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A graduate in the US had his first journalism job offer rescinded after posting the good news on a blog.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 […]
Ask the Expert: Who is responsible for providing personal protective equipment on site?
The question In the case of agency staff, can you advise who is responsible for the provision of basic non-task specific personal protective equipment such as hard hats, gloves, coveralls, eye protection, high vis vests, cold weather jackets etc? These workers normally arrive on site with their own kit initially. However, my query has […]
Most employers believe fit notes don’t work, studies reveal
The majority of employers do not believe that fit notes work effectively in cutting sickness absence rates, two studies have revealed. An online poll undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professonials discovered that a huge nine out of ten employers felt that ‘The Statement of Fitness for Work’, which replaced the old ‘sick note’ […]
Blog: What will increasing the unfair dismissal qualifying period mean in reality?
On 6 April 2012 the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims rises from one to two years. The change will only affect new employees whose employment starts on or after April 6 2012. Those employees already in employment will retain the current qualifying period of one year. The change will not affect automatic unfair […]
In a Nutshell: Five legal tips for easing Diamond Jubilee holiday headaches
Marks & Spencer, Edinburgh Woollen Mills and Dorchester NHS Trust have been named and shamed for refusing to give staff paid leave on both days of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend at the start of June. The TUC criticised all three organisations for requiring personnel to work on Tuesday 5 June, the final day of […]
Blog: What to do if your staff win the lottery
As recent events at a certain bus company have shown, it’s sometimes the case that when employees are winners, it’s their employer that loses – usually losing a bunch of staff! With so many staff syndicates playing the lottery, how can employers mitigate the risks of big-time winners all downing tools (or stopping their buses) […]
UK faces spring of discontent
The UK is facing a spring of discontent, with baggage handlers at Stansted airport voting to strike, doctors balloting for action in May and the police planning a protest that month too. Holidaymakers travelling through Stansted over the Easter weekend face disruption after 150 members of the GMB union voted to take industrial action over […]