Olympus whistleblower demands answers at shareholder meeting
Former Olympus president and chief executive Michael Woodford has demanded answers over his sacking at a shareholder meeting in Tokyo. Around 1,000 investors approved a new board at the Olympus extraordinary general meeting amid calls from Woodford that it was a “mockery” to claim the group was making a fresh start. Shareholders approved five years’ […]
SMEs refuse staff extra day’s holiday for Diamond Jubilee weekend
Two thirds of small-and-medium-sized companies are refusing to give employees an extra day’s holiday to honour the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, research has revealed. According to the poll of 700 SMEs by business support services company Elas, 62% intend to either open as usual or force staff to take the extra day on Tuesday 5 June […]
Former press officer sues GCHQ for bullying amid “widespread” racism claims
A former senior press officer is suing GCHQ for allegedly having been a victim of “widespread” race discrimination and constructive dismissal after being victimised for making “public interest disclosures” as a whistleblower. Alfred Bacchus claims that his managers bullied him while he was a senior press officer at the government’s secretive spy base in Cheltenham, […]
Construction sector sets up industry-wide forum to boost inclusion
The construction industry has set up an industry-wide forum to try and improve diversity and boost its employment levels among women, ethnic minorities and disabled people. The Construction Industry Leadership Forum for Fairness, Inclusion and Respect was set up following recommendations by the Employment and Human Rights Commission, after two studies on diversity demonstrated the […]
Legal Insight: How to cope with tube strikes
Passengers are expected to face widespread disruption on the London Underground from tomorrow (24 April) due to a four-day strike by maintenance workers that is likely to affect services. The action looks likely to go ahead as planned because talks to avert it ended yesterday without agreement, according to the conciliation service Acas. The […]
Ask the Expert: Should car allowances be included in sick pay?
The question I have a case of someone who is taking long-term sickness absence (eight months). They were paid a combination of statutory sick pay and company sick pay for the first six months, which included their monthly car allowance in full. Their manager has now decided to stop paying the car allowance, saying […]
News: Would you sack someone for blogging about your job offer?
A graduate in the US had his first journalism job offer rescinded after posting the good news on a blog. Kristopher Brooks, who had just completed a graduate journalism course at New York University, was reportedly thrilled to receive a job offer from the News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware. As a result, he published […]
Blog: How to hold on to good employees – Part 1
If you want to attract and retain good employees, you need to (1) understand why employees leave a company, and (2) implement employee retention strategies to get them to stay. This article examines the reasons why employees leave their companies. In my next article, I will set out five strategies for keeping hold of your […]
Employers must now provide PAYE reference number for liability records
Employers’ tax reference numbers for PAYE will have to be supplied to a national Employers’ Liability Database as a result of an administrative rule change on 1 April 2012. Since last year, ELD has been collecting details of employers’ cover from brokers and insurers to make it easier for those making claims to […]
Legal Insight: Health matters part 1 – Managing sickness absence
Doom-and-gloom tales about the state of the ailing economy are prevalent at the moment and companies large and small are reportedly taking drastic steps to save money. But if panic has not yet set into your organisation and there are no full-scale redundancy programmes in the offing, consider taking alternative action by reducing costs from […]
MP lobbies to permit maternity leave for mums with surrogate babies
An MP is lobbying to close a “legal loophole” that denies mothers of children born through surrogacy the same entitlement to maternity leave as others. John Healey, local MP for Wentworth and Dearne, took up the case after one of his constituents, Jane Kassim, was told by her employer, Rotherham Council, that she was entitled […]
Blog: 10 tips for minimising unfair dismissal claims
With 218,000 tribunal claims in 2010-11 and almost 25 percent of those for unfair dismissal, it was likely that the government was going to take steps to reduce the number of claims made. The decision was made that the amount of time an employee has to work for an organisation before being able to make […]
Inequalities watchdog slammed over pay gap
The UK’s inequality watchdog has been slammed after admitting that it pays male workers more than females and white employees more than those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The situation came to light just over two years after the Equality and Human Rights Commission had vowed to stamp out pay discrimination among its own workers – […]
Ask the Expert: How legal are contract clauses to work overtime for no pay?
The question I’ve just downloaded an Employment Contract T&C’s template from an online provider and it contains the following condition: 5. Hours of work Your normal hours of work are between [TIME] and [TIME], [Mondays] to [Fridays] inclusive, with a lunch break of one hour. You may be required to work such additional hours […]
Health and safety investigations panel branded of “limited use”
A panel set up to try and end the inappropriate use of UK health and safety legislation in the workplace and elsewhere has been branded as of only “limited use” by one legal expert. The Health and Safety Executive has set up a ‘Myth Busters Challenge Panel’ to look into complaints about decisions made by […]
Breakthrough reached in Unilever pension dispute
Two out of three unions have broken the deadlock in a long-running pension dispute at Unilever by accepting what they described as a “significantly improved” offer. Members of the Unite and Usdaw unions have accepted improvements made to a career average pension scheme that had been put on the table to replace a more lucrative […]
Legal Insight: Compromise agreements
On Friday 6 April, changes to The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Order 2012 confirmed that an employee’s lawyer could act as an independent adviser for the purposes of preparing a compromise agreement. But while this is all very well and good, what actually is a compromise agreement and why do employers use them so frequently […]
Employers shun temps in wake of Agency Worker Regs
Just over six months after the Agency Worker Regulations first appeared, initial findings seem to indicate that they are bringing about three key shifts in the employment market. While the legislation, which came into force on 1 October 2011, is pushing some employers towards taking staff on permanently, it is encouraging others to hire excluded […]
Jealous HR staff ‘bin CVs with pics of pretty rivals’
It appears that internet sensation Samantha Brick may have a point – research has revealed that women should beware of attaching photos of themselves to their CVs because jealous HR staff have a habit of binning them. Brick, a former TV presenter, who has widely been accused of being an internet troll – or someone […]
Legal Insight: The verdict on April’s employment law changes
April sees a number of changes to employment law coming into force in the UK. But the aim here is to sift through some of the coalition government’s rhetoric to provide an easy-to-read summary of the top five changes coming into force this April and exactly what they will mean for employers. 1. Increase […]
