1.These explanatory notes relate to the Employment Act 2002, which received Royal Assent on 8th July 2002. They have been prepared by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in order to assist the reader of the Act. They do not form part of the Act and have not been endorsed by Parliament.
2.The notes need to be read in conjunction with the Act. They are not, and are not meant to be, a comprehensive description of the Act. So where a provision does not seem to require any explanation or comment, none is given.
3.Because this Act contains a number of provisions, covering several subject areas, each of the main areas is introduced and described separately in the notes. The section below gives a brief overview of the Act’s structure. Certain overarching issues (for example, the Act’s financial effects and its impact on public sector manpower) are grouped at the back of the document. Also at the end, there is a glossary of some of the common terms that occur in more than one part of the notes. These terms are underlined wherever they first appear under a heading in the commentary (for example, Statutory Maternity Pay)