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Employers are entitled to protect their business needs and proprietary interests. Many employers will include post-termination restrictions in their employment contracts which attempt to prevent employees from entering direct competition with the employer, poaching clients and enticing employees. Su…
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The Government Equalities Office booklet “Dress codes and sex discrimination –what you need to know” May 2018, provides guidance on dress codes. It confirms dress codes can be legitimately enforced by employers, but any less favourable treatment because of sex could amount to direct sex discriminat…
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A full-time employee is entitled to a minimum of 28 days statutory holidays (that includes any bank holidays that may arise within the holiday year). The first 20 days of the holiday entitlement comes from EU provisions and the remaining 8 days arises from UK statutory provisions.
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There has been a sharp increase in the number of employment tribunal claims submitted over the past few years. After employment tribunal fees were abolished in July 2017 the financial year of 2017/2018 saw 27,916 claims and the year of 2018/2019 received 35,429.
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Statutory sick pay is a universal payment all employers must pay should their employees be signed off from work due to sickness. Some companies offer contractual sick pay – i.e. full pay for a period however more companies rely on government SSP guidelines.
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Employers have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, a safe place of work and safe systems of work for their staff. If an employer knowingly allows a member of staff under the influence of alcohol or drugs into the workplace…
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You can find us on the directory of organisations awarded Cyber Essentials. The Cyber Essentials scheme is designed by the government and industry to help UK organisations with limited experience of cyber security to improve defences.
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The talk of a 4 day working week has been on the UK agenda for many years. With work life balance being top of the agenda as well as good mental health, the possibility maybe sooner than you think. Studies have shown that there are many advantages in reducing the working week.
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Summertime is here (for now), although pleasant to have a break from the rain and cold we know and love in the UK, it’s important to remember the heat can be dangerous; particularly for vulnerable people such as children, the elderly and those with medical conditions affected by it.
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The government have committed to a wide range of policy and legislative changes that are outlined in the Good Work Plan which was issued in December 2018. The good work plan is the Prime Minister’s way of showing that the UK will continue to protect worker’s rights when the UK leaves the European U…
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Other than in Northern Ireland, there is no statutory right for an appeal to a dismissal, however the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievances procedures suggests an appeal should be provided against a decision made by the employer. Normally this would be reflected in a well drafted dis…
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As is often the case employers must deal with incidences where the conduct of their staff might involve a criminal investigation as well as their own internal investigations. Some examples of that are theft, assault, or some other serious conduct that warrants a police investigation.
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Due to the expansion of social media and technology, employee’s work and private lives are increasingly becoming blurred. Sometimes, it is not clear whether employee’s work and personal lives are separate. This raises issues for employers when acting on managing misconduct outside of work.
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The Equality Act 2010 protects your employees from discrimination in the workplace. The act covers 8 protected characteristics; Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage and Civil Partnership, Race, Religion or Belief, Sex and Sexual Orientation.
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Since the introduction of the new European law a year ago - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), employers now broach the topic of data differently. Though the concept still remains very similar to the old Data Protection Act, GDPR guidelines has broken down individual rights succulently. In…
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Should employers be paying employees for time travel to a customer’s site? When does the clock start ticking? What counts as working time? Does this apply to employees? Mobile workers? Self employed?
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From time to time there may be occasions where children are on your work premises, whether they are accompanying their parent who is a staff member, a pupil / student (including work experience), there for a particular event or if in a public place just passing through. Many family friendly business…
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From 1st April 2019, the national minimum wage and national living wage rates increased, and employers have the responsibility to ensure their employees are receiving the correct rates of pay within their pay reference period.
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ACAS has recently published some guidance to help employers manage neurodiversity. There are increasing number of employers that has a neurodiverse workforce without realising. Neurodiversity refers to the different ways the brain can work and interpret information.
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The process of mediation has been used in HR for decades. It is particularly common in grievance and disciplinary situations as a way to resolve (or to control) employee conflict within the work place.
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