THE TASK AT HAND. Session 3.- Wanna a sandwich?

Tenses.

• The Causative can be used in any verbal tense, even the continuous form:

  The Causative

  Tense	Have/get something done
  Present Simple.	I have/get my hair cut.
  Past Simple.	I had/got my hair cut.
  Present Continuous.	I'm having/getting my hair cut.
  Past Continuous.	I was having/getting my hair cut.
  Present Perfect.	I have had my hair cut.
  Past Perfect.	I had had my hair cut.
  Will.	I will have my hair cut.
  Must.	I must have my hair cut.
  Be going to.	I'm going to have my hair cut.

• Notice that to make the interrogative and negative form, the causative verb works like any other verb.

  Do you have your car serviced regularly?

  Did he get his house redecorated last week?

  You won't have your eyes tested next week.

  I'm not getting my hair cut today.

• To mention who performs the action we may add by + the agent. For example: My boss is having his car repaired by a mechanic.

Formulae.

To form the Causative we use the following structure: subject+ have/get+ object+past participle.

She is having/getting her office refurnished.

He had/got his car serviced by a beautiful woman.

Mary and Paul will have / get some pizzas delivered at home in a few minutes.

• Notice that have/ get may be used in any context though have tends to be a little bit more formal, and get is more commonly used in the imperative form.

  Sally is having a costume made.

  Get your room tidied at once!

What is a contract of employment?

There is always a contract between an employee and employer. Your employer does have to give you a written statement within two months of you starting work. The statement must contain certain terms and conditions.

A contract gives both you and your employer certain rights and obligations. The most common example is that you have a right to be paid for the work you do. Your employer has a right to give reasonable instructions to you and for you to work at your job. These rights and obligations are called contractual terms.

The rights that you have under your contract of employment are in addition to the rights you have under law, such as, for example, the right to a national minimum wage and the right to paid holidays.

Generally, you and your employer can agree to whatever terms you wish to be in the contract, but you cannot agree to a contractual term which gives you less rights than you have under law.

A contract of employment will usually be made up of two types of contractual terms. These are:

• Express terms.
• Implied terms.

Express contractual terms.

Express terms in an employment contract are those that are explicitly agreed between you and your employer and can include:

• Amount of wages, including any overtime or bonus pay.
• Hours of work, including overtime hours.
• Holiday pay, including how much time off you are entitled to (nearly all full-time workers are entitled by law to 28 days' paid holiday - they may be entitled to more under their contract. Part-time workers are entitled to a pro rata amount).
• Sick pay.
• Redundancy pay.

Implied contractual terms.

Implied terms in an employment contract are those which are not specifically agreed between the employer and employee. Implied terms are:

• General terms which are implied into most contracts of employment.
• Terms implied by custom and practice.
• Terms from agreements made with the employer by a trade union or staff association.

Finally, let's remember that according to the type of contract, there are also different worker status:

• Fix term contracts employees are those workers on fixed term employment contracts, which means the contract contains a date when it will end.
• Probationary periods. It is common for employers to treat new employees as being in a probationary period when they first start work. The employer may then argue that you can be dismissed while you are in this probationary period with no warning (notice). Employers also often argue that employees do not have usual employment rights to, for example, pay or holidays, during this probationary period.
• Short term contracts or seasonal workers. Employers may hire employees on a series of short term contracts, usually lasting for about a year, but always less than one or two years, to try to avoid the employee gaining employment rights. They may also pay the employee only during a particular season, for example, during the summer to pick fruit, but the employee may be expected to go back and work for that employer each year during that season.
• Trainee. When you are learning how to carry out a job, your employer may call you trainee in your employment contract, to try to prevent you from having your statutory rights. Once your trainee period is over, you can be hired and become a normal worker.

Text adapted from: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/employment/contracts_of_employment.htm

Have fun by taking a look at some job jargon and their meaning.

• Competitive Salary: We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.
• Flexible Hours: Work 55 hours; get paid for 37.5.
• Good Communication Skills: Management communicates, you listen, figure out what they want you to do.
• Ability to handle a heavy workload: You whine, you're fired.
• Career-minded: We expect that you will want to flip hamburgers until you are 70.
• Self-motivated: Management won't answer questions.
• Some overtime required: Some time each night and some time each weekend.
• Duties will vary: Anyone in the office can boss you around.
• Competitive environment: We have a lot of turnover.
• Sales position requiring motivated self-starter: We're not going to supply you with leads; there's no base salary; you'll wait 30 days for your first commission check.
• Casual work atmosphere: We don't pay enough to expect that you'll dress up; well, a couple of the real daring guys wear earrings.
• Some public relations required: If we're in trouble, you'll go on TV and get us out of it.
• Seeking candidates with a wide variety of experience: You'll need it to replace three people who just left.
• Problem-solving skills a must: You're walking into a company in perpetual chaos.