Q: I am a small organisation about to employ my first two people. I have been told that I need to have formal contracts in place with them – surely if we agree things verbally this is ok just now until the business gets bigger?

A: All employees are entitled to a written statement of particulars within their first 8 weeks of employment. This written statement must cover certain statutory minimum areas for example job title, start date, pay, holiday entitlement and notice period.* There must also be information on disciplinary and grievance procedures available to them.

The contract of employment is your opportunity to ensure that the business ‘rules’ and expectations are outlined and also ensures that both parties are aware of the expectations and responsibilities place upon them. Therefore although there is a legal requirement for your two new starts to be issued with a contract it should also be seen as a positive start to the employment relationship.
(*this is not the complete list of requirements – for further information please contact Spectrum HR)

Q: One of my employees has just told me that she is pregnant. Help! What do I need to do and where do I start?

A: There is a lot of legislation surrounding pregnancy and maternity at work and it is recommended that you seek advice during this time. In brief now that you are aware your employee is pregnant a risk assessment must be carried out to review working conditions, environment and tasks to be undertaken in their role, to identify any risk to your employee’s health or that of her child. Any areas of risk identified through this risk assessment must be dealt with immediately through making reasonable adjustments.

There are obligations on both the employer and the employee throughout the period of pregnancy, maternity and on return to work. Your employee is entitled to time off for antenatal appointments and a request to attend such an appointment cannot be reasonably refused.

Your employee is entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, dependant on her length of service, and this is made up of paid and unpaid time covered by Statutory Maternity Pay. You must inform your employee in writing of her right to maternity leave (if she meets the qualifying criteria) and the dates on which her maternity leave will end.

Q: One of my employee’s is regularly late and although I have spoken to him his timekeeping only improves for a few days and then he slips back into turning up late – what can I do?

A: You have done the right thing in raising this issue with your employee and you need to ensure that, when you have any discussions around conduct or capability, individuals are aware of the consequences of the behaviour being repeated. You need to ensure that have clearly highlighted the expectations of the business with regard to timekeeping and clearly state if the behaviour continues that formal action would be taken. If during these conversations your employee has not raised any underlying reasons as to why they are regularly late then after raising the issue informally it is time to take formal disciplinary action.

Following the disciplinary procedure that you have in place, where further investigation is required into their lateness carry this out, and then invite to a disciplinary hearing, giving them the right to be accompanied. After the hearing and taking into account any evidence that the employee has raised you will need to decide if disciplinary action is to be taken and at what level i.e. first written warning for example. You will then need to write to the employee stating the outcome of the disciplinary hearing and providing them with the right of appeal. Ensure that where warnings are issued that the letter clearly states what behaviour is expected and that they will be monitored. The letter must also state what the consequences will be if the behaviour continues.

These are some of the main issues to consider however it is recommended that you seek HR support during this time. Therefore please contact Spectrum HR for further assistance.