How Solicitors Can Help to Resolve the Employment Issues

It's a sad fact that many employers don't treat their employees fairly. This can range from bullying and discrimination to unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal. If you're an employee who feels like they are being mistreated by their employer, it can be tempting to accept things as they are out of fear of losing your job or having your contract terminated. However, there is a no win no fee solicitors accident at work present all the time for those who feel that they've been treated unfairly at work; an employment solicitor is a person you need if you want to make sure that your rights aren't being violated at work.

Wages

Wages are the amount of money a worker receives for their work. Various types of wages must be calculated when calculating a worker's pay:

• Basic Pay
• Overtime Pay
• Holiday Pay

These rates apply to most workers over the age of 25. If you are still determining how much your employee should be paid, visit GOV.UK for further information about calculating pay for employees in different situations (i.e., apprenticeships).

Working hours

This includes any suspension of work and any holiday or sick leave. The maximum working week is 48 hours, but there are some exceptions to this rule (such as in the case of shift workers). Staff generally need to take a 20-minute break after 4 and a half hours of continuous work. They must also get an uninterrupted 30-minute break if they work more than 6 hours per day, with an additional 15 minutes if they continue working beyond 8 hours per day.

Workers are entitled to one week's paid annual leave every year after they've worked continuously for 13 weeks; two weeks paid annual leave can be taken at once or split into two separate periods over the year—for example, 7 days now and 7 days later on—but employers can't force workers to take it all at once unless their contracts say so; otherwise it must be taken in one block during summer or winter holidays (June 1st – Aug 31st or Dec 22nd – Jan 5th).

Holidays

• When do you accrue holiday?
• How much holiday pay is a worker entitled to?
• How should you calculate the difference between contractual and statutory holiday pay?

Disability

The Equality Act 2010 protects you from disability discrimination at work. The law says that it is unlawful for your employer to treat you less favourably than other employees because of a physical or mental impairment that has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months.

What are the differences between a physical and mental impairment?

A physical impairment can be seen by someone else, such as a person with a visual impairment who uses glasses or contact lenses, or someone who has lost their sight completely. A mental impairment might be harder for others to see – it could include conditions like depression and anxiety or schizophrenia. If you have any kind of illness which affects your ability to do your job then this will also count as an impairment under the Equality Act 2010.

Harassment

Harassment is defined by the law as "any unwanted conduct which violates the dignity of an employee and creates a hostile or degrading working environment". Harassment can take many different forms, ranging from physical touching to comments about someone's appearance or race.

Unfair dismissal

A dismissal is unfair if the employer fails to follow the correct procedure when dismissing an employee.

The employer should:

• give the employee notice of dismissal and tell them why they are being dismissed, or pay compensation in lieu of this;
• keep records of all meetings with employees about their conduct or performance.

Discrimination

The law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. This means that you cannot be treated less favorably because of your age or sex.

You may have a claim if you can show that:

• You have been treated less favorably than someone else because of your age or sex (direct discrimination)
• The way in which rules are applied to all employees does not appear to be fair and reasonable (indirect discrimination)

For example: if an older worker is rejected for a particular role because of their age and younger workers were considered for this job before the old employee, this could amount to direct discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

Conclusion

We hope that these tips have helped you to understand how solicitors can help with employment issues, and why it's a good idea to seek legal advice when in need of assistance. We'd also like to thank you for taking the time out of your day to read our post!