Ask the expert: Employee sent to prison. What do we do?

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what to do when an employee goes to prison… The question: Employee sent to prison. What do we do? We have an employee who has just been sent to prison for four to six years. The MD spoke to him beforehand and […]

Ask the expert: Employee with two jobs

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on an employee working two jobs. The question: Working time directive and two jobs If one of my employees has requested to work in secondary employment, if they are likely to exceed working 48 hours per week over both jobs, are they required […]

Ask the expert: Changing flexible working hours

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer explain how to change an employees flexible hours to fit the business. The question: Changing flexible working hours We agreed to a flexible working pattern (reduced daily hours) for an employee with young children starting school. Several months on this is not working for the business […]

Ask the expert: Accusations – how do we handle bad mouthing of the company?

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what to do about an employee bad mouthing the company at social events in front of clients. The question: Accusations – how do we handle bad mouthing of the company? I’m investigating an accusation by one of our senior staff against a […]

Ask the expert: Redundancy of backfilled post

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what to do in the case of making this backfilled post redundant. The question: Redundancy of backfilled post We have a seconded employee whose post may be made redundant – given that he has been in this post for 11 months and […]

Ask the expert: Disability discrimination questions

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Adam Partington advise on asking questions regarding health on an application form. The question: Disability discrimination questions… Would we be in contravention of the DDA by asking applicants the following question on an application form? "Do you consider yourself to have a disability?Yes/No Please state the type of […]

Ask the expert: AWOL or Sickness?

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on dealing with an employee who appears to be AWOL… The question: AWOL or Sickness? A member of staff has been off sick since beginning of October. The last contact was via a "family friend" in mid November which was followed up with […]

Ask the expert: Work-related anxiety

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on dealing with an employee away from work with anxiety and an eating disorder. The question: Work-related anxiety We have a junior member of office based staff currently signed off with “work related anxiety and an eating disorder”. The employee has been away […]

Ask the expert: Provision of services to temporary contractors overseas

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on setting up service contracts overseas. The question: Provision of services to temporary contractors overseas If a company set up a service contract with an in-country service company to supply accommodation, transport to/from the airport etc. and other support overseas, is this blurring […]

Ask the expert: Restrictions on taking annual leave?

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what restrictions can be placed on employees taking annual leave.   The question: Annual leave restrictions? Is it possible for us to specify in our contracts that the employee can only take as much holiday as they have accrued? I know that […]

Ask the expert: Best way to move monthly payment?

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This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on how to change from advance pay to arrears pay.   The question: Changing from advance to arrears pay Employees are currently paid one month in advance on the 1st of the month. Obviously this can cause all sorts of recoupment problems if […]

Ask the expert: Extension of probation period

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This week the experts, Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on how to deal with extending an employee’s probation period. The question: Should a meeting to extend an employee’s probationary period be treated as a disciplinary meeting, i.e. have the right to be accompanied etc. or does their lack of one year’s service preclude that? […]

Ask the expert: Grievance response time

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This week the experts, Martin Brewer and Esther Smith consider what an employer needs to do to respond to a grievance raised by an employee – and in what timeframe? The question: Grievance response time – how long do we have? If you raise a grievance with your employer, how long do they have to […]

Ask the expert: Is this redundancy fair?

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This week the experts, Martin Brewer and Esther Smith, advise on whether this redundancy selection is fair.   The question: Is this redundancy fair? The shop floor team consists of five employees working 42 hours per week (full time), three employees working 35 hours per week (part time) and six employees working a variety of […]

Ask the expert: Poorly performing line manager

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This week the experts, Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on how to handle a poorly performing manager.   The question: I have inherited a poor performing line manager in my team, the issues are: There is no team motivation in his department He is not spending anytime training & developing his new team members […]

Ask the expert: Resign or seek severance?

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Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on whether this employee should resign or seek a severance payment. The question: Resign or seek severance? A year ago I negotiated flexible working with my employer (I work four longer days Mon-Thurs and take Friday off) so I could help care for my parents. My mother is now […]

Ask the expert: Advertising short term vacancies and contracts

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Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on whether you need to advertise short term vacancies and contracts. The question: Advertising short term vacancies and contracts Could someone please clarify the law regarding the advertisement of short-term vacancies such as maternity leave? I am the Deputy Manager and my Manager is due to go on maternity […]