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OUTLINE
OF PROVISIONS (cont'd)
What
notification is an employee entitled to receive when a change
occurs in one of the particulars of employment?
Employees
who qualify for a written statement (including those whose employment
began before 30 November 1993) are also entitled to receive written
notification whenever a change occurs in one of the particulars
required to be covered in that statement. This notification need
not be a personalised letter but could take the form of, for example,
a photocopied notice, provided that a copy is given to each of
the affected employees individually.
The notification
must be given at the earliest opportunity, and in any event within
one month of when the change occurs (or, if the change results
from the employee being required to work outside the UK for more
than one month and if his or her date of departure is earlier
than one month after the change occurs, before he or she leaves).
In most cases
the notification must contain explicit particulars of the change.
There are however a number of exceptions.
Particulars
of changes in:
- entitlement
to sick leave, including any entitlement to sick pay;
- pensions
and pension schemes;
- disciplinary
rules; and disciplinary or dismissal procedures; and
- any further
steps which follow from the making of an application under
the employer's disciplinary, dismissal or grievance procedures; may be
given by reference to some other document which the employee
has reasonable opportunities of reading in the course of his
or her employment or which is made reasonably accessible to
him or her in some other way. It is for individual employers
to make suitable arrangements to ensure that this requirement
is complied with, should they choose to make reference to some
other document.
In addition,
particulars of changes in the entitlement of employer and employee
to notice of termination may be given by reference to the
provisions of the relevant legislation or to those of any
relevant collective agreement which the employee has reasonable
opportunities of reading in the course of his or her employment
or which is made reasonably accessible to him or her in some other
way.
The itemised
pay statement which most employees are entitled to receive (see
document Pay statements:
what they must itemise (PL704))
may constitute a convenient vehicle for notifying changes in pay,
and in other matters, provided that appropriate wording is included
which draws attention to the change.
Note:
the fact that employers are required to notify employees of changes
to particulars in the written statement does not mean that they
are entitled to vary contractually-agreed terms and conditions
of employment without employees' consent. Once terms and conditions
of employment have been agreed, any changes should also be negotiated
and agreed between employers and employees (or their representatives).
For further information about variation of contract - see Contracts
of employment (PL810).
What information
is an employee entitled to receive when there is a change of employer?
When a change
of employer occurs, a new and full written statement of employment
particulars must normally be issued to employees within two months
of that change (or, if this is earlier, by the time the employee
leaves to work outside the UK for a period of more than one month).
There are however some exceptions.
If only the
name changes without any change in the employer's identity, or
if the identity changes in circumstances where the employee's
continuity of employment is preserved (see below), then provided
that there is no other change in terms and conditions a new statement
is not required. The employees must however be given individual
written notification of the change at the earliest opportunity,
and in any event within one month of when it occurs.
Continuity
of employment is preserved if:
- an undertaking
or part of an undertaking is transferred from one employer to
another (see Employment rights
on the transfer of an undertaking (PL699)
- by an Act
of Parliament one corporate body takes over from another as
the employer;
- the employer
dies and his or her personal representatives or trustees keep
the employee on in employment;
- there is
a change in the partners, personal representatives, or trustees
who employ the employee;
- the employee
moves from one employer to another where at the time of the
move the two employers are associated employers - that is, where
one is a company of which the other, either directly or indirectly,
has control, or where both are companies of which a third party,
either directly or indirectly, has control.
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