Remote working: How to get started
Over the last ten years remote working has been steadily gaining a foothold in the UK workplace, changing the nature of work and the daily commute. For many businesses, it now also forms a key part of their contingency plans, enabling employees to carry on working should unexpected or even expected events such as the […]
HMRC to charge PAYE dodgers from April
HM Revenue & Customs will require employers to pay a security from April if it believes that there is serious risk they will fail to pay the requisite PAYE tax deductions or National Insurance Contributions on behalf of employees. The powers are an extension of an initiative that has already been successfully used to ensure the […]
Update: Redknapp and Mandaric cleared of tax evasion
Both Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric have been found not guilty on all charges in the high-profile tax evasion trial at Southwark Crown Court. Redknapp and Mandaric hugged as the jury cleared them of all counts. After a two-week trial jurors accepted Redknapp’s denials that he avoided tax on any payments over £189,000 found in […]
Minister promises private sector pensions overhaul
The coalition government plans to launch a consultation later this year in a bid to find a “third option” between expensive final salary pensions and far less generous defined contribution workplace schemes. According to the Daily Telegraph, Pensions Minister Steve Webb said at a dinner last night that, as more and more final salary pension […]
P45s will not get a pink slip
The traditional P45 form that summarises the amount of tax paid at the end of an employment contract will not be scrapped after a change of heart at HM Revenue & Customs. The form had been due to be replaced by a ‘leaver statement’ as part of the move to the Real Time Information system […]
Legal Insight: How not to slip up in the snow
Forecasters are warning that adverse weather conditions in the UK could last until the end of the month, giving employers potential headaches as staff struggle to make it into work. Three inches of snow led to 600 flights being grounded at Heathrow over the weekend, disrupting the plans of up to 18,000 travellers. The […]
Waterstones ends unpaid work placements
A high street book store has pulled out of the coalition government’s Work Experience scheme after discovering that unemployed people were working at one of its outlets without pay. The Guardian said that, after it had highlighted the practice taking place at a branch of Waterstones, the retailer initiated a review of the situation. It […]
Fewer ex-offenders required to reveal spent convictions to employers
In a bid to boost employment rates among former offenders, the Justice Minister is proposing to dramatically cut the period in which they are obliged to tell potential employers about their criminal past. The changes, which would be included as amendments in his Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, are the first to […]
Ask the Expert: Is it legal to have a dual reference policy?
The question How legal is it when providing references to only confirm dates, sickness and disciplinary information? Are there possible dangers in relation to indirect discrimination? For example, an employee of ours had 59 days of sickness/five episodes, but her performance is way beyond the average, while another staff member has taken three days […]
‘Overworked’ HR manager sues for £800,000 in compensation
An HR manager, who claims that her former employer overworked her to such an extent that she became ill, has sued the company for £800,000 in compensation. According to the Metro newspaper, Joanna MacLennan told the High Court that she worked “impossible hours”, which included 12-hour days, while undertaking recruitment activity for insurance firm, Hartford […]
Woolworths union takes advice over collective redundancy laws
Shop workers’ union Usdaw is taking legal advice on whether to challenge the UK’s implementation of EU collective redundancy legislation after thousands of former Woolworths staff were denied compensation because they worked in stores where less than 20 people lost their jobs. The move came following an employment tribunal ruling that Deloitte, which acted as […]
Legal Insight: Is it discriminatory to sack a depressed tweeter?
A story that hit the headlines last week about a tweeter who was apparently sacked for depression has opened up the important issue of disability discrimination for renewed scrutiny. @badlydrawnroy claimed that he opened up to his employer about his personal situation but was dismissed three hours later. The story circulated quickly on Twitter, where […]
Tribunal fees could put paid to early dispute resolution, warns ACAS
The introduction of employment tribunal fees could make employers less inclined to take early action in resolving disputes with staff as they will just bank on them not being able to afford legal action, ACAS has warned. Andrew Wareing, the mediation service’s chief operating officer, told the Daily Telegraph that such a scenario risked sending […]
Analysis: Reed loses £158m ‘salary sacrifice’ case
In the latest round of the UK’s most prominent tax grudge match, the Reed Group lost a first tier tribunal appeal against HM Revenue & Customs' decision to revoke an expenses dispensation for its temps after eight years. Faced with a potential tax bill of £158m, the recruitment agency has called for a judicial review of […]
Ask the Expert: Is there a minimum hours requirement for lodging a tribunal claim?
The question I have a part-time employee who works 12 hours per week. He has decided that he does not like his job, does not want to do it anymore and is openly seeking another one. But the worker is being disruptive and is demotivating other team members. He has been with the organisation […]
Update: Redknapp allegedly had sole control of Monaco bank account
Harry Redknapp had sole responsibility for the Monaco bank account under the combined name of his dog and birth date, ‘Rosie 47’, into which money was paid by Milan Mandaric, Southwark Crown Court heard today. Jurors were told that the only signature on records for the account at the centre of £189,000 ‘bung’ – or […]
Legal Insight: Coulson and the compromise agreement issue
The News of the World debacle and the subsequent Leveson Inquiry have raised all manner of issues about all manner of things. But one matter that has not been talked about much so far is the issue of compromise agreements. If you have ever dealt with a compromise agreement in relation to an employee, […]
Regional mediation pilots for SMEs unveiled
Two regional mediation pilot projects have been launched in a bid to help resolve workplace disputes in small-to-medium-sized companies before they reach the employment tribunal stage. Cambridge and Manchester will be the first areas to create mediation networks, which will each consist of 24 SMEs that will be selected later in the year. The Department […]
Is homophobia still an issue in the workplace?
When discrimination at work against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was finally outlawed in the UK in 2003, few predicted how rapidly full LGBT rights would come to be seen as the norm. Even in 2007 when discrimination outside the workplace was likewise banned, homophobia and transphobia still seemed very live issues. This […]
Microsoft backs same-sex marriage to help it compete for talent
Microsoft has joined with five other companies to officially support the legalisation of same-sex marriage because it believes that discrimination of any kind is counter-productive in the war for talent. Washington State in the US, where the high tech giant is based, is scheduled to hear two bills today (Pacific Daylight Time) which, if passed, […]
