The minimum standards for working hours, rests and holidays are set out in the Working Regulations. It is important to note from the outset that some particular occupations are exempt from the Regulations, the Regulations have limited application to workers in certain sectors and they also differ for night and young workers. In addition to…
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 transfer
In certain circumstances, an employer can ‘acquire’ employees when there has been a ‘relevant transfer’ of a business or undertaking, or part of it, to a new employer. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (commonly known as TUPE) safeguards employee’s rights when there has been either: a transfer (not necessarily by sale) of…
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Sickness absence
The symptoms of sickness extend not only to affected employees but also to employers. Costing billions of pounds each year to the UK economy, sickness absence, whether short or long term, can lead to disruption and decreased productivity in the workplace. With sickness absence being an inevitable occurrence, employers need to be aware of how…
Redundancy
Due to a variety of reasons, an employer may need to make changes to the workforce in order to meet the needs of the business. This can include a redundancy situation. A redundancy situation will arise when: the employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business overall or in a particular place…
Pregnancy and maternity
What are the obligations on employers when a member of staff is pregnant? Before or during the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (the ‘EWC’), an employee must inform her employer (in writing if requested): she is pregnant the date of the EWC as confirmed on the maternity certificate, form MAT B1 (an…
Managing performance
Managing performance is about getting the best out of people – motivating and helping them to achieve the objectives of the organisation. It is not easy to set up and run an effective system for managing performance. Managing performance is what managers do. If they do it well, the people who report to them will…
Grievance procedure
Every business should have a clear process to enable employees to raise issues or concerns within the workplace. If the complaint, problem or concern is relatively minor, often the easiest and quickest way to deal with the issue is to allow the employee to raise it verbally with their supervisor or manager, with the matter…
Equal pay
Legislation requires, in certain circumstances (see below), equality in contractual terms and conditions of employment (including rates of pay and pensions) for men and women. The rules described here are one part of the laws to eliminate discrimination because of sex. Contracts of employment are deemed to contain a sex ‘equality clause’ and occupational pension…
Tribunals
Unless sitting alone, such as with unfair dismissal claims, an employment judge (a qualified lawyer) hears cases alongside two lay members, one with managerial or business experience and one with experience of representing employees. Ordinarily, a prospective claimant must contact Acas to allow it to explore a settlement of the dispute. This can last for…
Discrimination
People are protected in workplace situations from being subjected to prohibited conduct’ to do with a ‘protected’ characteristic. Generally, it does not matter whether the conduct is intentional as to whether or not prohibited conduct has occurred. It can also be a one-off act, a series of ongoing acts, or arising from a policy or…
Disciplinary
Every business should have a clear set of standards relating to how employees conduct themselves, both in and outside of the workplace, and the levels of performance expected from them. Whilst every company may have its own unique culture, there comes a time in every business when the standards expected from employees falls short of…
Data protection
The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) together create a new regime which governs the processing by data controllers of personal data relating to data subjects (concepts with which employers will be familiar from the Data Protection Act 1998). In the employment context the data controller is the…
