Employment
The following publications/articles are available:
Review of recent employment law cases
Employment lawyers are forever vigilant and forever learning to keep up to date with developments in their field. Here are a scattering of cases that have hit the headlines recently:-
Social media decisions: All of us are aware of the growth of social media sites such as Facebook.
Equality decisions
WHAT’S YOUR PULLING POWER?
Do all your employees pull their weight?
Almost all of us have worked in places where most of the work is done by a handful of employees whilst others coast along carried by their harder working colleagues. It always breeds resentment.
In late 2008 I held a seminar for employers who wanted help meeting the challenges presented by the recession. A recurrent question raised by those employers was:
“How can we get rid of our least productive and most troublesome members of staff?”
“How can we get rid of our least productive and most troublesome members of staff?”
Clearing up the case for redundancy during maternity leave
A tribunal has ruled that redundancy during maternity leave does not automatically mean unfair dismissal, but employers have been warned that this is not a green light for change.
Many employers assume that they cannot make an employee redundant during maternity leave, but the recent case of Simpson v Endsleigh Insurance Services Ltd has thrown new light on the interpretation of the regulations.
Going sick at work?
HAD AN ACCIDENT AT WORK?
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
Use an SC2 self-certification form (SC1 for unemployed or self-employed) to provide your boss with details of sick absences of 4+ days in a row. After 7 days your boss can demand a doctor's certificate.
- CAN YOUR BOSS FORCE YOU TO A MEDICAL?
- WHY SLENDER SYLVIA IS NOT BOTHERED ABOUT BENEFITS AND GETS £ 100,000
Employers get clear guidance on holidays
A ruling by the Employment Appeal Tribunal has given employers a clearer picture of the limits that they can place on the holiday rights of employees.
A number of conflicting decisions in this area over recent years had led to confusion. But following the recent case of Lyons v Mitie Security Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an employer can insist on an employee complying with conditions attaching to their holiday entitlement, even if this means that the employee loses their entitlement to annual leave and to holiday pay.
Collective redundancies - collective consultation
If an employer intends to make 20 or more redundancies within a 90-day period, it is obliged to hold a collective consultation with the affected employees. This obligation continues to apply even if some of the affected employees subsequently decide to leave voluntarily so that their number falls below 20.
Compromise agreements
A compromise agreement is a legally binding agreement that specifically excludes an employee’s right to make any claim (with certain exceptions) against his employer in an Employment Tribunal in respect of his employment or its termination, in return for which the employee will receive a compensation payment in “full and final” settlement of any such claims.
The agreement also contains a number of usual terms, including:
Outfoxing the recession
Advice on how to turn a depressing time into good news. Here are tips for private individuals and businesses.
JUMP AT THE OPPORTUNITIES
VAT & STAMP DUTY holidays - Down at Rowberry Morris solicitors in lawyer land – Castle Street, Reading we are busy. Jump at the low VAT rate before it goes up in January. Buy a house during this stamp duty break. Take advice on a fixed interest loan/mortgage.
- Big Household purchase?
- Build an Extension?
- Unhappy Employee?
- Unhappy Employer?
- Your credit card debt could be written off
- Debt relief order
An employee facing redundancy still has rights
The situations in which an employee’s position may become redundant are as follows:
- Job Redundancy - the business closes down;
- Place of Work Redundancy - the employee’s place of work closes down;
- Employee Redundancy - the employer’s requirements for employees to carry out work of a particular kind had ceased or diminished.
Even if there is a genuine case for redundancy, an employee may still bring a claim against his employer if his rights are breached during the redundancy process.
Can I really claim for that?
Many people have accidents at work and don’t realise that they can bring a claim for damages from their employers. Whilst they may know that the accident wasn’t their fault, they assume that it wasn’t the fault of their employer either and that it was ‘just one of those things’.
Employer’s Absolute Duty
In the bad old days employers could do what they wanted without worrying if their workforce got injured in the process. Since 1992 the position has been different thanks to a number of European Directives that have been incorporated into English Law.
- Manual handling regulations
- Case law-what the courts say
- Take advice