Your checklist for 2015 Employment Law changes
With 2015 set to be a busy year in the world of HR here is a checklist of changes on the horizon. All are launched in April unless otherwise stated:
- Shared parental leave – OK not technically on the horizon as it was launched on 1 Dec 2014. This gives parents freedom to choose how they split childcare in the first year after birth. For more information go here.
- Managing sickness absence – A free service for employees, employers and GPs to provide an occupational health assessment after four weeks of sickness absence.
- New statutory pay rates – Statutory pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave will rise to £139.56 per week. Statutory sick pay will rise to £88.45.
- Statutory adoption leave and pay – The 26-week qualifying period will go. Adoption pay will match maternity pay (90% of normal earnings for first six weeks).
- Unpaid parental leave – On 5th April this right will extend to parents of any child below 18.
- Surrogate parents eligible for adoption leave – Surrogate parents will have the same leave and pay rights as ordinary parents. These include unpaid time off for two antenatal appointments.
- Reservists’ exemption – Reservist employees will be exempt from the two year qualifying period for bringing an unfair dismissal claim, if it’s related to their service: timing to be confirmed.
- Young people – All must remain in education/training until aged 18.
- Jury service – The upper age limit will increase from 70 to 75 in England and Wales: launch date to be announced.
What a misfire!
A man in India has finally been fired after not turning up for work for 22 years! The engineer last showed up in December 1990, but the company has been unable to fire him due to the country’s labour laws. Compare this to employment legislation her and never complain again! Employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed, but they will have had to have been employed for at least two years’ continuous service. This doesn’t mean there is no risk to the employer. A fair process should always be followed and remember that an employee with less than two years’ service (minus notice period) can still take a claim forward for discrimination. For all matters hiring and firing get in touch.
Should you be concerned by staff’s New Year resolutions?
What are your employees’ New Year resolutions? Knowing these – and helping with them – could be a powerful management tool. Aside from the rapport it builds, you may well find their interests are aligned with the company’s.
For instance, the old cliché: “I want to get more healthy!” Achieving this could obviously lead to fewer sick days being taken and a more energised and productive workforce. There are simple measures you can take to facilitate this.
How about stocking fruit-bowls? It discourages less healthy snacking and brightens up the office. Subsidised gym membership is another idea. Some businesses we know even bring in an in-office masseuse to ease tensions.
One New Year resolution especially popular this year is pledging to find a new job! In fact, more than one in three people have this in their sights – nearly double the amount of people who aspired to do this the year before, and three times as many as in January 2013 (Source: The Institute of Leadership and Management).
OK, you may be glad to wave some staff goodbye, but for others it could be a disaster. A knowledge gap. Short-staff issues. An employee walking off to a competitor with your prized customer list.
How can you handle this proactively? The quoted survey cited “More opportunity for progression”, “Better pay”, and “A more interesting job” as the top reasons. All things normally within your control.
So why not survey your own staff and find out what they want from their role before they start looking elsewhere? It could be as simple as more recognition for a job well done, or perhaps more training and development. There is real scope to use this to grow the company as well as improve staff satisfaction.
And failing that, make sure you have strong restrictive covenants in place! The HR Dept advice line can now provide insurance cover for restrictive covenants, ensuring you can afford to take out injunctions to protect your customer base. Call us for more information.
Holiday-pay overtime: Retrospective claims limited to two years
Employers can breathe a little more easily on the holiday-pay overtime issue. The Employment Tribunal ruling last November not only left companies with a future cost burden of having to take non-guaranteed overtime into consideration for holiday-pay, but also left the door open for claims for past holiday leave.
But the government has acted to limit these back-dated claims to two years. This prompt action will be greeted with relief, although there is of course still liability there.
For guidance on this issue, contact your local HR Dept.
From the High Court
Amidst the Christmas rush an important ruling was made at the High Court.
A Judge rejected a judicial review brought by Unison who wanted to have tribunal fees ruled unlawful. It was the second time in 2014 that the trade union has failed in this objective and it has promised to appeal.
Employers will be relieved that, as the law remains the same, there will be no short-term surge in tribunal cases. However, the world of HR is fluid. And in this an election year, both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have indicated that they want to see the current fees go south. So these could be back on the agenda in the second half of 2015.
If you are facing a tribunal make sure you get in touch with your local HR Dept for assistance through the process.
Anti-social media
Sackings, data disputes, snooping…
The murkier side of social media has come to the fore in the last month.
Stockbroker Rayhan Qadar made an ill-judged tweet suggesting he had perpetrated a hit-and-run. Cue online outrage, police investigation, national news coverage and instant dismissal for poor conduct.
Then a law firm warned: who owns LinkedIn contacts when an employee leaves? Restrictive covenants normally protect against ex-staff soliciting clients. And most sensitive data sits on company infrastructure. But a LinkedIn contact list resides on third party servers. And LinkedIn can automatically notify someone’s contacts when they change jobs. Solicitation by proxy? It’s a grey area.
Finally, for ‘Big Brother’ bosses, software is available to track staff social media usage to monitor who may imminently hand in their notice. Useful? Ethical?
Whether you embrace social media or not, it’s important to have clear social media policies and ensure other legal documents are fit for purpose in this digital age.