Jersey PEO Solutions

Overview

Jersey is one of the Channel Islands, located between England and France. The country is well-known for its beaches, inland valleys, cliffside walking trails, and historic castles. When it comes to the economy, the current Gross Domestic Product or GDP of Jersey is £4.11 billion, and the annual GDP growth is 1%. The Gross Value Added or GVA of the country manifests the economic activities in the country where the predominant sectors are financial services, rental income from private households, miscellaneous business activities, public administration, wholesale & retail, construction, and hotel/restaurants.

Currency: Jersey Pound

Principal Languages: English and French

Government: A Self-governing Dependency of the United Kingdom

Capital City: Saint Helier

Major Cities: St. John, St. Aubin, Gorey, St. Peter

Employment Contracts

According to the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003, employers are required to provide a statement of employment particulars to all the employees whose regular hours of work are a minimum of 8 hours per week. The statement also contains the following details:

• The employment commencement date
• Place of work or the worksite
• Hours of work
• Remuneration
• Holidays and other benefits
• Notice periods
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures

Employers must provide the statement to their employees within 4 weeks after the employment commences. Employers who fail to provide the employment details in writing to employees may face a fine not exceeding GB£5,000.

The Jersey Employment Tribunal deals with all the employment disputes except those which include a breach of contract of more than GB£10,000, personal injury matters and injunctions. These are taken care of by the Royal Court.

Work/Time Regulations

There are no prevalent statutory restrictions on the number of hours employees can work per day or week. However, the law provides for statutory restrictions for employers when it comes to providing adequate rest breaks. Also, employers need to be aware of the overriding duty of care toward employees who work overtime.

Leave

There are 9 public holidays observed in Jersey:

• New Year's Day
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• May Bank Holiday
• Spring Bank Holiday
• Summer Bank Holiday
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day
• Liberation Day

Liberation Day (May 9) will only be a bank holiday if it falls on a weekday (Monday to Friday).

Annual Leave
Employees are entitled to a minimum of 2 weeks' paid annual leave every year. A leave year can commence on a specific date in a relevant agreement, or if no date is specified, it is deemed to begin on the employment commencement date and each subsequent anniversary.

Sick Leave
Employees can take time off work for illness or injury as stated in the employment contract. Though there is no statutory right to take leave due to sickness except the general protection against unfair dismissal. Some employers usually provide a certain level of support.

Maternity Leave
Women employees may get paid maternity leave for up to 18 weeks, but only when they are not working. The earliest maternity benefit women employees can receive is the allowance, payable 11 weeks before the baby is due. The amount of this allowance depends on an employee’s contributions history.

Currently, the amount of full maternity allowance is GB£184.45 a week. The 18-week payment period can be extended if the baby is born late. The maternity leave period is usually divided into the following segments:

• 6 weeks before the birth
• The week of the birth
• 11 weeks after the birth

If employees have an agreement with their employers regarding payment during maternity leave, this should be specified in the employment contract, and usually applies after employees complete between 6 and 12 months' service.

Benefits

Pension and Social Security

Social Security Contributions

Employers must pay primary and secondary contributions for all of their employees as mentioned below:

• The primary contribution is 6% of employees’ monthly (or weekly) gross monthly earnings. This is deductible from employees’ gross wages before it is paid to them.

• The secondary contribution is 6.5% of employees’ gross monthly earnings. The employer pays this in addition to paying employees’ wages.

For employees working outside Jersey temporarily, contributions continue according to the country’s employment regulations.

Pension

Employees need not make stand-alone pension contributions, and they pay 6% of their gross salary to the Department of Social Security. Employers pay 6.5% of their employees’ gross (also an additional 2% as and when applicable) salary to the Department.

Linked to Employees’ Salary

Though not mandatory, it is common for employers to contribute to a supplementary pension plan for their employees. Any supplementary plan is run complying with certain rules. Every pension plan varies as it is tailored to the needs of employees.

Linked to Employer and Employee Contributions

A majority of the pension plans are currently defined contribution (DC) plans, and therefore pension entitlement cannot be determined at the beginning as it depends on the total contributions. The total value of the pension can only be accurately determined at the time of retirement.

How GPS can Help

With our Global PEO/Employer of Record services, companies can expand into Jersey and hire their employees without having to establish a branch office or subsidiary in Jersey.

• Your candidate is hired via our Jersey PEO. If needed, we can also help you find the right talent in any country with our comprehensive global staffing services.
• Your new employee begins work quickly as we take care of employment contracts, statutory and non-statutory benefits, and running their payroll - all in full compliance with Jersey laws.
• Global PEO Services experts manage all day-to-day operational issues such as employee expenses, and severance/termination if required.
• With no contractor risks, pass on the compliance burden to Global PEO Services.

Spin Off/M&A Support

• Ensure continuity of payroll, benefits and HR support when acquiring or spinning off a business with employees overseas.

24/7 Support in 150+ Countries

• Empower your teams with 24/7 support and a single point-of-contact model in which experienced client services directors are in continuous communication with information and advice.
• We are backed by a mix of 300+ multidisciplinary experts from HR, Payroll, Finance, Tax, and Legal domains who are ready to respond to the expected and unexpected needs of your business on the shortest notice.

Easy Visibility into Your Employee Time & Attendance and Benefits Data
With our Global PEO, you get access to Mihi, our proprietary SaaS solution for time and attendance, vacation, leave management and benefits enrollment and management. Mihi enables clients to have easy access to employee data in real time. It is designed specifically for companies with a global workforce, especially when working in multiple countries with low headcount.

Ready for Growth When You Are
When ready, we can seamlessly transition you from the PEO/EOR model to your own legal entity and provide ongoing international HR, finance, legal, compliance and staffing support. Learn more about our end-to-end international expansion services.