Writing an employment contract... what exactly is a period of continuous employment?

the employee has previously been under a verbal contract for casual work at a bar of a not for profit organisation. after a few issues we deemed it nessesary to compile a full written contract. due to the bar only being open 3-4 nights a week, the job is only meant to be treated as secondary employment. we cannot offer sick pay or holiday pay so decided that a "zero hours" contract is the right one for us - where you offer hours as and when and it's up to the employee whether they want to accept them. the current employee has been with us almost a year and as the "terms" of employment are about to change wondered if we are allowed to "restart" her employment date with the issue of the new contract?
if we can do this could we also put them under a new probationary period? or would we have to remove this for them? and we could carry over a written warning couldn't we?
if you have any other help or advice would be most appreciated! thanks!

ok, so we continue their start date from previously. with thier approval we can pretty much change anything else, appart from the actual job and duties.

does anyone know where i can get detailed information or an example of a "zero hours" type contract?

The ACAS website is excellent in all things employment. www.acas.gov.uk and their helpline is also very good.

One key thing here is that you can't change someone's T&C's without their agreement. If she didnt have written T&c's before, then statutory terms would apply, as well as custom and practice and any verbal agreements. So, if she has previously been wokring for 4 nights, you can't reduce this to nil unless she agrees. More on the acas website.

a period of continuous employment means that u had no lapse of employment, that you were employed continuously either from one job or right to another with no lapse what so ever...

hope this helps

I think you ought to contact the department for employment as there are several grey areas here and is not as simple as just continuous employment. For instance does your employee have a contract of employment for starters.

No err on the side of caution and ask elsewhere.

PS I would ask you boss to send you an employment and employment legislation and contract course.

Poor employees!

My understanding of this is that if there has been no break in employment then it is continuous employment. The fact that this is a secondary job doesn't make that much difference. As the person now has a written contract was the original date on this? I am not aware that the person would be entitled to any "severance" pay if the job was deleted, the reason I think this is because you say it is a zero hours contract. If however you want to change the terms, this would have to be by negotiation and have the agreement of the employee. You would have to issue the new terms from the date they come into force but also state the employment begun, way back when.... You would be able to keep a written warning if still live. You would not be able to instigate a new probationary period. The only way round all of this is; if the job description changed. This would have to be a real change with differing duties, and tasks. If this was an option the person could be ring fenced for the job, subject to interview. The job that was being done by this person should no longer exist. You cant delete a post and then re instate it. If successful they would then have to sign a new contract and complete a probationary period. A written warning would then be null and void. Does this help?............

I have posted a very good link, it has most if not all the answers you need.

Whatever you do you'll still have to pay holiday pay based on the hours they work - this is a legal requirement for all "workers", casual or not.

Ring Acas and get advice on your situation, you're playing with fire and this really isn't the place to get all the answers.

www.acas.org.uk