Employment law - Employees Entitlement to Pay
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30 December 2011
The National Minimum Wage
There are different levels of national minimum wage depending on your
age. However the main wage rate for workers over 21 is £6.08 per hour.
It does not matter if you are paid weekly or monthly or you work full
time or part time your employer is required to pay you a minimum of
£6.08 an hour.
Working Hours
Usually an employee cannot be forced to work over 48 hours a week. This
average is taken over 17 weeks. So in one week you can work over 48
hours as long as over the 17 week period it averages out as 48 hours a
week. However if you want you can opt out of 48 hour a week scheme. To
do this you have to be over 18 and it has to be in writing and you have
to volunteer. Your employer does not have the right to sack you or
treat you unfairly for example by refusing you a promotion if you
refuse to opt out of the scheme. If you do opt in and decide to opt out
at any point an employer will usually require 7 days notice.
Sick Pay
If you have to take time off resulting from an illness, there are two
types of sick pay you maybe entitled to:
- Company sick pay
- Statutory sick pay
Company sick pay
Your employer may offer you company sick pay which may be better than
statutory sick pay. The scheme that is offered to you must not fall
below the legal minimum. All the details about your sick pay should be
included in your contract of employment. If your employer does not have
a sick pay scheme then it should say so in its contract of employment.
Statutory sick pay
If you are working for an employer under a contract of
employment then you are entitled to statutory sick pay if:
- You are sick for four days in a row
- Your average weekly earning is above
£102
To receive statutory sick pay you have to:
- Tell your employer that you are sick
- If you are asked by your employer to
provide some medical evidence.
- The rate of statutory week pay is
£81.60 a week
Safwan Islam is a legal assistant to Izaz Ali who can
be contacted at izaz.ali@lawdit.co.uk
About the Author
Lawdit
Solicitors offer services and advice for litigation,
commercial contracts, Intellectual Property and IT legal agreements. We
are experts in commercial law with a heavy emphasis on Intellectual
Property, Internet and e-commerce law. Lawdit is a member of the
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