Understanding your fundamental rights at work is the first step to ensuring you are treated fairly and with respect. This guide provides an overview of the key protections you are entitled to under UK law.
Your employment contract is a legal agreement, and you have the right to a written statement of your main terms on your first day. As of April 2025 the National Living Wage for workers aged 21+ is £12.21 per hour (lower rates apply to younger workers). You are entitled to an itemised payslip, and your employer cannot deduct money from your pay unless required by law, set out in your contract, or agreed by you in writing.
Pay on exit: the checklistYou cannot usually be forced to work more than an average of 48 hours per week unless you have voluntarily opted out in writing. If your working day exceeds six hours you are entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute rest break, and every worker is entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks' paid holiday per year — 28 days for a full-time employee.
Dismissed for asserting these rights?The Equality Act 2010 protects you from being treated unfairly because of nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. The protection covers recruitment, promotion, pay and dismissal.
Read the detailed discrimination guide How discrimination is provedYour employer has a legal duty of care to take all reasonable steps to protect your physical and mental wellbeing at work — including conducting risk assessments and protecting staff from harassment, bullying and unsafe working conditions.
Bullying & harassment guideIf you are eligible, Statutory Sick Pay is £118.75 per week (from April 2025) for up to 28 weeks. You also have statutory rights to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental bereavement leave and pay — and the legal right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
Find the right guide for your issueYou have the right to raise a formal grievance and have it properly investigated — and a statutory right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative at any formal grievance or disciplinary meeting.
Go to the Grievance Survival Toolkit Go to the Letter & Grievance BuilderIf you are dismissed you are entitled to at least the statutory minimum notice — after two years' service, one week per full year worked (up to 12 weeks). After two years you are protected from unfair dismissal, and redundancy may carry a statutory redundancy payment.
Unfair dismissal guide Negotiating settlement agreements Employment Tribunal preparationStart with our signposting page — identify the issue you're facing and we'll point you to the right guide.