August 20, 2020
An important case on the topic of sex discrimination was decided by the Employment Appeal Tribunal on 5 June 2020. The Claimant, Adrienne Liebenberg, commenced her employment with DS Smith as a commercial director in November 2016. Her remuneration package was a basic salary of £200,000 per annum, a discretionary bonus of up to 50%…
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August 20, 2020
An important case on the topic of religion or belief discrimination was updated on 19 April 2020. Ms Bond was employed by Lads and Dads’ Barbers in Colwyn Bay since August 2016. She attended work regularly until 8 February 2017, thereafter through to her dismissal on the 11 July 2018, she remained an employee though…
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August 20, 2020
The UK Government is easing COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and many businesses are now encouraging their staff to return to the workplace. But with the risk of infection still present, what should employers do to ensure employees are safe in the workplace? Advice from the Government on returning to work is: “if your workplace is open,…
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August 10, 2020
Irish Gender Pay Gap Reporting Proposals are in place to institute gender pay gap reporting in Ireland for employers in both the public and private sector, with employers expected to publish gender pay gaps in relation to hourly rates of pay, benefits in kind, and bonuses. Unlike the UK reporting framework, the size of organisations…
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August 10, 2020
National Minimum Wage With Sleep in Shifts: Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake BEIS (The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) has published a revised guide on calculating the NMW, with particular reference to sleep-in shifts. They appear to have brought in a new concept of ‘suitable facilities for sleeping’ when deciding if the payment…
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August 10, 2020
On Saturday 25 July, the Government announced that all travellers to mainland Spain, the Balearics, and the Canary Islands were to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return. This was after the country had reported the cases of COVID-19 had tripled in a matter of weeks. With many taking advantage of the recent relaxation of…
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August 4, 2020
Friday 31st July saw the Prime Minister delay further easing of lockdown measures and the Chief Medical Officer warned that the country may have reached the limits of lockdown easing if the spread of COVID-19 is to be controlled. This came in the same week that large parts of North West of England had tighter…
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August 1, 2020
An important case on the topic of discrimination on the grounds of marriage was decided by the Employment Appeal Tribunal on 5 June 2020. Under the Equality Act 2010 there are nine protected characteristics. One of these is the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of marriage and/or civil partnership. Rev. Jonathan…
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July 30, 2020
The British Medical Association has issued a stark warning there could be a mental health crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, unless significant support is put in place. How has COVID-19 affected the mental health and wellbeing of the working population? What impact will this have on absence for UK businesses? And what can employers…
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July 29, 2020
The Parental Leave Act 2019 in Ireland extends parental leave. Parental Leave Amendment Bill (2017), which is now The Parental Leave Act 2019, was signed into law on 22 May 2019 and provides a phased extension of parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks from 1 September 2019. From this date parents will be…
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July 28, 2020
Many employers have taken advantage of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) in order to retain their employees during the COVID-19 crisis. But the scheme ends in October, leaving lots of businesses wondering: what next? For some, it’s onward and upwards and furloughed staff will return to business as usual. However, others will be contemplating…
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July 26, 2020
There’s growing evidence that only 7% of UK employees have taken advantage of the 2015 government initiative of shared parental leave. Why are the take-up figures of shared parental leave are so low? And what can HR teams can do to improve this? Quick Reminder: What is Shared Parental Leave? This is where parental couples…
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