News: UK workers put in £157.2bn of unpaid overtime each year
UK workers are now putting in around £157.2 billion per year in unpaid overtime every year, with two thirds experiencing soaring stress levels as a result. According to a survey conducted by hotel chain Travelodge, one in ten employees are now cramming in the equivalent of an entire week’s extra work on top of their […]
News: Liberty threatens to sue ICO over blacklisted construction workers
A human rights charity is threatening to sue the privacy watchdog unless it takes immediate action on behalf of thousands of blacklisted construction workers in a scandal that it compares in stature to phone hacking. According to the Independent, Liberty has written to the Information Commissioner, Sir Christopher Graham, accusing him of failing to act […]
News: Unpaid back-to-work schemes declared lawful
Although back-to-work schemes that require jobseekers to undertake unpaid work experience have been ruled lawful, the government could still find itself open to millions of pounds in reimbursement claims from people stripped of their benefits. Cait Reilly, an unemployed graduate, lost her case in the High Court after accusing the government of supporting “forced labour” […]
Legal Insight: Dealing with workplace sexual harassment
Tippi Hedren, the heroine of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, ‘The Birds’, recently told how her movie career was “sabotaged” after she rejected Hitchcock’s advances. Having done so, Hedren was held to her contract – the modern day equivalent of being sent to Coventry. Fast forward to 2012, and if the alleged events happened now, she […]
Blog: Danny Boyle’s secret to enabling creativity on an Olympic scale
Recognise This! – Creativity is not enough without delivery on the promise. I’ll hazard a guess that 100% of my readers watched the Olympics opening ceremony, at least in part, or read about it, or saw elements of it on news coverage. What did you think of it? Most feedback seems to range from “spectacular!” […]
Ask the Expert: What should I include in an absence management policy?
The question What do I need to include in our absence management policies and procedures and what do I need to be wary of? I am particularly interested in the Bradford Factor as I am looking into the possibility of introducing it as a way of triggering return-to-work meetings – can you provide any […]
News: Fraud leaps as employees struggle to make ends meet
High unemployment rates are causing more people than ever to lie on their CV, while pay freezes and squeezed living standards are leading greater numbers of staff to steal. According to an analysis of its staff fraud database by the UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, the amount of successful job application fraud rose by a […]
News: Mother loses dead son’s disability discrimination case against Amazon
A mother has lost the disability discrimination case lodged against Amazon in a bid to fulfil the wish of her dying son, a former employee of the online retailer. David Peregrine, who was only 36, launched his suit against the shopping web site after being sent home without pay from its Swansea, South Wales-based distribution […]
How to accommodate disabled workers in a post-Remploy world
It isn’t often that workplace disability rights make national headlines. But following recent news that 27 Remploy factories – including five dedicated to employing disabled people – will be shut, that has certainly been the case. Disability activists and employment specialists have been publicly rethinking what equal access to work means and how society […]
News: Asian postman gets £100,000 payout for exposing racism
A postman has received a £100,000 payout after blowing the whistle on “endemic racism” at his workplace, which resulted in him and other Asian colleagues being branded as “cockroaches” and “vermin”. Abdul Musa, who was supported in his claim by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, worked at the Royal Mail‘s Canterbury Street sorting office […]
Blog: More cost for employers – Sick workers and annual leave
Workers’ entitlement to holiday pay whilst off sick continues to prove problematic for businesses. In a decision just issued by the Court of Appeal, NHS Leeds v Janet Larner, the Court has confirmed that workers are entitled to annual leave which accrues while they are off sick, even where they have not made any request […]
News: Racial victimisation ruling for black footballer to be contested
Gillingham Football Club intends to contest an employment tribunal ruling that found it guilty of racial victimisation and unfair dismissal against sacked striker, Mark McCammon. The former Barbados international player made UK legal history yesterday by becoming the first black footballer to successfully bring such a claim against a professional football club. He took […]
News: “Unemployable” Robin Hood airport tweeter finds a job
A former trainee accountant who described himself as "unemployable" following his conviction for sending a menancing tweet to Robin Hood Airport during the blizzards of January 2010 has finally got a new job. Paul Chambers, who celebrated on steps of the High Court last Friday after the conviction was overturned, told his Twitter followers on […]
News: Blacklisted construction workers lodge claim against Sir Robert McAlpine
The campaign by blacklisted construction workers has stepped up a gear, after a High Court claim was lodged against Sir Robert McAlpine which has been branded the worst offender. The legal action follows an official complaint lodged earlier this month with the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development by the Blacklist Support Group against five […]
Ask the Expert: What to do with someone whose role has mostly been offshored?
The question We are a company with five permanent staff. One role has ‘lost’ much of its workload after the work was moved offshore. The person fulfilling that role is now left trying to find enough things to do much of the time. What are my options here? Can I legally redefine the role […]
How to administer pay cuts in times of austerity
Last week, Reuters reported that the Spanish royal family, surrounded by high unemployment and scenes of public workers striking, had offered to take a pay cut. The move is intended to reduce the €8.3 million annual cost to Spanish taxpayers of keeping them by some €100,000. Leading the way is the Spanish King, Juan […]
Analysis: Holiday pay for long-term sick ruling could prove “costly”
A landmark case over holiday pay for the long-term sick could not only prove costly for employers but also raises as many questions as it answers, according to legal experts. Yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that Janet Larner, a part-time clerical worker at NHS Leeds, was entitled to paid leave for the financial […]
News: Border Agency strike on eve of Games called off
Industrial action by Border Agency staff has been called off at the eleventh hour following union claims that the Home Office now intends to create 1,100 new jobs. The move came only an hour before the government was due to launch a high court challenge against a planned one-day strike by members of the Public […]
News: HMRC to probe recruitment industry’s £390m tax avoidance scheme
HM Revenue & Customs is to crack down on UK recruitment industry practices following allegations that hundreds of agencies across the country are running multi-million pound tax avoidance schemes. The organisation plans to launch an investigation into claims that agencies are using “travel and subsistence” expenses systems for temporary staff, which are believed to both […]
Legal Insight: The protected conversation issue
The government is currently looking at ways to try and make life easier for UK employers. It has doubled the service qualification for protection against unfair dismissal to two years and is either consulting on other possible legal changes or is pushing them through the legislative process. One initiative that looks likely to hit […]