Employment and HR

  • A Guide to the Agency Workers Regulations The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) came into force on 1 October 2011. They apply to those workers who are supplied by a temporary work agency to work temporarily for and under the supervision and direction of a hirer. All temporary agency workers...
  • Age Discrimination - Life After the Abolition of the Default Retirement Age Since the abolition of the Default Retirement Age (DRA), it is no longer permissible for an employer to dismiss an older worker on the ground of retirement unless this can be objectively justified under the Equality Act 2010 . This does not mean that...
  • Age Discrimination and Retirement Since the abolition of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) in 2011, it is not permissible for an employer to dismiss an older worker on the ground of retirement unless this can be objectively justified under the Equality Act 2010 . This does not mean that...
  • Dealing with Employee Absence Employee absences can be both costly and disruptive. It is advisable to have systems in place to measure and analyse these costs so that you can identify problem areas. Are there patterns of absence? Does a particular department have a below average record?...
  • Drug Policy - Recognising the Signs and What to Do Substance abuse amongst staff can affect all areas of employment, whether it be a decrease in productivity, increased absenteeism or the increased likelihood of accidents and injuries. The failure to identify and deal with a problem is an unnecessary risk...
  • Failing to Prevent Bribery - Are You at Risk? The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. It created a new offence which can be committed by a commercial organisation if it fails to prevent persons associated with it from committing bribery on its behalf. A business can provide a defence by...
  • False Claims on a CV - What to Do According to research by the Risk Advisory Group, more than half of CVs submitted by job applicants contain lies or inaccuracies. These range from gaps in employment history to false claims regarding qualifications and failure to mention fraud committed...
  • Get the Christmas Party Right It’s that time of year again. Love them or hate them, the invitations to office Christmas parties will be arriving soon if they haven’t already. For employers, parties pose a particular threat. Here are some tips on making sure your...
  • Health and Safety - Working With Display Screen Equipment Many workers spend a large part of their day looking at a computer screen, laptop or touch screen. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 specifically deal with the health and safety issues associated with regularly working with...
  • Pensions Auto-Enrolment - Basics   The Pensions Act 2008 introduced a requirement for employers to automatically enrol certain workers into a pension scheme, unless they are already members of a qualifying scheme. Auto-enrolment is being introduced in gradual stages, with the date...
  • Settlement Agreements Following changes made by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 , compromise agreements were renamed ‘settlement agreements’ and new provisions (Section 111A) were inserted into the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) making settlement...
  • TUPE - Post-Transfer Obligations and Collective Agreements The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Article 3 of the European Acquired Rights Directive, which is transposed into UK law by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), must be interpreted as...
  • The Corporate Manslaughter Act The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 established a new statutory offence of corporate manslaughter (corporate culpable homicide in Scotland). An organisation is guilty of the offence if the way in which it manages or organises its...
  • The Equality Act 2010 - A Guide for Employers The Equality Act 2010 replaced nine major pieces of discrimination legislation and other ancillary measures introduced over the last forty years. The core provisions of the Act came into force on 1 October 2010. As well as harmonising existing...
  • Workplace Stress - An Employer's Duties The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has published the findings of its fifteenth absence management survey, carried out in partnership with Simplyhealth. This provides useful benchmarking data for organisations on absence levels and...
  • Written Statement of Employment Particulars A contract of employment may be verbal but all employees, whether part-time or full-time, are entitled by law to be given a written statement setting out the main particulars of their employment, provided their employment lasts for one month or more....