and
Is the individual named within this Contract of Employment (”Contract”), who will perform services on behalf of the Company.
1.1 In this agreement the following words and phrases shall have the following meaning:
“Agency” is an employment business that the Company has entered into a contract with to provide services to.
“Assignment” means the project on which the Employee will be providing services to the Client on behalf of the Company, as detailed on the Assignment Schedule.
“Assignment Schedule” means the schedule that will be provided to the Employee at the start of each new Assignment as indicated by the Agency. This schedule will contain details of the particular terms of the Assignment, in addition to the terms set out in this Contract, such as (but not limited to) hours of work, place of work, duration of Assignment, agreed rate of pay that the Employee’s time will be charged at, Client details and any other terms specific to that Assignment.
“Client” means a third party to which the Agency has contracted, to whom the Employee will be providing services to as per the Assignment Schedule.
2.1 The Employee’s employment with the Company will commence when the first Assignment starts provided always that the Employee has completed and signed all relevant documentation and returned it to the Company to complete the joining process (“Commencement Date”). There is no probation period within this Employment.
2.2 No previous employment counts as part of his/her period of continuous employment with the Company. This applies to engagement with Pinnacle Payroll only and not an engagement, or an assignment, with the same Client.
3.1 The Employee will report to a payments clerk, or such other person as may be authorised by the Company and notified to the Employee.
4.1 Pinnacle Payroll Services Ltd, Unit 3 Satellite Park, Macmerry, Tranent, Scotland, EH33 1RY
However, the nature of the Employee’s work is such that he/she may be required to work at any place that the Company requires him/her to work for a client within the United Kingdom or abroad. In the event the Employee is required to travel outside the United Kingdom, this will be on a temporary basis, but not for a period exceeding 1 month.
4.2 The place of work for each Assignment will be detailed in the Assignment Schedule.
5.1 The Employee’s job title in relation to each Assignment will be set out in the Assignment Schedule for each Assignment, or otherwise notified to the Employee in writing by the Client or the Agency. The Company reserves the right to require the Employee to perform such other or additional duties as the Company may reasonably determine from time to time subject to the additional duties being applicable to the Employee’s level of experience and skills.
5.2 It is the responsibility of the Employee to notify the Company of any changes to the Employee’s job title, qualifications or skill level that may affect the Assignment that the Employee has been allocated to. Breaches of this clause may result in summary dismissal or disciplinary action being invoked against the Employee.
6.1 The Company agrees to offer the Employee opportunities to work when a suitable Assignment becomes available to an Agency or a Client who may require his/her services. The Company does not guarantee that there will always be an Assignment available but the Company shall use its reasonable endeavours to provide work for the Employee. The Employee acknowledges that there may be periods between Assignments where no work is available.
6.2 Notwithstanding clause 6.1, the Company guarantees that it will offer the Employee a minimum of 336 hours work, to be accrued month on month, on an Assignment or a series of Assignments within the 12 month period commencing on the Commencement Date and any and all subsequent 12 month periods save that this figure shall be reduced on a pro-rata basis, based on length of service, on termination of the Employee’s employment pursuant to clause 12 if such termination occurs other than on an anniversary of the Commencement Date. Consequently, if the Employee works for 6 months and this Contract of Employment then terminates, the Employee will have been entitled to receive a minimum of 168 hours work on an Assignment or numerous Assignments during that period.
6.3 When the Company receives notification of an Assignment, these details will be provided to the Employee in the format of an Assignment Schedule. The pattern of hours that the Employee will be expected to work will be provided within the Assignment Schedule, these will be variable in accordance with the needs of the Client. The Employee is obliged to accept the terms of the Assignment and complete the work when required to do so by the Company.
6.4 Subject to the Employee’s entitlement to take annual leave and/or any other statutory entitlement to leave, it is a condition of employment that he/she must be available for work at all times. Where the employee is not actively working on an Assignment it is expected that they will spend a minimum 3 hours per week looking for alternative assignments and provide regular updates to the office.
