work contract

[hotlips1]

Can anyone give me some advice please? I have been with my current emploter for 10 months and still don't have a contract. There are several of us in the same position. We've all asked for one and keep being told we'll get one and it's in hand etc. I've even tried demanding one but to no avail. I basically want to know where I stand without one and what my rights are. Can anyone give advice?

[cesdlv]

hotlips1, you are entitled to a statement of your principal terms and conditions of employment within 8 weeks of starting work and it has to cover issues like notice obligations of both parties, pay arrangements, holidays, pensions, disciplinary procedures, etc. The problem is that there is no penalty on an employer who fails to provide it! Some employers enjoy the resultant uncertainty.

On the other hand, there is little risk in pressing your employer harder. If you were dismissed, it would be unfair dismissal 'for asserting a statutory right', and you could go to an Employment Tribunal even though you do not have a year's continuous employment.

Better still, join a trade union, and get them to do this for you.

Good luck.

[Sprowston]

You do have a contract! It may not be in writing, but it is still a contract and you have the same statutory rights as if the contract was in writing! You just may not get any non-statutory perks that the employer might have granted in a written contract!

Keep pressing politely.