During the school holidays, many working parents struggle with childcare arrangements, especially during the summer months. At what point does an issue relating to child care entitle an employee to exercise their rights to take Dependents’ Leave? Remember, dependents’ leave is available to everyone regardless of their length of service, however, an employee has no right to be paid whilst … Read More

Provisional figures released by the HSE show that 144 workers died as result of work related injuries between April 2017 and March 2018 (a rate of 0.45 per 100,000 workers) an increase from the 135 workers fatally injured the previous year. Despite this increase the figure has remained broadly level over the last five years and is lower than the … Read More

With the current heatwave set to continue and the summer holidays not yet begun temperature in the workplace can be a hot topic. In the UK there is no set maximum temperature for a workplace, however regulations do require that temperature should be reasonable, exactly what is reasonable will depend on the type of workplace. Irrespective of whether the heat … Read More

Stick with me on this because I want to introduce you to Claire.  Claire is going through a tough time, she has a disability and is having difficulty getting benefits.  Now before you panic I’m not expecting you to sponsor me or to see how many likes this post can get, I’m only going to tell you what you need … Read More

How are lemons, lemonade and business continuity planning connected? Our System and Process Director, Stuart Upton shares his views. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, it’s a proverbial phrase to encourage us to think positively in the face of adversity. In other words, if something negative happens (the lemons representing sourness or something difficult) and you do something about … Read More

To ensure that you have a verbatim record of a disciplinary hearing you could record the meeting on an electronic device instead of taking handwritten notes. But, beware you can’t automatically record a disciplinary (or any other) hearing on an electronic device. You must seek the employees express and prior consent to the recording before the meeting begins. If they … Read More

Between the 14 June and 15 July 2018, some of your staff will be gripped by World Cup fever. What problems could this create and how can you manage them effectively? The match fixtures are on various days between 14 June and the 15 July 2018. This time round the World Cup could cause several problems for employers as many … Read More

The Department for Working Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to pay a disabled employee £26,000. What did bosses at the DWP do which enabled this employee to claim a sizable amount of compensation? In April 2018, there were several interesting media reports about Barrie Caulcutt’s (C) success at a tribunal. C, who is employed by the DWP as a Jobcentre … Read More

Presenteeism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of people coming into work when they are unwell. While leaveism refers to people using allocated time off e.g. annual leave to work, or working outside contracted hours. The levels of presenteeism and leaveism were looked at in a recent survey by the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development). The … Read More

If you were responsible for fire safety for your organisation and you needed some advice perhaps to carry out a fire risk assessment or to obtain the right fire safety equipment for your premises, where would you go? There is a large volume of information available on the internet, most of it is reliable and accurate, but how can you … Read More