Former CEO turned whistleblower to sue Olympus for unfair dismissal

The former chief executive of Olympus, who was ousted after blowing the whistle on a $1.7 billion accounting scandal, plans to sue his former employer for unfair dismissal. Michael Woodford, who was the first non-Japanese person to hold the posts of president and CEO at the 92-year-old electronics and medical devices manufacturer, said that he […]

EU proposals could “kill off” workplace pensions

Proposed new European Union regulations could “kill off” already struggling occupational pension schemes in the UK as employers would be forced to inject up to £500 billion into them during difficult economic times. The European Commission is currently evaluating whether to introduce new rules that would require insurance companies and pension funds to increase their […]

HR exec sues for constructive dismissal over LinkedIn profile

An HR executive is believed to be the first person in the UK to have sued for constructive dismissal following a dispute with bosses over his profile on professional networking site, LinkedIn. John Flexman has brought a claim for hundreds of thousands of pounds against gas exploration firm, BG Group, where he earned £68,000 per […]

Blog: Workplace pension changes in the pipeline….

Pensionssszzzzzzz…. Not the most exciting topic, but certainly one of the most current, given the panic over whether we will all be able to afford to retire in the future. (Assuming of course that we have jobs to retire from!)   To address the problem, new pension laws are coming into place this year that […]

Credit union membership opened up for staff and employers

Changes to the legislation surrounding credit unions will open up membership to employers and geographically-dispersed workers for the first time, enabling them to compete more effectively with banks. The news came to light as a survey published by a housing charity, Shelter, revealed that nearly one million Britons had taken out an emergency ‘payday’ loan […]

HMRC probes premier league footballers over perks

HM Revenue & Customs is targeting premier league footballers over the undeclared perks that they allegedly receive from their clubs. The High Net Worth Unit has sent questionnaires to leading clubs asking for information on the benefits provided to their employees such as travel and entertainment expenses, company cars, health insurance and childcare. Information provided […]

Analysis: Tribunal reform will lead to more out-of-court settlements, admits Minister

Coalition Government measures to reduce the rising number of tribunal cases will lead to more employers having to pay lump sums to settle claims out-of-court, the Employment Minister has admitted. A key element of the Government’s proposed changes to the employment tribunal system is to encourage workplace mediation when a dispute arises between employers and […]

Update: Ministers claim pensions deal – even as unions pull out

Agreement in principle to make big changes to public sector pensions has been reached with a majority of trade unions, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has told Parliament. After 10 months of negotiations and following the UK’s largest industrial dispute in a generation, Danny Alexander said that 26 out of the 28 negotiating unions […]

Public sector staff must disclose private emails under FoI law

Under Freedom of Information legislation, public sector workers must hand over private communications to their employer if the messages contain any information relating to official business. The Information Commissioner’s Office has published six-pages worth of guidance in order to clarify that FoI laws cover any pertinent business data “recorded in any form” ranging from email […]

CEO Insight: Stinkyink.com’s John Sollars on recruiting for start-ups

One of the most difficult and exciting decisions any new business owner must make is when to take on staff, and even more importantly, in what role, John Sollars, managing director and founder of Stinkyink.com tells our sister publication, www.BusinessZone.co.uk. The key issue is deciding at what point you actually need somebody else to help. […]

Fashion houses face intern probes from next year

HM Revenue & Customs has warned fashion houses and designer labels against failing to pay the National Minimum Wage to interns.   The government department wrote to London Fashion Week’s 102 exhibitors cautioning against using interns as employees as unpaid labour and cautioned that it would start compliance visits at the beginning of the New Year. […]

Ask the Expert: What rights do staff have during performance reviews?

The question I am a standalone HR Manager in medium-sized company and took over this year, after the previous HR Manager left.   A few months after I started, I was informed by senior management that a member of staff, who has been with us for six years, was to be performance-managed out of the […]

Avoiding the hidden cost of Christmas perks

When it comes to indulging in the Christmas spirit, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs is not generally known for its generosity.   Indeed, since the 2010 Bribery Act came into force, there have been strict rules and regulations on gift giving, which could see overly-magnanimous companies landed with a hefty tax bill.    This means that, […]

Social media policy: Can your business afford to be without one?

2011 saw the use of social media rocket, with an inevitable impact on the workplace. Employers’ attitudes to it vary: some impose a strict ban on the use of social media at work, while others actively encourage it as part of a new way of working. Whatever their approach, employers need to understand the potential […]

Plan in advance to cope with winter weather, warns ACAS

With the weather expected to turn increasingly wintry over the weekend, HR departments must prepare themselves by ensuring that suitable staff policies in place, ACAS has advised. According to the mediation service, advance planning is key to ensuring that everyone and everything keeps working smoothly when circumstances turn unpredictable.   Adrian Wakeling, the organisation’s guidance […]

Legal Insight: Surviving the Christmas party

The Christmas party season is upon us again.  But while it is known as a time of goodwill to all men, the Christmas period can cause massive headaches for employers.   In particular, the office party, where the mulled wine is flowing freely, can lead to a number of employment-related challenges as alcohol-fuelled employees have […]

Landmark holiday ruling saves employers of atypical workers from “dramatic” impacts

Today’s Supreme Court’s ruling that employees who do not follow standard 9-till-5 working patterns must take their holiday entitlement during periods of downtime will have “dramatic” implications for employers, according to legal experts.   In the case of Russell v Transocean, a number of workers, who were all employed by the oil and gas industry […]

Pressure rises on banks for more pay transparency

Any large bank operating in the UK could be forced to disclose the pay packages of its eight highest-paid, non-board level executives in a bid to tackle “unacceptable” bonus levels in the City. The Coalition Government launched a consultation yesterday on the proposed new rules, which would come into force in 2012 in order to […]

Employers drag feet in evaluating cost impact of pension auto-enrolment

The introduction of pension auto-enrolment among large companies next year will result in lower wage growth in some instances as well as reduced hiring activity and less generous employer contributions in others. These are the key findings of a survey among 653 HR professionals undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and published […]

Blog: The serious issue of recruitment fraud

In March of 2011 there was a topic that was posted on The FIRM’s discussion forum that was quite alarming. One of the members, a UK based recruitment manager, working in-house at a large company had flagged the issue of Recruitment Fraud.    I wrote the majority of this post then. It is updated here […]