Employment Law

To cope with seasonal peaks in demand, employers in sectors such as tourism, leisure and hospitality often take on temporary staff during the busy summer months. Although you might term these helpful short‐term members of your team as “casual workers” it’s important that you don’t take a casual attitude to their employment rights. Don’t assume that because people are working for you on an informal basis, clear employment terms aren’t necessary. You and your workers still need to know what…

Home Office rules on who can legally work in the UK were updated earlier this year and it’s vital that employers are fully aware of their obligations. Failure to comply with the updated Code of Practice on preventing illegal working can result in employers being fined £20,000 per employee, so you need to know if your workers have the right to work here. This Code of Practice sets out what checks employers should make to avoid a fine – and…

A recent case highlights the importance of adopting a flexible and fair approach when dealing with a request from an employee to be accompanied at a disciplinary hearing and how failing to do so can render a fair dismissal unfair. In the case of Talon Engineering v Smith, the Company suspended Mrs Smith following allegations that she had made inappropriate comments, about other members of staff, in an email that she had sent to a customer. There was also evidence…

In recent times nurseries and childcare providers have faced many reforms within their industry leading to both challenges and opportunities.  HR:4UK have been monitoring these developments and in response are delighted to announce the launch of an exciting new product – our Childcare Handbook. It includes the appropriate nursery and childcare policies, safeguarding procedures and employment documentation to help satisfy the new ‘Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings’ which from September 2018 is the guidance that sets out…

The Fit for Work scheme (FFW) will end from 31 March 2018 in England and Wales, with Scotland withdrawing the scheme on 31 May 2018. FFW was intended to provide a free GP-led service, which allowed employers to refer staff to the service. It offered impartial advice to employers and occupational health assessments for employees who were off work due to sickness related reasons for four weeks or more. The aim was to then assist employees who are off on long-term…

It seems that not a day goes by without a warning about one scam or another. The rise of a compensation culture has resulted in an increase in ‘ambulance chasing’ companies encouraging individuals to pursue legal claims.  Facing a new challenge, is the travel industry which has seen a surge in new “whiplash” type claims made by holidaymakers, falsely claiming that they fell ill whilst on holiday and seeking compensation.  A poll carried out for ABTA suggests that 19% of…

Although the Working Time Directive does not specifically refer to lunch breaks it does state that employees are entitled to a rest break of at least 20 minutes if they work in excess of 6 hours. Workers above school leaving age and under 18 are entitled to one 30-minute rest break if working for longer than 4.5 hours. You may in your contracts of employment offer longer lunch breaks or additional periods of rest. The regulations state that workers are…