New employment contract rules – April 2020

In line with the Employment Rights Act 1996, employers have a legal obligation to provide a written statement of particulars to employees within two months of commencing employment. From 6th April 2020, organisations will be required to provide a written statement of particulars to both employees and workers from day one of their employment.

Talking Politics

Discussions about politics can be interesting and lively, but sometimes they can become disruptive in the workplace.

Can an employer be forced to take back an ex-employee?

It’s every employer’s worst fear, when faced with a claim from a disgruntled ex-employee: “Might we have to take them back?!”

Covert Recordings

Imagine you have dismissed an employee and you later discover that they have covertly recorded the internal disciplinary meetings. This is what happened in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case of Phoenix House Limited v Stockman.

Restrictive Covenants

Restrictive covenants in employment contracts sounds like a pretty dull and turgid subject; until that is a key member of staff leaves the business and takes significant customers and/or members of staff with him.

Employee Engagement

High on most employees’ wish list is better communication from the employer. An effective way of achieving this, and which also enables effective engagement with the workforce, is to set up a staff forum.

Cyber Attacks and Data Breaches – Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

Cyber attacks and data breaches are on the rise and it’s easy to believe they’re all caused by criminal hackers out for financial gain. However, this is not always the case.

Managing absenteeism in the workplace

‘National Sickie Day’ on 4th February has just passed and serves as a reminder to employers on how best to tackle employee absence management issues.

Compulsory Reporting on Ethnicity Pay Gap?

Employers could be required to report their ethnicity pay gap statistics under new Government plans. This requirement will enable businesses to start improving equality and diversity within their own organisations.

GDPR – where are we now?

Six months after implementation, there is still a lot of misinformation and confusion about how GDPR works. In fact, I have renamed GDPR the “Great Data Protection Racket” as a result of the dodgy advice that I see circulating from supposed experts. Top of the list is the misplaced obsession which some organisations have about the issue of consent.

Modern Apprenticeships

In April 2017, the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced to ensure that there is a long-term investment in high quality apprenticeship training. Under the levy, large employers – those with the wage bill of more than £3 million per annum – pay 0.5% of their total wage bill into a training fund. It is hoped that the levy will raise £3 bn a year.

Resilience

As technology expands and many of us have work emails accessible on our mobile phones 24/7, the division between work and home life is more blurred than ever before. Whether you are thinking about a work deadline, household chores, childcare, health problems, financial worries, finding time to socialise, helping the kids with their homework, it can be hard to ‘switch off’ and the daily pressures of life can seem relentless.

Modern Slavery

Theresa May has described modern slavery as the greatest social injustice of our time. The UK is unique in legislating on this subject, with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA). Alongside this legislation, the Home Office produced a dedicated ad campaign to raise awareness of the issue.

EU nationals – what employers need to know and to do now

It's not something I say often, but our recommendation is that employers should disregard current Government advice about the employment status of EU nationals.

Going on holiday whilst off sick

Employees going on foreign holidays or visiting relatives abroad whilst on sick leave would feature in most employer's top 10 annoyance lists! It's a common phenomenon, and it can understandably irritate employers that an employee is not well enough to work, but is apparently well enough to go on holiday.

Slaying a couple of myths about GDPR

Earlier this week, using the technical miracle that is Skype, I delivered a pan-European seminar on the implications of GDPR for HR. Delegates in Italy, Germany, France and other European countries were able to listen and follow the slides, whilst I sat in our client's offices in Surrey.

The “Reasonable Steps” Defence

This month's blog is an update to the story that I covered in my last post. To recap, the daughter of a client had been subjected to significant acts of sexual harassment by a manager of her employer, a high-profile London business.

“Ensuring a harassment free workplace”

As an employer focused practice, we rarely take on cases for employees, but recently I made an exception. A former client asked me to consider taking on a case for his daughter, and when the facts were outlined to me, I agreed to do so.

Employment Tribunal Fees

As I write this on the afternoon of Thursday, 8 June 2017, whilst voting in the general election is taking place, I am reflecting on the various parties' positions on employment law developments.

“Just be reasonable”

"Reasonable" is the employment lawyer's favourite word. A reasonable investigation must precede a disciplinary sanction. Dismissal must be a sanction that is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances. And when later being assessed by an Employment Tribunal, the test applied is that dismissal must have been within the range of reasonable responses.

A Spooky Business

Industrial espionage is the process of illegally and unethically obtaining confidential information from other companies and using it to gain a competitive edge. Harry Sherrard advises on how businesses can protect their information.

“Don’t Mention the P Word”

"We don't want to set a precedent" is a really bad reason for declining a flexible working request.