Council censured for revealing personal details of 900 staff online
Dumfries and Galloway Council breached data protection laws by disclosing the names, salaries and dates of birth of nearly 900 staff, the Information Commissioner’s Office has ruled. The personal data, recorded in a spreadsheet, was mistakenly made available for two months on a Council web site following an enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act. […]
Talent Spot: Denise Keating, head of the Employers’ Network for Equality and Inclusion
There isn’t much in either an HR or business setting that Denise Keating hasn’t tried and mastered. As well as systematically working to make herself an expert in every aspect of HR, along the way she has also picked up experience of areas such as IT and clinical governance. “I never lost jobs, just gained […]
Blog: Is social media a legal nightmare or a boon?
As an HR director, are you worried about what effect social media is having on the business, and in particular your employees’ use of it? Have you had problems with employees posting inappropriate or even damaging comments on social networking sites? Most businesses are aware of the positive benefits of social media in promoting their […]
White officers sue Metropolitan Police for racism
Six white officers are taking the Metropolitan Police to an employment tribunal, accusing the force of racial discrimination and ‘political correctness gone mad’. The men, all members of the Met’s Territorial Support Group, were acquitted two years ago in a trial relating to alleged race-related assaults, but claim that, since the court case took place, […]
Mediation: Part One – When to use it and why
Mediation is increasingly gaining prominence as an effective means of resolving workplace disputes. Yet for many organisations, it is still a relatively untested approach compared to more formal processes such as disciplinary and grievance procedures. In the first of a four part series on the subject, we provide guidance on how to ensure that […]
Blog: Is regulation really to blame for hiring caution?
I have looked with surprise at the debate around changing the unfair dismissal qualification period from one year to two. Is the unfair dismissal qualifying period really what drives small businesses away from employing people? Fear of employment law (which is used by many to sell employment law insurance) does not seem to tie in with […]
Proposals to change parental rights slammed as “hideous”
A Liberal Democrat minister has branded recommendations to restrict maternity and paternity rights as “hideous” amid rumours of a Cabinet split on the issue. Lynne Featherstone, LibDem equalities minister, made it clear to the Observer newspaper yesterday that her party would not tolerate any watering down of parental rights, lashing out at private equity […]
Employers sign up to Recruitment Protocol to tackle disability discrimination
A group of 16 employers are to sign up to an agreement requiring all of the recruitment agencies they work with to remove employment barriers for disabled people. The ‘Recruitment Protocol’, which was developed by the Employers’ Forum on Disability in consultation with the employers concerned and recruitment agencies, is intended to make it easier […]
Ask the Expert: How can I legally sack an employee with a disability?
The question We have a member of staff who is bi-polar (declared and fully supported since November 2009). Recently, however, there have been changes to his mood and behaviour. He suffers from depression, feelings of self-harm, hallucinations. On occasion, the staff member has also sent inappropriate and racist emails to some colleagues and demonstrated […]
Tax relief cannot be claimed on car allowances, rules tribunal
A training provider plans go to the Court of Appeal over an upper tier tribunal ruling that tax relief cannot be claimed on car allowances. The upper tribunal ruling in the dispute between Total People – now called Cheshire Employer and Skills Development – and HM Revenue & Customs found that lump sums given to […]
MoD spends £9m on armed forces recruitment as redundancies mount
The Ministry of Defence has spent £9 million on recruitment advertising for the armed forces despite being in the process of laying off thousands of troops over the next four years. According to figures revealed in a written Parliamentary answer to shadow defence minister Kevan Jones, the government department has forked out £5.19 million in […]
Temps entitled to tips under Agency Worker Regs, warns lawyer
The hospitality industry must pay temps their fair share of customer tips or risk legal action under the new Agency Worker Regulations, a lawyer has warned. Although many of the UK’s largest leisure chains have in the past failed to share gratuities with agency staff, individuals with 12 weeks’ service will now be entitled to […]
Blog: Agency worker regulations and how legitimately to avoid them
As an HR type, I’ve used agency temps plenty of times. The main attraction of agency workers is the flexibility for employers, particularly in the current economic climate. They form a key part of the ‘flexible workforce’ which means that employers don’t have to commit to employing anyone, just in case the business goes […]
How to nip unfair dismissal claims in the bud
Each year in the UK, there are approximately 50,000 unfair dismissal cases – the equivalent of just under 1,000 per week – that end up being taken to an employment tribunal. That’s a headline measure of just how big an issue this is for the UK economy. Unfair dismissal has been the largest single matter […]
Cost a factor in disability discrimination claims, landmark ruling reveals
Employers can take cost issues into consideration when working out what constitutes a ‘reasonable adjustment’ for disabled employees, an employment appeals tribunal has clarified for the first time. The ruling was made in the case of Jane Cordell against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is the first time that cost has been put at […]
Legal Insight: How to tackle a Tevez
These days, it seems that footballer Carlos Tevez is never far from the latest controversy. During a recent Champion’s League match against Bayern Munich, the Manchester City player apparently refused to come on as a substitute, ignoring his manager’s request to do so (although he put it down to a misunderstanding). While his antics […]
O2 pilots shift-switching initiative for frazzled working parents
O2 has started piloting a scheme to enable parents working at three of its stores to swap shifts among themselves in order to better meet their childcare needs. The so-called ‘Working Families’ Contract’ enables groups of between two and four working mums and dads to decide between themselves how to cover their shifts over the […]
Ask the Expert: Is nicking something from the fridge corporate theft?
The question This is a bit of an odd situation that I’ve not come across before. Employees have been commenting for a while that food has been going missing from the fridge in the staff room. In fact, one member of staff stuck a note on a tub of salad saying ‘if you like […]
Tory Conference: Fujitsu strike called off at eleventh hour
This week’s Tory party conference proceeded untroubled by pickets from unhappy Fujitsu employees amid union promises that further action would also be suspended for the time being. Workers at public sector ICT supplier Fujitsu in Manchester had voted to go on strike and to demonstrate during a presentation at the party conference by the supplier’s […]
Tory Conference: Employers invited to voice employment law concerns
The coalition Government has invited businesses to voice their concerns about existing employment law in the latest phase of efforts to slash red tape, which it claims is stifling private sector job creation. For the next three weeks, the Red Tape Challenge, Whitehall’s crowdsourcing project, will focus on the rules governing employee rights. The campaign […]