6.5 The Employee will be required to work such additional hours as are reasonably required to complete the Assignment. Unless otherwise set out in the Assignment schedule, payment will not be paid at overtime rate.
7. PAY
7.1 The Company will pay the Employee wages calculated at the appropriate rate of National Minimum Wage for the number of hours worked. National Minimum Wage will be based on legislation in force at the relevant time.
7.2 Such wages will be paid at regular weekly/monthly intervals, the longest of which will be monthly in arrears, and will be subject to the prior deduction of income tax and National Insurance contributions.
7.3 In addition to the above the Employee may be eligible for a discretionary bonus which is dependent upon the profit (if any) generated by the Company for each of the Assignments. The Company reserves the right to amend and/or withdraw the Company’s bonus scheme at any time and, for the avoidance of any doubt, the Employee accepts that the bonus arrangements are not a contractual entitlement. A calculation of the income generated for the Company by the Employee (less any overheads incurred by the Company) and included in the calculations of the discretionary bonus will be either provided with the Employee’s payslip or if requested by the Employee.
7.4 The Employee is responsible for submitting a completed timesheet to the Agency, signed by a representative of the Client, within the timescales agreed by the Agency. Any delayed submission of the timesheet may result in a delay of payment to the Employee. Any timesheets submitted fraudulently or otherwise dishonestly will be dealt with under the Company’s disciplinary policy.
7.5 In respect of clause 6.2, if the Company fails to offer the Employee a minimum of 336 hours work on Assignment or a series of Assignments during the 12 month period, the 12-months being calculated from the employment start date, and pro-rata based on a month by month accrual, the Company will pay the Employee National Minimum Wage less primary class 1 National Insurance and PAYE in respect of each complete hour that the Employee has not been offered work calculated on a pro-rata basis.
8. DEDUCTIONS FROM PAY
8.1 For the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended), the Company shall be entitled to deduct any amounts owed to the Company by the Employee from his/her wages at any time and in any event on termination of the Employee’s employment.
8.2 The Company shall be entitled to appoint a third party to assist in the recovery of all amounts owed by the Employee to the Company and the Company shall be entitled to recover from, and the Employee shall indemnify and shall keep indemnified the Company in respect of, all costs, fees (including a 15% third party charge) and expenses incurred by or on behalf of the Company in taking such action.
9. EXPENSES
9.1 The Company shall (in accordance with the Company’s expenses policies and expense claim form issued from time to time) by way of reimbursement, pay or procure to be paid to the Employee all reasonable expenses which qualify either as a deduction for, or are exempt from, PAYE and Class 1 National Insurance contributions. For the avoidance of doubt, such tax treatment will be based upon either HMRC’s Booklets 480 or 490 or as set out in HMRC’s published Manuals or other material. Any expenses incurred but not paid by the Client are an overhead of the Company.
9.2 The Employee may also be eligible to claim tax relief on business related expenses. Full details of the eligibility to claim can be found in the Company Expense Policy.
9.3 Except where specified to the contrary, all expenses shall be reimbursed subject to the Employee providing appropriate evidence (including receipts, invoices, tickets and/or vouchers as may be appropriate) of the expenditure in respect of which he/she claims reimbursement.
9.4 If the Employee is found to be submitting fraudulent expenses, subject to a full investigation, disciplinary action may be invoked.
10. HOLIDAYS
10.1 The Employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday each holiday year. This entitlement is inclusive of bank and public holidays and holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (as amended) (“WTR”).
10.2 The holiday year commences on 1st April and ends on 31st March the following year and it is the Employee’s obligation to ensure that the full holiday entitlement is taken during the holiday year, otherwise it will be lost. For the avoidance of doubt, the Employee may not carry untaken holiday entitlement forward from one year to the following holiday year unless a period of statutory maternity, paternity or adoption leave has prevented the Employee from taking it in the relevant year.
10.3 The Employee will generally accumulate holiday pay at a rate no less than 12.07% of the hourly rate of pay for each hour worked, in accordance with the WTR and subsequent case law.
