by Emma | Oct 31, 2016 | Newsletter
Shared Parental Leave
In the first employment tribunal case to address a discrimination complaint over shared parental leave (SPL), a father has been awarded almost £30,000 after his employer refused to pay his shared parental leave at the same rate as his wife who was employed by the same company.
In the case, Snell v Network Rail, both the claimant and his wife were employed by Network Rail. The company’s policy provided for mothers to be paid at an enhanced rate during SPL but only the statutory rate for partners.
The tribunal agreed that a SPL policy that disadvantages partners (who are more likely than not to be men) by paying them at a less favourable rate than the mother of a child is indirectly discriminatory.
Employers need to be careful to ensure that pay is consistent across both men and women who take shared parental leave.
Please contact us if you have any queries or concerns regarding your Shared Parental Leave Policy.
Reasonable Adjustments
In the case of G4S Cash Solutions (UK) Ltd v Powell, after the Claimant became disabled through a back injury the Respondent gave him work in a new role at his existing rate of pay and led him to believe that the role was long-term. The following year, however, it said that it was only prepared to employ him in this role at a reduced rate of pay; and when the Claimant refused to accept these terms he was dismissed.
The view was taken that there was no reason in principle why the duty to make reasonable adjustments should exclude any requirement to protect an employee’s pay and that pay protection is no more than another form of cost for an employer making a reasonable adjustment.
Please contact us if you need any advice on disability or reasonable adjustments.
Commission payments should be included in holiday pay confirms the Court of Appeal
Employers who have not been including commission payments in holiday pay calculations need to be aware that they now run the very real risk of having a succession of unlawful deductions from wages claims brought against them.
Please contact us if you have any queries on your holiday calculations.
Caste Discrimination
The government has announced that it will be proceeding with a full consultation on caste discrimination. The consultation will seek views on whether additional measures are needed to ensure victims of caste discrimination have appropriate legal protection and effective remedies under the Equality Act 2010.
Music can help productivity says survey
Recent research reveals that two in three people (61%) listen to music in the workplace and best yet, that listening to music at work leads to happier employees and boosts office morale and creativity.
Here’s some of our fascinating findings:
- Over a third (36%) of workers find that music helps to get them through the day
- 20% of workers find that listening to music is a welcome distraction from their “boring” jobs.
- 16% admitted that they listen to music to drown out colleagues.
- One in ten (10%) revealed that they have judged a colleague based on their choice of music.
Research showed that the most popular genre of music in the workplace is pop/chart music, with over a third (34%) choosing it as their preferred genre, closely followed by rock (29%).
Any questions regarding November’s update, please contact us on 07929 506 143 or echrltd@aol.co.uk
by support | Jul 28, 2016 | Newsletter
Brexit harassment
Since Brexit there have been a number of race-related harassment in the workplace. Employers need to be aware of the risks arising from such harassment and, where possible, should try to address the risks.
Race-related comments made which are deliberately intended to offend are likely to be unlawful harassment. Comments such as innocently intended observations or shop floor “banter”, which weren’t intended to offend but still do so, are also harassment. Unlawful harassment requires that someone must be offended or feel their dignity at work is adversely effected.
What the Equality Act says is that unlawful racial harassment occurs where one employee engages in unwanted conduct related to race, nationality or national origin, and the conduct has the purpose or effect of violating another employee’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
This is a serious issue. For unlawful racial harassment occurring at work, the employer is liable for an employee’s conduct and the victim has a valid claim against the company. Damages are also uncapped.
Labour Employment law manifestos
Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith has revealed an employment law manifesto document that he claims will make Britain the “envy of the world”. Following a roundtable meeting with trade unionists, 25 pledges have been published that he states will improve workers rights.
Highlights of his manifesto include: new pay legislation to close the gender pay gap; out-lawing zero hours contracts; repealing the Trade Union Act 2016; removing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal and enforcing other employment rights from ‘day one’ of an individual’s employment.
Current Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn also promises radical changes. He too proposes to bring an end to zero-hours contracts, stating that every employee should have guaranteed contractual hours and receive an ‘on-call payment’ for agreeing to make themselves available for extra work. Jeremy Corbyn also sets out proposals to reform the law of industrial relates, proposing that it should be mandatory for all employers with over 250 staff to bargain collectively with recognised Trade Unions.
New Home Office Guidance on ‘right to work’ checks
The Home Office has issued up to date guidance on right to work checks. The latest version of the guidance was published on 12th July. The new guidance was published to take into account the terms of the new Immigration Act 2016 which came into force on the same date.
Pension update
Small businesses with between one and thirty employees will now be phased into the auto-enrolment regime, between 1 June 2015 and 1 April 2017.
It is important that small businesses check their auto-enrolment staging dates, and prepare early, you can do this via the Pension regulator website.
It is vital that employers comply with their auto-enrolment duties. The Pensions’ Regulator has a range of powers to tackle non-compliance including serving compliance notices, and penalty notices. As at 31 March 2015 the Pensions Regulator had issued 1,529 compliance notices, and 371 penalty notices for non-compliance.
Please contact me directly if you would like any guidance on auto-enrolment as I work closely with a pension provider and can also take care of all the administration for you.
New minimum wage October 2016
In October 2016 the new rates will be:
- £7.20 per hour – 25+ yrs old
- £6.95 per hour – 21-24 yrs old
- £5.55 per hour 18 – 20 yrs old
- £4 per hour – 16-17 yrs old
- £3.40 for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over who are in the first year of apprenticeship.
If you would like to discuss any of these issues, or other HR concerns then please contact me on: 07929 506 143 or echrltd@aol.co.uk
