Government’s compensated no fault dismissal proposals garner mixed response
Coalition government proposals to introduce a ‘compensated no fault dismissal’ system for micro-businesses have met with a mixed response. The proposals, which were first put forward in Adrian Beecroft’s controversial report, form part of a wider ‘call for evidence’ around existing dismissal processes for organisations of all sizes. They would result in employers with […]
Legal Insight: Employee or consultant? Lessons from the Student Loans Co
Taxation has never been a more contentious issue. Political arguments have been raging for months now over everything from the 50p rate and tax evasion among high earners to the reintroduction of a £10,000 threshold for people on low incomes. Also to hit the headlines recently, however, was the case of Ed Lester, chief […]
Talking Point: Will the Beecroft proposals really encourage employers to hire more staff?
It is clear that the government is trying to support employers and take steps to encourage them to take on more staff. What is a continuing mystery, however, is why ministers repeatedly ignore the areas of greatest concern to business. Such areas of concern range from the extremely high costs of employment and the […]
EU Parliament votes in favour of binding female boardroom quotas
The EU Parliament voted in favour of introducing binding quotas for women at the top table at the same time as a report revealed that UK progress on appointing females to executive board-level positions had been slow. The vote by the EU Parliament followed a consultation that was launched last week by EU Justice Commissioner, […]
Ministers in legal battle to stop Christians wearing crosses at work
Christians do not have the right to wear crosses openly at work, ministers are set to argue in a landmark case at the European Court of Human Rights. But the move will set the coalition government on a collision course with its own equality quango, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which plans to put […]
Blog: Is ‘fire at will’ dismissal legislation a good idea?
Chancellor George Osborne has just proposed the introduction of “fire at will” dismissal law that will enable small employers to dismiss staff more easily. Under-secretary of state for employment relations, Norman Lamb, is unveiling plans during March which would remove restrictions on laying off staff at businesses with fewer than ten employees. It is […]
Ask the Expert: How do we deal with an alleged accident victim who is now in Brazil?
The question We have an employee that slipped and fell at work about a year ago, but we are not sure if the accident was staged or genuine. He was taken to hospital and discharged the same day. The staff member had booked two weeks of holiday prior to the accident, which was due […]
Remploy factory closures risk jobs of 1,500 disabled workers
Remploy is to consult with unions over the proposed closure of 36 of its 54 factories due to government funding cuts, which could lead to compulsory redundancies among more than 1,500 disabled workers. Remploy factories were established 66 years ago as part of the creation of the welfare state in order to employ disabled […]
Somerset Council pulls HR out of Southwest One shared service
Troubled shared service operation SouthWest One has hit another speedbump, with one of its customers, Somerset Council today announcing that it is to bring some services, including HR, back in-house. According to the BBC, the decision was taken after a council review concluded that it was failing to perform and it was unlikely to achieve […]
EU proposals for female board quotas a “mistake”
A European Union-wide consultation on whether to introduce mandatory quotas to try and increase the number of women on company boards has been branded a “mistake” by the coalition government’s boardroom diversity champion. Lord Davies of Abersoch admitted that the move by the EU’s Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, “raises the temperature” on organisations that […]
Ask the Expert: Can an employee legally refuse an order to move desks?
The question I am an HR Assistant and am slightly upset at the treatment of one of the girls in the office. She came on board about six months ago to act as team support and is line-managed by one of the PAs. But there seemed to be friction from the start between […]
Unions reject MoD assurances about outsourced HR staff
Unions have raised concerns that the Ministry of Defence’s decision to outsource functions such as HR to a private contractor will lead to “further attacks” on employees’ terms and conditions despite ministerial claims to the contrary. Serco has won a £36 million deal to run a shared services organisation, Defence Business Services in a bid […]
Best Practice: Diamond Jubilee holiday guidance from Acas
Acas has issued guidance about how to deal with the holiday issues raised by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations as a result of growing numbers of calls to its employer helpline. The occasion will be marked by a four-day long weekend for some workers due to the creation of an extra bank holiday on Tuesday […]
Legal Insight: How to guard against constructive dismissal claims
Lord Sugar is as famous for his business success as he is for his “You’re Fired” catchphrase on ‘The Apprentice’. Seven series of the popular BBC television show have produced seven winners, but only one still works for him. However, viewers of the last series will know that the winner no longer takes it […]
Inclusion: Reaping what you sow
From the rallying cry of the Lord Davies report calling for more women to join British boardrooms to the abolition of the official retirement age, diversity has been in the full glare of the media spotlight over the last year. Yet the story at ground level is rather different and the key theme in […]
Racism claim upheld after pub manager calls black worker “Sooty”
A pub manager repeatedly called a black employee “Sooty” and told him to stand under a light when she spoke to him so that she could see him, an employment tribunal has heard. But according to the Daily Telegraph, when the staff member, Joel Perry who is of Jamaican origin, made a formal complaint about […]
Blog: Diversity is good for business
I have watched with amusement these past few weeks the reaction in the sports world to the phenomenon called Jeremy Lin. Not being much of a sports fan (especially basketball), I had to delve a little deeper than the normal fan. Chinese-American and Harvard-educated does not normally equal star in the NBA — or at […]
Ask the Expert: Can we buy back chunks of carried-over annual leave?
The question I have recently commenced working for a company, which has a policy allowing staff to carry over their unused annual leave into the first three months of the new year (the leave period runs from August to July). If the leave is unused by the end of the three months, it is […]
Legal Insight: Can UK staff be sued for stealing Twitter followers?
Another week, another story about Twitter – this time from the US, where an employer has sued a former employee for allegedly stealing the companies followers. Noah Kravitz, who worked as a reviewer for Phonedog Media for more than four years, created the Twitter account in 2007 when he first started to work at the […]
New employers liable for prior unfair dismissal claims under TUPE
Under TUPE legislation, liability for unfair dismissal claims automatically passes to any new employer, making businesses that have sacked staff in anticipation of a transfer less attractive to potential buyers, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The Court confirmed that it did not matter whether the new employer was known, had been identified or even […]