Posted by Roger Spence Dec 19th, 2011, in Business Protection, Employment Law
Employers should beware of tough new anti-bribery laws when giving or receiving corporate gifts this Christmas.
The Bribery Act affects everyone from global businesses to individuals, prompting the Royal Mail’s recent warning to postal workers to refuse Christmas gifts worth more than £30.
Roger Spence, head of Employment law at Preston-based Harrison Drury Solicitors, commented: “This will be the first festive season to be affected by the Act, which makes it illegal to offer or receive bribes, and to fail to prevent bribery.
“Christmas is high season for corporate hospitality and giving. Despite the downturn, some businesses might be tempted to splash out to keep key customers on board, and a number of grey areas make this a risky undertaking.” (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Nov 4th, 2011, in Employment Law
Seeing one of your former employees set up a business in direct competition to yours can be a frustrating experience and one that is damaging to your interests.
If your business isn’t protected by adequate restrictive covenants, it can be disconcerting when that former employee begins approaching your clients with phone calls and e-mails, schmoozing them at networking events, even trying to entice your staff members to join their new venture.
All businesses can protect their legitimate business interests by using employment contracts to bar key employees from dealing with or soliciting work from customers and suppliers for a period of time. (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Sep 6th, 2011, in Employment Law
Last month’s English riots served as a reminder of the huge disruption and upheaval such unforeseen incidents can cause to businesses.
The disturbances left many business owners having to make claims to their insurers for damage to stock and premises, with some losing their businesses entirely.
This brought employee rights into the spotlight, in particular the issue of employee pay and redundancy when a business is unable to trade normally, either because of damage caused by the rioting, or early closure on police advice. (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Jul 13th, 2011, in Employment Law
A number of changes are coming into force on October 1 2011 when the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is implemented. The regulations are intended to offer better treatment to agency workers and offer a form of equal treatment in line with permanent members of staff.
The new regulations will apply to all ‘temp agencies’ who supply temporary staff to businesses.
The agency worker will, after a qualifying period, be entitled to equal “basic working and employment conditions”. Basic conditions are restricted to pay, working time, night work, rest periods, rest breaks and annual leave. However, they will only apply if they would have been ordinarily included in the contract had the person been recruited permanently.
The qualifying period is 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role for the same business. There are anti-avoidance provisions in place to prevent businesses moving workers to marginally different roles before the twelve weeks expires. (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Jul 6th, 2011, in Business Protection, Employment Law
Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs have become an excellent new tool for businesses to market their products and services.
Many businesses now use social media to engage with customers and it is now commonplace for individual employees within businesses to log onto social networking sites at least once a day.
However, in recent months there have been a number of high profile cases where employees have been the subject of disciplinary investigation due to inappropriate comments on, or general misuse of, social networking sites. This throws up a number of employment law issues. (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence May 6th, 2011, in Employment Law
The Ministry of Justice has recently published new guidance on the procedures commercial organisations should put in place to ensure they fully comply with The Bribery Act 2010, which comes into force on July 1 2011.
One of the main issues for commercial organisations is to ensure they have an adequate anti-bribery procedure in place that all employees and associates should follow. This procedure, if adequate, will provide a defence to the company if it is charged with failing to prevent bribery.
The guidance sets out six guiding principles commercial organisations should follow in order to prevent persons associated with them from committing bribery. (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Jan 27th, 2011, in Employment Law
This issue has been the subject of much debate in recent days following the very public sacking of Andy Gray by Sky television.
Many people view office banter as a bit of fun which is good for morale. However, banter can easily cross the line and become unacceptable harassment. In that case the employer is obliged to deal with the matter as a disciplinary issue. Read my Q&A for more details.
What’s the legal position?
Employees who have been the subject of ‘banter’ from colleagues or superiors may complain about it, before going on to indicate this is because the individual just doesn’t like him/her or, that they have never got on, perhaps due to a clash of personalities. In those circumstances the individual will have no legal claim.
However, if the employee is able to point to workplace ‘banter’ which is linked to his or her sex, race, age, disability, sexual orientation or religious/belief, the employer will have a problem.
What legislation does this fall under?
The Equality Act 2010 prohibits harassment on the grounds of race, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation and religion/belief. The legal definition of harassment is: “Unwanted conduct that violates a person’s dignity or creates an intimidating hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment”. Essentially, the legislation provides a means for the employee to bring formal tribunal complaints arising out of harassment. (more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Dec 2nd, 2010, in Employment Law, In HD enewsletter
Written by Roger Spence, head of employment law and partner
Harrison Drury has recently launched a new service called HR Compass which aims to protect businesses against increased employment claims.
Why have we done this?
The facts speak for themselves. In September 2010, new statistics revealed the number of employment tribunal claims in the first quarter of this financial year rose by 24 per cent. In these difficult economic times, businesses require concise and practical advice on how best to deal with employment issues which may include redundancy programmes, disciplinary action or long term sickness absence. However, due to recent legislation and increased awareness of their rights, employees are more likely to pursue claims against their employers than ever before.
How our scheme works
HR Compass comprises three core components that have been designed to offer seamless financial and business continuity protection.
They include:
- The audit (health check)
- Expert advice (ongoing support and dialogue)
- Insurance policy (financial security)
The latter insurance component covers our legal fees, settlements and any compensation awards made again your business. This radically minimises your exposure to unexpected financial loss and caps all your employment law and HR costs giving you peace of mind that employment disputes (which happen to all businesses) won’t have a catastrophic impact on your business.
The price of HR Compass varies according to the size of the business but it is a fixed annual cost and can be spread over instalments.
Our HR Compass brochure can be downloaded here.
If you would like us to provide a proposal and a quote, please call me on 01254 258321 or on roger.spence@harrison-drury.com
In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial
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Posted by Roger Spence Oct 7th, 2010, in Employment Law
The Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) is arguably the most important piece of employment legislation for many years. It has the express aim of harmonising and strengthening existing equality legislation and its impacts on all employers. The new law brings together existing discrimination legislation concerning 9 ‘protected characteristics’: sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender re-assignment, pregnancy/maternity, and marriage/civil partnership.
The majority of the EA 2010 came into force on 1 October 2010.
(more…)
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Posted by Roger Spence Sep 30th, 2010, in Employment Law
All employers should be aware of significant changes to the National Minimum Wage, which took effect on October 1.
Businesses that fail to implement the new National Minimum Wage rates face stiff financial penalties, as well as having to pay any wage arrears, calculated at current rates.
The steps you have to take
All contracts of employment should be thoroughly reviewed to make certain they are updated and conform to the new minimum hourly rates.
The changes also incorporate a fresh ruling on the lower age limit for adult workers. Initial estimates suggest this will affect around 850,000 workers.
What do the changes mean for my company?
The hourly rate increases are:
- Adult main rate (aged 21 and over) – from £5.80 to £5.93
- Youth development rate (aged 18 to 20) – from £4.83 to £4.92
- Workers aged 16 to 17 years – from £3.57 to £3.64
- A new minimum hourly rate of £2.50 will additionally be introduced for apprentices.
Is there anything else I should know?
Further major amendments include an extension of the adult main rate to 21-year-old workers; and the introduction of a minimum hourly rate of £2.50 for apprentices. This will apply to all apprentices under 19 or aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship and currently exempt from the National Minimum Wage.
If you require advice in this area please contact me on tel:01772 208072 or email: roger.spence@harrison-drury.com
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