An employee has been accused of serious misconduct. You’ve taken witness statements from several colleagues who say that they “didn’t see anything” should you disclose them to the accused? When an employee is accused of wrongdoing, your starting point is to conduct a full and reasonable investigation, including obtaining written statements from all possible witnesses to the employees’ action. They … Read More

In October 2018 it was reported that the government is considering forcing employers to publish their parental leave and pay policies. How likely is this to happen and will you be affected? Transparent policy The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has confirmed that it’s considering whether there should be a legal duty imposed on employers to openly … Read More

What is it? First thing’s first, let’s clear up the confusion regarding the difference between the National Minimum Wage, National Living Wage and the ‘real living wage’. The terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a small difference. The National minimum wage is the smallest amount employers legally have to pay to employees over compulsory school age but under … Read More

The employment appeal Tribunal has held that a disabled employee who received a warning for taking 60 days sickness absence suffered unlawful discrimination. Why? Background facts Mrs O Connor (O) commenced work with DL Insurance services (DL) in June 2005.  O had a customer support role which involved her speaking to customers on the phone. According to the case reports, … Read More

When an employee leaves employment, you might wish to recover the cost of any external training they recently undertook. When are you legally able to recoup training costs and can you do this by making deductions from the employee’s final salary payment? Training Investment If you invest in external training for employees and are worried they may leave you as … Read More

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank all customers for their support throughout 2018.  Our opening hours over the festive period are as follows: Monday 24th December – 12.30pm close Thursday 27th December – Normal Hours Friday 28th December – Normal Hours Monday 31st December – 3pm close Wednesday 2nd January – Normal Hours resume If you require assistance … Read More

I’m not sure how many will be able to directly relate to the trigger for this story, but I was recently smacked in the face by a stegosaurus, and to make matters worse it was my fault, I would even go so far as to say I asked for it to happen, it was an unanticipated consequence of poor communication. … Read More

The European Parliament has announced that an agreement has been reached to set workplace exposure limits for diesel engine exhaust emissions and five additional carcinogens: trichloroethylene, 4,4-methylenedianiline, epichlorohydrine, ethylene dibromide and ethylene dichloride. Currently diesel exhaust emissions are considered to be hazardous to health and the HSE recommends that employers have in place suitable control measures to minimise exposure, however … Read More

Latest statistics released by the HSE show that around 595,000 workers were reported to be suffering from work related stress, depression or anxiety in 2017/18, leading to 15.54 million lost working days. This represents over half of all working days lost due to ill health. The main sources of stress, anxiety or depression were identified as workload (44% of cases), … Read More