We’re about to hit peak holiday season in the UK, so how can employers manage an influx of holiday requests to minimise the risk of disgruntled employees? Understanding leave entitlement In most cases employees are entitled to 28 days holiday a year, often referred to as annual leave, details of which are specified in the employee’s contract of employment or hand book. Sometimes overlooked are the other types of leaves such as Unpaid Leave, Exceptional Leave and Special Leave. What is central in the granting…
The Sentencing Council’s recent announcement of consultation on its proposals for how offenders convicted of manslaughter should be sentenced in England and Wales may have raised concerns amongst employers. In this special blog post we explore why the consultation has been called and the responsibilities of employers to protect all staff. Understanding the need for a consultation for manslaughter sentencing guidelines Any loss of human life is not mended simply by handing out a sentence, but it’s importance that the decisions made regarding sentencing for…
Scrolling through social media and coming across a photo of a colleague out socialising is fairly common in this digital age. But when that colleague or employee is signed off as unfit for work it can throw up some difficult questions and challenging situations. In this blog we look at how employers can monitor and respond effectively on such a delicate topic. Appearances of signed off workers may be deceiving Often such issues arise because of what other employees have seen the absent colleague doing…
A utilities company has been fined £1.8 million following the death of a man in a water filtration tank in a case that should serve as a stark reminder for companies with lone workers on or off site. The father-of two died in December 2013 when he fell into six and a half feet of water inside the tank while unblocking a filter at a water treatment works. Despite activating the company’s lone worker alarm system it wasn’t until he failed to respond to a…
Lifts, lifting equipment and lifting accessories are essential part of modern life. They remove the need to climb numerous flights of stairs in an office and make working in an industrial environment more tolerable. Often, lifting equipment is used to make a job safer but when that equipment fails there are disastrous consequences for users and those around them. Using unsafe lifting equipment can be fatal A sheriff’s court in Scotland recently heard how the failings of both a plant hire operator and the contractor…
The press has recently reported details of a Rotherham-based firm facing a claim for £425,000 from 56 employees for bypassing the rules when they made changes to the terms & conditions of employment. This story comes as a timely reminder to employers that regardless of whether or not union agreements are in place, or indeed whether any contractual changes are agreed, if the proposed changes affect 20 or more employees the employer is in line for claims running into tens or hundreds of thousands of…
A recent employment tribunal seeing Network Rail pay out £23,000 has highlighted the potential issues employers could face with a Shared Parental Leave and pay policy. See what Shared Parental Leave means, why it’s important employers ensure their policies are non-discriminatory, and the potential consequences of unequal parental pay. The 10 November 2016 was Equal Pay Day in the UK, marking the day women in the UK effectively stop getting paid and work for free for the rest of the year due to the 13.9%…
Effective absence management is a year-round consideration for employers, but it can be a particular problem during periods of miserable weather. While it's never fun to think of winter during the height of summer, sensible employers know they need to plan ahead for the darker seasons. Yes winter is coming, and it could be even colder and snowier than usual. Advanced weather models are predicting months of heavy snowfall, with conditions expected to mirror those of winter 2009/10 – the so-called “the Big Freeze”, when…
Employment Status Types can be complicated in the modern working environment. And they can cost business a lot of money too – HMRC collected £737m last year alone from non-compliance, predominantly from SMEs. So how do you protect your business? Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition, and yawn, and stretch, and try to come to life… The opening lyrics there from Dolly Parton’s 1980 smash hit '9 to 5' and, like this picture, a reminder of…
“I’m not a woman. I’m not a man. I’m something that you’ll never understand” is a line from a Prince song back in 1984. Employers need to know what support their gender fluid employees need, and are entitled to, and with the recent death of Prince, there has been much talk about how he led the way in being gender fluid. So what is Gender Fluidity? Gender fluid people do not feel limited by the stereotypical expectations of men and women. They may feel genderless…
