This chapter examines the statutory regulation of the wage–work bargain and the working conditions of ‘employees’ and ‘workers’, analysing their historical background and the justifications for their introduction. It covers the rights conferred on employees and workers under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Working Time Regulations 1998, including working time rights and the right to annual leave. Both laws have the capacity to over-ride the mutually agreed contractual arrangements struck by the parties. The chapter also addresses the provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 relating to wages (e.g. the statutory right not to suffer unauthorized deductions from wages, and the right to a guarantee payment).
Chapter
8. Pay and Working Time
Chapter
4. Alternative Personal Work Contracts and Relations
This chapter first examines the two statutory constructs occupying an intermediate position between the employment contract and contract for services that have been formulated by the UK Parliament as a repository for the conferral of certain statutory employment rights. These two statutorily recognized personal work contracts—the ‘worker’ contract and the ‘contract personally to do work’—are intermediate contract types, lying somewhere between the contract of employment and the contract for services. The discussion here is situated within the context of the controversy surrounding the growing numbers of atypical working contracts, such as contracts entered into by ‘gig economy’ workers, ‘zero-hours’ workers, casual workers, etc. The chapter then turns to address the legal status of agency workers. It examines whether the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 address the disadvantages experienced by this section of the UK workforce.
