Employment Law Update – March
Min Wage April 2017
| Year | 25 and over | 21 to 24 | 18 to 20 | Under 18 | Apprentice |
| October 2016 (current rate) | £7.20 | £6.95 | £5.55 | £4.00 | £3.40 |
| April 2017 | £7.50 | £7.05 | £5.60 | £4.05 | £3.50 |
Unfair dismissal claims win!
Case 1:
An employee won in an unfair dismissal claim, due to the failure of the company to follow procedures. Flaws in their process included (but were, by no means limited to) using the same person to carry out the investigation and to hear the disciplinary hearing; using the person specifically referred to in the defamatory Facebook comments to hear the appeal and not warning the employee prior to the disciplinary hearing, that a possible outcome of the hearing could be summary dismissal, i.e. dismissal without notice.
So while the employer was within the law to dismiss the employee for posting defamatory comments on Facebook, the employer was still in the firing line.
Case 2:
A mechanic attacked another employee by putting his hands over his neck for a few seconds. The mechanic was dismissed for gross misconduct, the company stating that they had a zero tolerance to physical violence.
Because the company failed to take into consideration the employees long service and that there was no evidence that the company had a zero tolerance policy on physical violence.
These cases show that all circumstances need to be taken into account before making a decision to dismiss. It is also a reminder than an employer should be consistent in its treatment of an incident.
Please seek advice from ECHR on all disciplinary related issues prior to carrying out your process.
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing laws have meant that a disclosure is not protected unless an employee reasonably believes that it is being made “in the public interest”. The laws have existed since June 2013, and have summoned a particular interest surrounding what exactly qualifies as being “in the public interest”. The case of Chesterton Global v Nurmohamed is listed to be heard in The Court of Appeal in June 2017.
The case will help to define what is considered to be ‘in the public interest’, which could influence what should or shouldn’t be reported by employees.
Apprenticeship Levy
An apprenticeship levy is coming into force for any employers with an annual pay bill for the previous tax year in excess of £3 million on 6 April 2017. All employers in this category, whether or not they actually use apprentices, will have to contribute 0.5% if their annual pay bill, calculated on the basis of all payments to employees (including wages, bonuses and commission) that are subject to employer class 1 NICs. Levied employers with apprenticeships will receive an annual allowance of £15,000 to offset against their apprentice costs.
Further information on the levy will be in our next newsletter.
Salary Sacrifice schemes significantly restricted
Employers may need to reconsider their benefit offerings as tax savings through many salary-sacrifice schemes will be abolished from 6 April 2017.
Schemes related to pension savings (including pensions advice), childcare, cycle-to-work and ultra-low emission cars will not be affected.
Schemes in place prior to April 2017 will be protected until April 2018, while arrangements related to cars, accommodation and school fees will be protected until April 2021.
Changes to Immigration
Employers sponsoring foreign workers with a tier 2 visa will be required to pay an immigration skills charge of £1,000 per worker (£364 for small employers and charities) beginning in April 2017. The immigration skills charge will be in addition to current fees for visa applications.
In April 2017, the minimum salary threshold for “experienced workers” applying for a tier 2 visa will also increase to £30,000. New entrants to the job market, and some health and education staff will be exempted from the salary threshold until 2019.
Tribunal Changes
The government has published its response to the consultation on reforming the employment tribunal system. The changes proposed included:
– Digitising the whole claims process;
– Delegating a broad range of routine tasks from judges to caseworkers; and
– Tailoring composition of tribunal panels to the needs of the case.
Responsibility for employment tribunal and EAT rules of procedure will be transferred to the independent Tribunal Procedure Committee, which will be expanded to include an employment judge and a legal practitioner with specific experience of the employment tribunal system.
All tribunal caseworkers will be legally “trained or qualified” and all decisions made under delegated authority will be taken under judicial supervision for quality control.
Plus the new maximum compensation limit as of 6th April 2017 for unfair dismissal will be £80,541.
Mobility Clause a waste of time?
You have decided to close one of your offices in which a number of employees work. You have a mobility clause in your employment contracts.
Now it may not be so simple – If they refuse to move, you may have to acknowledge they’re redundant and pay redundancy accordingly. Otherwise, you may find yourself at the wrong end of an unfair dismissal claim.
This is what happened in the recent case of Kellogg Brown & Root (UK) Ltd v Fitton. They dismissed 2 employees because they refused to relocate and ending up losing their case at tribunal!