Agency Worker Regs to remain unchanged
The coalition government has confirmed that there will be no last minute changes to the Agency Worker Regulations despite David Cameron’s attempts to water them down. A spokesman at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, told the Telegraph that the law, which comes into force on 1 October and entitles temps to equal pay […]
Vince Cable wages war on spiralling executive pay
Vince Cable has published a discussion document proposing changes to company laws and regulations in a bid to control spiralling executive pay and stop “rewards for failure”. At the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham today, the Business Secretary said that, although the renumeration of chief executives at the UK’s largest public companies had risen fourfold […]
Agency Worker Regs lead to cut-price perm contracts, claim temps
Temps at a Jaguar Land Rover plant claim a recruitment agency is bullying them into signing permanent contracts to avoid paying an extra £200 per week under the forthcoming Agency Worker Regulations. According to the Liverpool Daily Post, Nottingham-based Staffline provides 686 workers for a DHL operation that supplies parts for the Land Rover Evoque […]
Five tips for dealing with auto-enrolment
The gestation period of pension reform – and auto-enrolment in particular – makes that of the African elephant look relatively short. The idea of universal, company-supported pensions for all has been working its way through the machinery of government since the middle of last decade, but much of the definitive detail and legislation is still […]
PCS calls off Fujitsu strike, but Unite goes ahead
The Public and Commercial Services union has called off today’s scheduled strike action after settling pay differences with government IT outsourcing supplier Fujitsu, although parallel action by Unite members is still set to go ahead. The PCS action would have affected a range of high-profile Fujitsu public sector clients including Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, the […]
Ask the Expert: Can employers make staff speak English at work?
The Question A hospital Trust that I train in regularly stipulates that staff must speak English – no matter what their own language – while within hospital grounds, even if they are going off duty. My gut reaction is that this contravenes the Equality Act and Human Rights. Am I right? Does anyone know […]
ECJ holiday pay ruling could cost airlines £50 million
A European court ruling that holiday pay should be based on overall rather than basic earnings could affect up to 12,000 UK pilots and cabin crew and cost airlines up to £50 million. Although the six-year-long test case between British Airways and the British Airline Pilots’ Association will now have to return to the UK […]
Acas called in after foreign language ban at Waterstones’ distribution depot
Unions at Waterstone’s distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent have contacted Acas after foreign staff were banned from speaking in their native languages during working hours. According to the Burton Mail, Unipart, which operates the warehouse for the book retailer, introduced its ‘English language only’ rule for “health and safety reasons”. It claimed that the move created […]
PAYE changes: everything you need to know
The Government has announced its intention to introduce a new PAYE scheme, which will go live in 2013. It is a major change to the present situation and will have an impact on all employers. The present scheme was introduced in 1944, following significant growth in the working population during the Second World War, and […]
Analysis: First three UK employers accredited for inclusive recruitment practices
Some 18% of working age people are disabled, yet only 48% of disabled people are employed as opposed to 78% of those without a disability. Despite some really well-intentioned employers working hard to attract and retain disabled people, research has revealed that, among the 220 or organisations questioned, there were still barriers to inclusion, primarily […]
Age discrimination awards three times higher than average, warns expert
Employers must be particularly careful to guard against age discrimination claims as average awards last year were three times higher than any other, experts have warned. The ‘Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunals Statistics 2010-11’ report published by the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service revealed that the average age discrimination […]
Blog: Three ways to deal with employee lateness
Employees’ lateness, when not measured and managed properly, can cause businesses thousands of pounds each year in lost productivity and profits. In order to understand how lateness can affect organisation’s bottom line, let’s look at the example below: Company X has 150 employees. 10% of their workforce (15 employees) is persistently late to work by […]
Fresh pension proposals to hit millions of workers in their 40s
Millions of workers in their 40s are expected to be hit by coalition government plans to bring forward increases in the state pension age to 67 by a decade. The news came as an employment tribunal found that a leisure centre worker suffered age discrimination and was unfairly dismissed so that his employer could avoid […]
Business has talent – and much of it over 65
Imagine you had access to the pick of global talent, to some of the most successful business people in the world. Imagine if, in your organisation, you could harness the abilities of any of the following business leaders: Warren Buffett, David Rockefeller, Amar Gopal Bose of Bose Corporation, Gordon Earle Moore of Intel, Bob Oatley […]
Ask the Expert: Is posting Facebook pictures of planking at work acceptable?
The Question Two members of staff posted pictures of themselves ‘planking’ on Facebook or lying in places that put their health and safety at risk – on top of a top shelf in a backroom and above the back door at work. Comments have been made about this on Facebook, which included the manager […]
Legal Insight: Preparing for the Agency Workers Regulations
The controversial Agency Workers Regulations hit the headlines again this week, after David Cameron intimated that he was seeking legal advice on how to dilute them, only weeks before the legislation is due to come into force on 1 October. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister became concerned that the new laws could […]
Blog: Less than 24 days to go! What do you think about the Agency Regs?
In less than 24 days time, the Temporary Agency Regulations (Regulations) come into force. If reports in the national press this week are correct, the Government is yet again wavering over whether the legislation should be implemented in its current form. This time though, the deadline is so tight that commentators are speculating whether this is […]
Microsoft loses second top US manager amid fresh UK revelations
Microsoft has lost its second high profile US director in as many weeks amid fresh revelations of inappropriate executive behaviour during its UK High Court battle over sexual harassment claims. According to the Daily Telegraph, Linda Zecher, a board member and vice president of the software giant’s worldwide public sector business, shocked colleagues when she […]
Employers could pay millions in extra VAT recruitment charges for temp staff
Housing associations, charities and financial services companies that rely on temporary staff could pay millions of pounds more in VAT charges to recruitment agencies, after HMRC said it would disregard a tribunal ruling on how much VAT should be applied to the supply of temporary workers. In March, the First-Tier tribunal hearing involving Reed Employment […]
Update: Fujitsu contractors to strike over “insultingly low” pay offer
More than 1,000 contract Fujitsu staff working for five central government departments and agencies will strike in 11 days time over what they have branded an “insultingly low” pay offer. The joint action between members of the Public and Commercial Services and Unite unions will take place on Monday 19 September and affect IT outsourcing […]