A designer whose role was changed after her employer became concerned about her anxiety disorder, has won claims for disability discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustment at her place of work. Jenna Frost, who had suffered from anxiety throughout her life, worked as a senior designer at Colchester-based Retail Design Solutions from April 2014. The tribunal heard that her … Read More

Last year we reported how the Sentencing Council for England and Wales had launched a consultation on proposals on how offenders convicted of manslaughter should be sentenced in England and Wales. New guidelines, to be used from 1st November 2018, have now been launched. The guidelines cover different types of manslaughter, (manslaughter by unlawful act, gross negligence, loss of control, … Read More

July saw the second round of NMW (National Minimum Wage) naming and shaming. With it came another 22,400 employees receiving back pay, as well as a further £8.4 million in fines to pay to the Government, with some firms not having paid minimum wage correctly for over 6 years! The fact we have seen a second round of ‘naming and … Read More

It is essential to have a medical report for an employee if you’re considering dismissing for capability reasons or looking at whether an employee has a disability and therefore requires reasonable adjustments at work. Medical reports can be obtained from a doctor, or from Occupational Health, but it’s sensitive information and GDPR provides extra protections for sensitive data. Obtaining a … Read More

October 2018: Childcare Voucher Scheme From 4th October 2018, childcare voucher salary-sacrifice schemes will close to all new applicants. Existing users will still be able to receive vouchers providing: You stay with the same employer and they continue to run the scheme You do not take an unpaid career break of longer than a year The new tax-free childcare scheme … Read More

Many employers that fund training insist on reimbursement if the employee leaves within a certain period. With the right agreement this is perfectly legal, but what must you not do if the employee then goes on maternity leave? Protecting your assets Whilst external training and qualifications can benefit your business, a down side is that the employee leaves soon after … Read More

Working in hot temperatures Although the Great British Summer often doesn’t result in hot temperatures (apart from this year), there will be times when the sun does come out and workers find themselves working in hot conditions. In the UK, there is no maximum temperature that a workplace is allowed to be, rather advice from the Health & Safety Executive … Read More

With the current weather conditions, the risk of flooding may not be the highest priority. However, it is important that businesses prepare for likely emergencies and some parts of the country can be at high risk of flooding. Despite the availability of free flood risk warning services, they are not always as widely used as they could be. The Environment … Read More

Figures recently released by the Environment Agency show that the most popular types of land used by waste criminals for dumping illegal waste were farms (34% of dumps), industrial units (24%), abandoned factories (10%) and derelict sites (7%). They state that between December 2016 and November 2017 they investigated 18,244 bales of dumped waste, at approximately 1 ton each and … Read More