A to Z of Employment - Entries for F
Fair reasons for Dismissal
See Dismissal
Fall back scheme – Parental leave
The Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 introduced a right to Parental Leave for parents of children under the age of 5 or under the age of 18 if the child is disabled. The regulations permit employers and employees (or their representatives) to agree arrangements for taking leave, but in the absence of agreement a Fall Back Scheme sets out timescales for the notification and taking of Parental Leave.
DEL - ER Booklet 25
Family-Friendly Policies
The Government is committed to ensuring that every child has the best possible start in life and to creating more choice for all parents: by helping fathers and mothers better control the balance between working and the time spent with their children, whilst ensuring that the needs of business are met.
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1283
- Maternity - DEL ER Booklet 16
- Time off for dependants- DEL ER Booklet 24
- Parental leave - DEL ER Booklet 25
- Paternity leave- DEL ER Booklet 34
- Adoptive parents -DEL ER Booklet 35
- Flexible working- DEL ER Booklet 36
Fidelity – implied duty off
It is an implied (and may also be stated as an express term) term in a contract of employment, that an employee must act in an honest and faithful manner and not do anything to that would be perceived as harmful to the employer’s legitimate business interests, for example, disclosing confidential commercial information to a competitor. An employee who acts in a manner contrary to the duty of fidelity could be viewed as acting in Breach of Contract.
Fixed-Term Contracts
A Fixed Term Contract is a contract that is for a fixed period of time and ends when a specific date is reached, or is for the purposes of fulfilling a specific task and ends when the task has been completed, or where the contract is for a specific event, ends when that event does or does not happen. Fixed Term employees have the right not to be treated any less favourably than comparable employees on permanent contracts. Employees who have been employed on successive fixed-term contracts (that is, they have had the contract renewed previously or have been employed on more than one) for a period of four continuous years, can ask their employer for a statement confirming that they are permanent and/or no longer on a fixed-term contract. Employers have to issue this statement or one giving objective reasons why the contract remains fixed-term within 21 days of the employee's request. The employer can only keep them on the fixed-term contract if they can objectively justify it at the point it was last renewed.
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=518&detailid=557
DEL Guidance Booklet Fixed Term Work a guide to the regulations
Flexible Working
If you have a young child under the age of six or a disabled child under the age of eighteen you have the right to apply to work flexibly. Flexible working includes things like part-time work, using flexi-time or job sharing. Employers have a legal duty to give serious consideration to these requests. The Work and Families (NI) Order 2006 also introduced a new right for carers of adults to request to work flexibly. This became effective on 6 April 2007.
DEL ER Booklet 36 Flexible working: a guide for employers and employees
Foreign workers
See Migrant workers
Frustration of Contract
Frustration of a contract occurs when, without the fault of either party, some unforeseeable event occurs which makes future performance of the contract either impossible, or something radically different from what was contemplated originally. There is no dismissal if such an event occurs.