Category: "news"
Sleep ins and National Minimum Wage – the latest
As we have covered in our previous ebulletins, the position regarding pay for workers who carry out ‘sleep in’ shifts (sometimes also known as ‘on call’ or ‘standby’ shifts) has been the subject of a number of decided cases. However, although there have been several cases which found... read more »
The heat is on – issues for employers
The recent heat wave has been glorious! Whilst we would all like to think a bit of heat and sunshine will not cause any issues in the workplace, unfortunately in practice sometimes it can. We have been receiving a number of queries from employers about issues related to the recent... read more »
Father wins sex discrimination case
Many employers pay enhanced rates of maternity pay, over and above the statutory minimum, to mothers on maternity leave. As we discussed in our previous article, it used to be argued that employers who paid enhanced maternity pay didn’t have to pay enhanced paternity pay, on the... read more »
A case of pogonophobia?
Pogonophobia is an extreme dislike of beards. Margaret Thatcher is famously said to have had pogonophobia, and it seems that some employers share that with her! It has been reported recently that a construction firm (Mears) has banned employees from having beards. Now to be fair to... read more »
Failure to manage a poorly performing employee proves a bitter pill to swallow
Failing to deal properly with a poorly performing employee can prove costly, as the recent case of Mrs M Williams v Meddygfa Rhydbach Surgery & Others highlights. Mrs Williams had worked at the surgery for nearly 30 years. She started as a receptionist and was promoted to practice... read more »
Discriminatory references - a cautionary tale
When people move jobs, prospective new employers often ask the employee’s former employer for a reference. The person giving the reference is under a duty to both the subject of the reference and the recipient, i.e. the prospective employer. That duty is not too onerous, but does require the... read more »
The General Election and employment law - update
Following on from the announcement of the General Election to be held on 8 June, and Nicola’s article last month, we have summarised some of the key proposals relating to workers’ rights and changes to employment law put forward by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats now... read more »
A word on the EU General Data Protection Regulation
As the drama of Brexit unfolds, the UK is starting to have to make decisions about which forthcoming EU legislation it will take on board despite being in the process of exiting the EU. One piece of EU legislation that has been confirmed as being part of the UK... read more »
The folly of forced "retirement"
It is now over 6 years since the default retirement age of 65 was abolished, but some employers still haven’t accepted that. We have advised several clients on how to address an ageing workforce, and in the main they have managed to deal with issues fairly with the employee,... read more »
All by myself? Employees and the right to be accompanied
Employees (and workers) have the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a fellow worker of their choice at a disciplinary or grievance hearing (section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999). If an employer does not allow the employee their right to be accompanied, the employee... read more »