1E9Ct5D

9. Information and consultationBy legislation made under the EuropeanWorks Council Directive and Information andConsultation of Employees Regulations 2004,large transnational companies (defined asthose with more than 1000 employees in theEEA and at least 150 in two or more memberstates) must give their employees theopportunity to be consulted by management incertain given situations, most notably inrelation to the financial and economic positionof the company, and the company’s futureplans.10. Posted workersWorkers posted temporarily to work in anotherEU Member State will benefit from certainminimum terms and conditions of employmentavailable in that state if they are morefavourable than those available under UK law.11. Family friendly rightsPregnant employees are entitled to up to 52weeks’ maternity leave, regardless of theirlength of service.Fathers with 26 weeks’ service by 15 weeksbefore their baby is due are entitled to twoweeks paternity leave and then may take overtheir partners’ maternity leave after 20 weeks.Those adopting a child are entitled to up to 52weeks adoption leave if he or she has beenemployed for 26 weeks before the adoption.There is no obligation on employers tocontinue paying employees’ full salaries whilstthey are on maternity, paternity or adoptionleave, unless contractual payments areprovided for in their contracts of employment.However, there are statutory pay schemeswhich operate in these circumstances.Employers are under a duty to considerapplications for flexible working fromemployees who are parents of children under17 (or 18 if disabled) and employees withcaring responsibilities for adults.12. TerminationThere are statutory minimum periods of noticeon the termination of employment, namely oneweek after four weeks’ service and oneadditional week for each completed year ofservice up to a maximum of 12 weeks’ noticeafter 12 years’ service.Employees must have two years’ service tobring a claim for unfair dismissal. There aresome situations where an employee does notneed one year’s service to bring a claim forunfair dismissal, for example if the dismissal ispregnancy related or related to health andsafety issues. Employees with more than twoyears’ employment are entitled to receive astatutory redundancy payment if theiremployment is terminated for reason ofredundancy.2. Pensions1. IntroductionThere are three tiers of pension provision inthe United Kingdom: the basic state pension,the state second pension, and employers’ andemployees’ own private arrangements.Basic State PensionAll employees with sufficient earnings historywill receive a flat rate Basic State Pension(2012-13, £107.45 per week for a singleperson) from the Government at their statepension age. This is financed by employees’compulsory social security contributions,National Insurance Contributions (NICs), whichemployers are required to deduct fromemployees’ pay and then pass directly to theGovernment.From December 2018 the State Pension agefor both men and women will start to increaseto reach 66 in October 2020. However, thegovernment announced on 29 November 2011that State Pension age will now increase to 67between 2026 and 2028. This change is notyet law and will require the approval ofParliament.State Second PensionEmployees may also become entitled to theState Second Pension (known as S2P,formerly SERPS) from the Government. Againthis is financed by compulsory NIC paymentsand is payable from state pension age,although the amount of this pension dependsupon the amount earned during theemployee’s working lifetime.Private provisionThe third tier of pension provision is providedby employers and their employees. Thisprivate provision can be either by means of anoccupational pension scheme, which anemployer establishes and operates for its staff;PAGE 17