e. Employee rights and obligations

Whilst not all workers are employees (some people are self-employed for example) it is the view of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) that council works are generally employees because clerks are office holders.  Therefore councils must always deduct tax and any National Insurance contributions from their pay.

Employees should have a contract of employment which forms the basis of the employment relationship.  This results in a number of rights and duties such as:

• the right not to be discriminated against

• the right to have equal pay

• the right not to be unfairly dismissed

• the right to have an itemised pay statement

• the right to maternity/paternity benefits, shared parental or adoption benefits and parental leave

• time off for dependants

• to apply for flexible working

• to notice of termination of employment

• not to have unlawful deductions from pay

• to redundancy pay

• to a safe system of work

• Statutory sick pay

• the right to a reasonable amount of time off

• to be enrolled automatically into a 'qualifying' pension scheme, subject to eligibility criteria

• to apply for time to train

• to trade union membership

• the right to protection if a business transfer is covered by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE)

• the right to a written reason for dismissal

• to a written statement of the mains terms of the contract....

• to minimum hourly rates

• to annual leave and working time limits

• to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings

• the right for part-timers to be treated no less favourably than comparable full-timers

• the right for employees on fixed term contracts to be treated no less favourably than comparable permanent employees

• to protection when making disclosures of wrongdoing (eg whistleblowing)

• the right to access their personal data held by their employer