by Emma | Oct 25, 2017 | Newsletter
From 11 September 2017, the following increases will be made to the injury to feelings bands:
– Lower band, less serious cases £1,000 to £8,000
– Middle band, more than less serious £8,000 to £25,000
– Upper band, serious cases £25,000 and £42,000
– Exceptional cases anything above £42,000
The guidance on the band ranges will be reviewed annually, with the first review taking place in March 2018 and after that on 6 April each year.
The guidance also confirmed that the 10% uplift should continue to be made to psychiatric injury awards.
by Emma | Oct 11, 2017 | Newsletter
EC Human Resources would actively encourage employers to “try out” potential new recruits before offering them a position with you. It is often a good way to see if both the company and the individual are a “fit” for each other.
However, During the summer SNP Minister Stewart McDonald launched a petition against unpaid work trials. He argued on behalf of individuals that the practice of unpaid work trials was exploiting workers and breaching the national minimum wage regulations. Although at present there is no definite law in place making unpaid work trials unlawful, care should still be taken if offering this type of opportunity to prospective employees. Businesses who offer unpaid work trials outside of the Jobcentre Plus scheme, may find that individuals may start to make complaints that they have not received pay for the work which they have performed during the trials.
Currently, the Government endorses the practice of work trials through the Jobcentre Plus work trial programme. The programme enables employers to offer unpaid work of 16 hours or more to unemployed individuals for up to 30 days. Participation in this scheme does not affect the individual’s benefits.
Watch this space for more news!
by Emma | Oct 2, 2017 | Newsletter
The government have released plans to publish its own data protection bill which will bring EU data protection legislation into the UK law.
The legislation will give greater rights to individuals. There is a new “right to be forgotten” and people can ask companies to erase any personal data held on them.
The penalties are also heavier with fines of 4% of turnover or up to 17m.
There will be an obligation to provide information on employees and job applicants about how their personal data is processed.
There will no longer be a charge for individuals to pay when requesting access to their data and companies must respond within one month of a request.
More information will be published over the coming months.
by Emma | Sep 27, 2017 | Newsletter
Employee absence is currently a major issue for UK businesses with employers facing a yearly bill of around £9 billion for sick pay. It is therefore important for companies to focus on introducing and improving current absence management strategies.
The negative effect of absence is not only financial
The consequences of absence are negative, not only due to the absence itself in terms of statutory sick pay, occupational sick pay or paying overtime for temporary cover, but also to the knock-on effects that absence can have.
It has been found that when employees need to cover for their absent colleagues, the increase in their workload can be detrimental to their morale.
This increase in workload can also lead to higher risk of mistakes and lower motivation due to the delays and lack of consistency that often comes as a result of frequently absent colleagues.
Stress is the most common cause of long term sickness absence
Stress related illness is an increasing issue within UK business. In 2015/16, stress accounted for 37% of all work related ill health cases and 45% of all working days lost due to ill health.
Often mental illnesses, particularly stress-related illness, can often be overlooked due to their ‘invisible’ nature relative to physical illness.
More than a third of all sick leave is taken on Monday
Some employees may feel the weekend is not enough so they take the extra day. The fact that Monday is the most popular day for sick leave suggests that this sick leave is likely not due to a physical illness that happens to occur on a Monday, but rather stress. Stressed employees may feel the weekend is not long enough and therefore did not provide them with enough of a break to feel as if they can dive back in to their working lives on Monday morning.
This indicates that stress may not only be a common cause of long term sickness absence, but also short-term sickness absence.
Specialist training can help reduce absence rates
The knowledge that stress related illness is such a prominent problem within UK business has provided industries with an understanding of what to target when introducing interventions to reduce staff absence. A variety of training for managers and staff is proved to help businesses reduce absence.
by Emma | Sep 22, 2017 | Newsletter
The limitation period for a claim under the Protection from Harassment Act (PHA 1997) is six years. This means that even if an employee has left your business, they can still bring a claim of harassment to a tribunal for up to six years.
Normally, under the Equality Act 2010, employers can escape being held vicariously liable for harassment of their employees, if they can demonstrate that they took reasonably practical steps to prevent it happening. However, no such defence exists under the PHA 1997.
Things to think about:
1)Do you have an up to date Grievance, Disciplinary and Harassment Policy and Procedure and have they been communicated to staff?
2)Are your managers aware of your internal policies and procedures?
3)Have your managers received training in dealing with issues?
4)Do you have a designated person to deal with disputes / grievance/ disciplinary issues?
5)Do you have a person who has their ear on the ground ensuring that there is no unwanted behaviour among staff?
6)Do you regularly manage performance in the business?
