What obligations does an employer owe its employees?

When an employer enters into a contract of employment with an employee, they will often sign a written agreement which lists the obligations of both parties. An employer will usually get an employment solicitor to draw up such a contract. The terms included in the contract are known as express terms. As well as express terms, there are also terms implied into the contract by employment law.
The common law, that is law that comes from previously decided cases, requires that employers pay wages and provide work for the employee to do. While it may be that the employer is not required to provide work, provided the employee is paid, in many circumstances the employer will be required to. If you are unsure about your implied duty to provide work, talk to an employment solicitor about whether this is implied into your particular contract. In circumstances where the employee relies on publicity to further their career and where the employee is senior, it is likely that the employer will be required to provide work.

Where an employee incurs expenses and liabilities in the course of their employment, the employer is under a duty to indemnify the employee. There is also a common law duty to take care of the employee’s health and safety by providing reasonable working conditions. While this duty exists at common law, it has been largely superseded by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and subsequent regulations which impose a statutory duty on the employer and the employee. An employment solicitor can advise an employer on their health and safety obligations towards employees, which includes having employers’ liability insurance in place.

An employer and an employee have a mutual duty of trust and confidence; breach of this duty is commonly cited in employment tribunal claims as the cause of constructive dismissal. You should be aware of the repercussions of this as an employer and it is worth obtaining legal advice from an employment lawyer in respect of this duty. An employer is also under a duty to take care when giving references, so you need to be sure that references are objective and do not contain misleading information; an employer can be liable for the loss suffered as a result of a misleading reference.

An employer also has obligations regarding dismissal and redundancy. For example, an employee must be given their redundancy rights and redundancy entitlement. Redundancy rights are set out by the law, but the contract may specify the employee’s redundancy entitlement, or the contract may set out a more favourable redundancy entitlement.