Employee, Worker and Self-employed rights

Employees can have both statutory rights and contractual rights at work. Statutory rights are guaranteed by law. An employment contract may give you additional rights, but it cannot take away your statutory rights.

Your statutory employment rights at work are determined by your employment status. There are 3 main types of employment status which determine your employment rights. These are: Employee, Worker, and Self-employed.

All employees are workers, however an employee has additional employment rights.

Degree apprentices are employees and have the same rights as other employees, including paid holidays.

Some rights depend on how long you have worked for an employer and some start on your first day. For example:

• To be paid the National Minimum Wage
• To an itemised payslip
• To sick pay for illness over 3 days (statutory sick pay)
• To paid leave
• To an in-work rest if the working day is more than 6 hours
• To not be discriminated against
• To a minimum notice period of dismissal

You can find out more about your rights and your employment status in our employment guide.