On 4th April 2023, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published a letter to Kemi Badenoch MP, Minister for Women and Equalities, recommending that the government consider redefining ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 (‘EqA 2010’) to mean biological sex. The EHRC notes that sex and gender reassignment are protected characteristics under the EqA…
Nine ways to manage your employees’ mental health
Acas has published new guidance and other resources for employees and employers on making reasonable adjustments for mental health in the workplace. The advice covers: What reasonable adjustments for mental health are. Examples of reasonable adjustments for mental health. Requesting reasonable adjustments for mental health. Responding to reasonable adjustments for mental health requests. Managing employees…
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Keeping up with the updates
As we approach the end of the tax year, here are five jobs for HR : 1 Publish your gender pay gap report You have 12 months to publish your organisation’s gender pay gap figures from the relevant snapshot date (31st March for the public sector and 5th April for the private and voluntary sectors)….
Is telling an employee to ‘man up’ sex discrimination?
Facts In Woods v NHS Property Services Limited, a male employee who was told to ‘man up’ when he complained about being punched by a female colleague complained about sex discrimination. In January 2020 Mr Woods raised a grievance about a female colleague who had punched him three times. The grievance outcome partially upheld the…
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Schools and colleges: take care when giving references
Employers who provide references for their staff members must take reasonable care to ensure the information disclosed is true, accurate and fair. Schools and colleges also have to include any safeguarding concerns and whether they have subjected the employee to a formal capability procedure. In Smith v Surridge and others, the High Court had to…
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A new right to predictable Ts and Cs
The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill introduces a statutory right for workers and agency workers to request predictable terms and conditions of work. It is currently progressing through the Houses of Parliament, so its content may be subject to change. Background The Taylor Review of Modern Workplaces recommended that the government take steps to…
Menopause in the workplace
The government has responded to the Women and Equalities Committee’s Menopause and the workplace report. As health is a devolved matter, the response outlines the government’s approach and actions in England only. A new protected characteristic of menopause The government rejected the recommendation to launch a consultation on making menopause a protected characteristic. While the…
Oh no, not another Teams meeting!
You may be concerned that the novelty of meeting remotely has worn off and that your employees are less engaged than when meeting in person. Here are 10 tips to get the most from meeting remotely. 1 Simplify your slides People may easily tune out if your slides contain too much content. Remember, meeting online…
McDonald’s has signed an agreement with the EHRC to protect its staff from sexual harassment
McDonalds has reached a binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to eliminate sexual harassment in its restaurants. It has agreed: to communicate a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment to conduct an anonymous survey of workers about workplace safety to enhance policies and procedures to prevent sexual harassment and improve responses to…
Unfairly dismissed for liking a Facebook post
In Trench v Performance Bar Limited, a tribunal decided that an employee who was sacked for liking and sharing a Facebook post which criticised her boss was unfairly dismissed. It awarded over £3,000 in compensation. What happened? Drinking on shift Demaris Trench (DT) began working at Trebles (T), a bar in Lincoln, in 2018. Her…
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How to manage probationary periods
To adopt or not to adopt. Some businesses have abandoned probationary periods. They take the view that all of the employees are on probation all of the time. Their managers should be continually assessing and managing their employee’s performance. If you live in the real world where people don’t always do what they should do,…
Disability discrimination: adjusting the redundancy selection process
In Jandu v Marks and Spencer plc, an employment tribunal ordered M&S to pay the claimant over £50,000 for breaching its duty to make reasonable adjustments. It failed to discount any disability-related effects when assessing the employee against the redundancy selection criteria. What happened? Ms Jandu, a clothing and home planner, has dyslexia. Her managers…
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