10.4 The amount of accumulated holiday pay will be shown on each payslip the Employee receives. The employee can choose to have an advance of the holiday entitlement paid on a weekly basis, at which during periods of annual leave no payment will be made or they can request to be paid the accumulated holiday pay at such time as any holidays are taken. Further communication will be provided to the employee on both of these options.
10.5 The Employee must give at least one week’s notice of any proposed holiday dates and these must be notified to the Payments Clerk in advance. The Company may require the Employee to take paid holidays on specific days including during periods when no Assignment is available.
10.6 On termination of employment the Employee will receive a payment equivalent to any paid holidays accrued (on a pro-rata basis) but not taken in the holiday year in which the employment terminates.
11. SICKNESS ABSENCE AND SICK PAY
11.1 If the Employee is unable to attend work because of sickness or injury he/she must notify his/her payments clerk as soon as reasonably possible and in any event within one hour of his/her start time; and
• complete and return to the Company a self-certification form in respect of the first seven days (including weekends) of any sickness absence; and
• provide the Company with a Fit Note from his/her General Practitioner or other registered medical practitioner for periods of sickness absence in excess of seven days (including weekends) or more and with Fit Notes for each subsequent week of sickness absence.
11.2 The Company will pay statutory sick pay in accordance with legislation in force from time to time (regardless of whether or not the Employee is or would otherwise be on an Assignment), provided the Employee complies with the notification and certification procedure set out above and satisfies all the other qualification requirements of the statutory scheme.
11.3 If the Employee is absent from work due to sickness for a period or periods that the Company deems excessive the Company will be entitled to terminate the Employee’s employment at any time, subject to a full investigation, by written notice on the date specified in the notice. The Company’s disciplinary policy will be applied in these circumstances.
11.4 Subject to the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988, the Company reserves the right to ask the Employee to attend a medical examination with a medical practitioner of its choice during or after any period of absence due to illness or incapacity. For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Employee hereby expressly consents to the Company retaining information about their health supplied by such medical practitioner on their personnel file for as long as is reasonably necessary.
12. TERMINATION
12.1 The written notice which the Company is required to give to terminate the Employee’s employment is one week’s notice if continuously employed for up to two years and then one week’s additional notice for each completed year of employment from two completed years up to a maximum of twelve weeks’ notice.
12.2 The notice required from the Employee to the Company to terminate employment is one week’s written notice.
12.3 For the avoidance of doubt, the Employee’s employment with the Company under this agreement does not necessarily end automatically on the termination of an Assignment but continues until the Employee or the Company has given notice of termination.
12.4 Upon termination of employment the Employee may be entitled to additional remuneration pursuant to clause 7.5 and such payment shall be made with the Employee’s final pay following the termination of employment. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Employer is able to offer working hours to the Employee during a period of notice such hours shall count towards the total hours offered to the Employee for the purposes of calculating any sum payable to the Employee under clause 7.5.
12.5 Upon termination of employment by the Company with notice, the Employee shall only be entitled to receive remuneration referred to in clause 7.5 if during the current 12 Month Period (or during the employment if less than 12 Months) you have been offered less than the pro- rata’d entitlement to 336 hours of work on Assignment. In which case, the Employee will be entitled to National Minimum Wage in respect of those hours within that pro-rata’d entitlement that the Employee has not been offered work.
The written notice which the Company is required to give to terminate the Employee’s employment is one week’s notice if continuously employed for up to two years and then one week’s additional notice for each completed year of employment from two completed years up to a maximum of twelve weeks’ notice.
12.6 The Employee is obliged to work when required by the Company. The Employee acknowledges that the Company may terminate the Employee’s employment if, in the Company’s sole discretionary opinion, the Employee unreasonably refuses to accept an assignment offered to him/her.
12.7 Should the Employee not be available to work for a period of 6 weeks and not have agreed with the Company in writing, except for any notified holiday, sickness, maternity, paternity, adoption or other leave, the Employee will be placed on a 1 week notice of termination of the employment. Termination will take place, in the absence of any contact or suitable explanation, at the end of the notice period.
12.8 The Employee’s employment may be terminated summarily without notice by the Company in the event that the Company reasonably believes that the Employee has committed any gross or serious misconduct.
