Guidance advice please

[aspiring]

Have a job offer for a company in England. They have an office in London but I have been told my job is remote.

My contract says that my usual place of work is my home. The contract also says The Company shall reimburse (or procure the reimbursement of) all reasonable expenses wholly, properly and necessarily incurred by you in the course of your employment, subject to production of receipts or other appropriate evidence of payment.

When I asked if my accommodation and travel is covered, they replied via email and said it would be via expenses policy. When I asked for policy, they said they can't share it as I am not employee but said it would be fair reimbursement. Is this sufficient?

There is no mention of sick pay in my contract and when I asked via email, they said I am entitled to company sick pay on a discretionary basis. Again they said this would not be in contract.

Both are emails from HR team so will I be covered for future use if they ever challenge me on either point?

 

[aspiring]

Anyone help please

 

[NickK]

So the base of your work is London but there's no base office position for you. I've worked a remote contract before in this way.

It means if the company request you in the office (having the WFH in writing from the company is key here) then you can simply use your premises. This means you'll only be travelling for odd meetings (if at all - I went in about 2 time and that was it).

It's a contract or an FTE job?

If it's a contract then you will have no mention of sick pay if you're outside of IR35. If it's an FTE role then it must have vacation, sick and other HR aspects in either your contract or "staff handbook" that's explicitly referenced in the HR contract.

 

[aspiring]

So the base of your work is London but there's no base office position for you. I've worked a remote contract before in this way.

It means if the company request you in the office (having the WFH in writing from the company is key here) then you can simply use your premises. This means you'll only be travelling for odd meetings (if at all - I went in about 2 time and that was it).

It's a contract or an FTE job?

If it's a contract then you will have no mention of sick pay if you're outside of IR35. If it's an FTE role then it must have vacation, sick and other HR aspects in either your contract or "staff handbook" that's explicitly referenced in the HR contract.

thanks for reply. Yes my normal place of work is noted as my home so I am entitled to expenses claiming?

It is a FTE, they say it is covered in staff handbook but the contract just says policies available in staff handbook and if there is any differences between staff handbook and contractor, contract will be used?

 

[NickK]

thanks for reply. Yes my normal place of work is noted as my home so I am entitled to expenses claiming?

It is a FTE, they say it is covered in staff handbook but the contract just says policies available in staff handbook and if there is any differences between staff handbook and contractor, contract will be used?

I can't give you an answer to that directly. If you have concerns with your proposed employment contract (and the staff book) then you should seek professional legal advice.

Your employment is defined by the contract you sign. If that contract references other documents then you should have a copy of that.

A contractor is someone working under contract to deliver something or provide a service. If you're being offered permanent full time employment - that's different but your employment contract is what governs your employment conditions you agree to.

If something is unclear - then simply get them to clarify it, or have a legal specialist review it before you sign.

 

[dowie]

My contract says that my usual place of work is my home. The contract also says The Company shall reimburse (or procure the reimbursement of) all reasonable expenses wholly, properly and necessarily incurred by you in the course of your employment, subject to production of receipts or other appropriate evidence of payment.

When I asked if my accommodation and travel is covered, they replied via email and said it would be via expenses policy. When I asked for policy, they said they can't share it as I am not employee but said it would be fair reimbursement. Is this sufficient?

I mean it sounds reasonable at face value - I presume they might require you to travel to a client site or come to the office occasionally and will pay travel for that or indeed hotel costs.

If you live 150 miles away and need to come to the London office then it would probably be a train fare that would be deemed reasonable and not an Uber black or limo service for example.

If you need to travel abroad then for a regular employee it might just be an economy ticket for flights in Europe and premium economy for flights to the US as part of their default policy - if you're an experienced hire and you usually fly business class etc.. then that's something for you to negotiate - but is that the case for you and do you think you're valuable enough to them to make that a reasonable ask? If someone comes in as say a junior QA analyst and is like "hey, I only fly business" they'd perhaps get laughed at, but someone with years of experience as a consultant, good track record for billable hours etc.. it could well be a reasonable ask to say "I fly business + I want these hotels or equivalent" etc.

Just use some common sense - is the default policy likely to be right for your role or are you in a position to negotiate?

There is no mention of sick pay in my contract and when I asked via email, they said I am entitled to company sick pay on a discretionary basis. Again they said this would not be in contract.

Obviously there's statutory sick pay regardless but that is a bit stingy of them, most companies provide more than statutory as a standard benefit, for salaried employees it would be usual to just pay your regular salary when sick...

It's not an unreasonable thing in general to say "hey what about normal sick pay" but if it's a standard policy across their workforce then just make sure the salary & bonus figure they're offering you is sufficient to make up for that - I'd negotiate there over comp rather than that specific benefit as someone fighting hard over additional sick pay rather than comp/bonuses etc.. doesn't come across as well.