Stuart Chamberlain, an Employment Law consultant with GEE Publishing, will be reviewing recent and upcoming payroll legislative changes at the Softworld HR and Payroll Conference on Wednesday 24 September at 13.15 – 14.00.

The seminar will focus on three major legislative changes that have had a significant impact on HR and payroll…

First, he will deal with one the major planks of the Government’s ‘family friendly’ policies and which came into force in April this year: the new right for employees to request to work flexibly so as to improve their ability to balance their home and work responsibilities. The emphasis will be on the potential danger of claims for sex discrimination following the employer’s refusal of such a request.

Earlier this summer, the Information Commissioner published the third of the four-part Employment Practices Code, dealing with Monitoring at Work. The Code covers a wide range of monitoring methods, including email, telephone and Internet use and covert monitoring. Stuart will examine the Code and consider its implications for employers and workers in the second part of the seminar.

The final part of the seminar will look at recent legislative and case law developments under the Working Time Regulations and, in particular, recent decisions on the legality of a ‘rolled-up’ rate for holiday pay. This is a practice whereby the employer enhances the worker’s weekly or monthly rate of pay rather than providing payment when the worker actually takes the statutory holiday.

Stuart will encourage questions and discussions on these important issues and he is also prepared to answer queries about any aspect of employment.