12.9 The Employee’s employment may be terminated summarily or, at the sole discretion of the Company, suspended for such period as the Company shall decide where the Employee at any time ceases to hold any necessary licences and permits required to carry out the role for which the Employee is employed.
13. STATUS OF THE EMPLOYEE
13.1 Although the Employee will be subject on occasions to Client’s regulations when attending their premises or sites the Employee will remain throughout the currency of this agreement an employee of the Company and will automatically be subject to the reasonable rules of the Company.
By signing this Contract of Employment the Company and the Employee confirm that they agree to opt out, to the extent that they may apply, of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003 (“Conduct Regulations”) in respect of all future Assignments. The Employee is free to withdraw his/her intention to opt out of the Conduct Regulations at any time by giving not less than one week’s written notice to the Company. Such notice will not take effect until the Employee starts a new Assignment.
14. OBLIGATIONS OF THE EMPLOYEE
14.1 The Employee shall, at all times during the continuance of this Contract of Employment and in any event when sent on an Assignment
14.1.1 Not to engage in any conduct detrimental to the interests of the Company; 14.1.2 Co-operate with the Company’s and the Client’s reasonable instructions; and when providing services to a Client, comply with the following conditions:-
14.1.3 Be present at the Client’s premises or such other location as specified by the Client during the times, or for the total number of hours during each day or week as may be agreed;
14.1.4 As and when required by the Company or a Client to present authorised time sheets which accurately reflect the work done and hours worked;
14.1.5 Maintain all certificates and permits required to carry out the Employee’s role and to immediately notify the Company where any such certificates or permits are revoked or expire and are not immediately renewed;
14.1.6 Take all reasonable steps to safeguard the Employee’s own safety and the safety of other persons who may be affected by the Employee’s actions at work.
14.1.7 To have adequate motor insurance to cover the Employee during any business travel.
14.2 It is expected under the terms of this contract that the Employee will work on multiple Assignments for various Agencies and Clients on behalf of the Company.
14.3 The Employee shall not make use of or otherwise infringe the copyright, trademarks, patents or other intellectual property right of the Company and/or of any third party.
14.4 The Employee shall not either during the term of his/her employment or at any time after its termination: • disclose to any person or persons;
• use for his own purposes or for any purposes other than those of the Company; or
• through any failure to exercise all due care and diligence cause any unauthorised disclosure of any confidential information of the Company or a Client including the working of any process carried on or used by the Client or any intellectual property of the Client) or which the Employee has obtained by virtue of his employment with the Company. These restrictions shall cease to apply to information or knowledge which may (otherwise than through the default of the Employee) become available to the public generally without requiring a significant expenditure of labour, skill or money or as may be required by law.
14.5 The Company shall use its best endeavours to find the Employee alternative assignments when no work is available but the Employee is also required to look for assignments. The Employee should note that the Company is an umbrella company and not an employment agency or employment business with direct relationships with end user hirers, but the Company will use the contacts available to it to support the Employee when seeking work.
15. COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
15.1 No collective agreements exist which relate to any term or condition of the Employee’s employment.
16. WORKING TIME REGULATIONS
16.1 The Employee is limited from working in excess of an average of 48 hours per week over a seventeen-week reference period under the WTR.
16.2 The Employee is entitled to opt out of the restrictions of the Working Time Regulations by providing the Company with notice in writing of your decision and the date upon which you wish to commence taking advantage of this
16.3 The Employee acknowledges that he/she must co-operate with all policies and procedures put in place by the Company to comply with its obligations under the WTR.
16.4 The Employee acknowledges that the Company is his/her primary employer and accordingly the Employee must notify the Company of any other work undertaken by him/her and provide full details of hours worked on a weekly basis.
17. DATA PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS
17.1 The Employee acknowledges that during the course of his/her employment it will be necessary for the Company to maintain personnel records in relation to him/her and where appropriate, to release limited details of the Employee to third parties to whom the Company, through the Employee, is providing services. Such details shall be limited to those details, such as identification, eligibility to work in the territory in which the services are being performed and tax status so as to enable the Employee to provide the services to such parties. The Employee hereby authorises the Company to release such details as and when necessary.
