You have discovered that an employee who’s been off sick is working elsewhere for another employer. Does this give you automatic grounds for disciplinary action on the basis that their sickness absence is fraudulent? Check Approach with caution. Always check your sources. Consider whether the person reporting the moonlighting has a malicious motive or they…
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On 4th April 2022, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published guidance for service providers operating a separate or single-sex service and their approach to trans people’s use of the service. This includes guidance on the Equality Act 2010 gender reassignment provisions, which allow such service providers to exclude, modify or limit access to trans…
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1 Publish your gender pay gap report Organisations have 12 months to publish their gender pay gap figures from the relevant snapshot date. The reporting deadline is 30th March 2022 for public-sector employers and 4th April 2022 for private-sector and voluntary-sector employers. Organisations must publish reports on their website and the gender pay gap reporting…
[ READ MORE ] from April 2022 employment law changes: ten tasks for HR
We all want more holidays so when the government announced an extra bank holiday on Friday 3rd June to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee, monarchists and republicans celebrated. Thursday 2nd June replaces the usual late May bank holiday, which could make a four-day weekend. But, if your business is in catering, hospitality, or retail, you…
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GPs have largely moved to virtual consultations since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. That has increased the demand for digital fit notes. From 6th April 2022, doctors will no longer have to sign in ink. They will be able to issue fit notes digitally. New regulations prescribe a new form of the fit note,…
P&O’s decision to dismiss 800 people through a three-minute pre-recorded message not only betrayed a lack of compassion but, at first glance, appears to ride roughshod over the protections afforded to UK employees at risk of redundancy. P&O seems to be pinning its hopes upon legislative exemptions that apply to mariners. But what happens to…
An employee finds a bag of cocaine in your canteen. You work in a safety-critical environment. The discovery triggers concern about more accidents, more absenteeism, poor performance and criminal offences. You want to test your employees. You’ve identified that the health and safety reasons outweigh the considerations of data protection, interfering with human rights and…
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Grief affects us all differently, so you need to tailor the support that you provide to bereaved employees. Acas has published guidance on time off and pay in Time off work for a bereavement It covers statutory rights including dependant’s leave, parental bereavement leave, maternity leave, adoption leave, shared parental leave and paternity leave. Where…
The legal requirement for people who test positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) to self-isolate was removed in England on 24th February 2022. Yet, as an employer, you must still comply with your legal obligations to protect the health and safety of your employees and others. The requirement to self-isolate after testing positive remains in place in…
Having carefully considered all the evidence in a case of misconduct, you’ve decided to dismiss the employee. Why should you never say to them that you have no alternative? Because you do: don’t dismiss. Investigation You may have many reasons to dismiss: an act of gross misconduct or repeated misconduct such as not following instructions…
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The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2022 increases the limits applying to various tribunal awards and other amounts payable under employment legislation, They include: a week’s pay (basic award and redundancy payment) – £571 (from £544) maximum compensatory award – £93,878 (from £89,493) The new limits will apply to dismissals occurring on or after…
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It depends. There is no set period for which an employer cannot recruit after redundancies have been made. However, depending on the facts, recruiting for the same role as that of the ex-employee could compromise the fairness of the dismissal. Genuine redundancy The dismissal could be unfair if the role is the same as that…
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