay your workers a minimum amount for the
work they do. The amount you have to pay is decided by law and is
known as the National Minimum wage.
There are three levels of minimum wage:
- Workers aged 22 years and older are entitled to £5.73
per hour.
- There is a development rate of £4.77 per hour for
- Workers aged 18 - 21 years of age inclusive
- Workers aged 22 years and above, who are starting a new job
with a new employer and doing accredited training. Accredited
training is a Government approved course that leads to a vocational
qualification.
- A minimum rate of £3.53 per hour should be paid to all
17 year olds and 16 year olds who are above the compulsory school
leaving age. In Northern Ireland a person may leave school after
the 30th June of the school year in which their 16th birthday
occurs.
You are advised to pay as appealing a wage as you can afford as
this may make it easier to attract and keep good staff.
If a Personal Assistant does sleep-in duties, you need only pay
the minimum wage for the hours they are actually awake. You will
normally pay a rate for sleep-in duties per night.
Stakeholder Pensions
Anyone who is employing five or more Personal Assistants with at
least one of them earning more than the Lower Earnings Limit for
National Insurance needs to designate a stakeholder pension provider.
Insurance
Employers are generally required by law to take out Employer's
Liability insurance against injury or illness sustained by employees
in the course of their duties.
Public Liability insurance and extra vehicle insurance may also
be necessary.
Insurance is discussed more fully in
another information sheet available from CIL.
Health and Safety
Your employees have the right not be put at risk of injury or infection
at work. Employers have a responsibility to ensure a safe working
environment. You should promote good practice by insisting on hygiene.
It may be necessary to make sure that Personal Assistants know how
to lift safely.
Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay
Employers have a legal responsibility to pay Statutory Sick Pay
and Statutory Maternity Pay to any employees who qualify. Any employee
dismissed on the grounds of pregnancy will automatically be entitled
to regard this as unfair dismissal.
Taxation and National Insurance Contributions
There is a requirement by law that employers inform their local
tax office when they take on new employees. Employers are expected
to make the necessary National
Insurance Contributions and tax deductions.
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