17.2 All information concerning the Employee which is personal data and which is processed by the Company, for the purpose of data protection legislation in force at the relevant time, shall be processed only in accordance with such legislation and the Employee acknowledges that by signing this contract he/she consents to the Company processing such data for personnel management and administration purposes.
17.3 There may be occasion that the Company receives such requests for information about the Employee in relation to earnings and employment with the Company. These requests will be covered under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 of which there is a statutory provision to supply information, this information will not be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulations.
17.4 In addition to this contract, a separate privacy notice will be issued to the Employee with further detailed information on the storing of personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR (the retained EU law version of the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018).
18. CLAIMS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
18.1 The Employee shall at the request of the Company promptly take all such steps and provide the Company with such information as the Company may require to assist the Company in prosecuting or defending any claims or threat of litigation arising in respect of the Employee’s employment under this Agreement.
19. GRIEVANCE AND DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES
19.1 The Company’s disciplinary and grievance procedures in force at the relevant time are applicable to this contract of employment. Copies of the Company’s disciplinary and grievance procedures are available from the Human Resources department. Should the Employee wish to raise a Grievance or lodge an appeal they should email payroll@pinnaclepayrollservices.co.uk
19.2 The Company’s disciplinary and grievance procedures do not form part of the Employee’s contract of employment.
20. PENSION
20.1 To comply with the Pensions Act 2011 the Company provides a workplace pension scheme which the Employee will be automatically enrolled into should they meet the necessary criteria as detailed in the Act. Further communication regarding the scheme will be sent separately to the Employee by the Company on starting employment and details of the scheme, subject to joining, will be sent by the Pension Provider.
20.2 There is no contracting out certificate in force.
21. AGENCY WORKERS REGULATIONS
21.1 The Company agrees to comply with the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 and will use its reasonable endeavours to liaise with the Agency to obtain the relevant information as required.
22. CHANGES TO THE EMPLOYEE’S TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT
22.1 The Company reserves the right to make reasonable changes to any of the Employee’s terms and conditions of employment and will notify the Employee in writing of such changes at the earliest opportunity and, in any event, within one month after such changes have taken effect.
22.2 Such changes will be deemed to be accepted unless the Employee notifies the Company of any objection in writing before the expiry of the notice period.
23. ELIGIBILITY TO WORK
23.1 The employee hereby gives consent for the company to carry out the necessary checks to determine the employee’s right to work in the UK. All checks will be completed at the start of employment and in accordance with Home Office guidelines. Payment will not be processed until the check has been completed and confirms the right to work.
24. HEALTH AND SAFETY
24.1 The Employee will have read and understood the contents of the company’s Health and Safety policies, and any other relevant policies and codes of practices that relate to the tasks the Employee is undertaking.
25. TRAINING
25.1 The Company does not provide any training to the Employee, however, where training is provided by either the Company or the Client, this will be detailed in the Assignment Schedule. Any training provided to the Employee that incurs a cost, outside of the statutory training, may be subject to a separate Training re-imbursement Agreement. The Employee is expected to undertake any site-based Health & Safety and Induction training provided by the Client.
26. STATUTORY LEAVE
26.1 Subject to meeting the necessary criteria, The Employee is entitled to paid leave, set at a rate by the Government each year, for Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental Leave and Parental Bereavement Leave. Full details of the leave and pay provided can be found in the Employee Handbook. No other paid leave provisions are in place unless otherwise specified in the Assignment Schedule.
27. BENEFITS
27.1 The Company provides to the Employee access to a cash-back incentive scheme via a third-party provider. Details of how to log into the portal will be provided to the Employee at the start of their employment. The Company has the right to change provider or withdraw this benefit at any point during the employment. No other benefits are provided to the Employee unless otherwise specified in the Assignment Schedule.
28. ENTIRE CONTRACT
28.1 This Contract supersedes all previous agreements and arrangements (if any) relating to the employment of the Employee.