Our Christmas Gift to you – your very own HR expert for just £99 a month!

· by Emma Browning
We are so confident of the service and support that our clients receive from our HR Oxygen Retainer service, that we are giving you the first three months of our HR Oxygen retained HR support for just £99 per month if you sign up in December/January. After the last few years of turmoil, we have seen a growing trend from our clients wanting an HR Retainer Service, which is why, in 2020, in response to the Pandemic, we introduced our retainer service; HR Oxygen. What is a retainer? A retainer…

Top 5 HR Questions from 2022

· by Emma Browning
Here’s our round up of the most frequently answered questions from our clients in 2022 and our responses. 1.Can unused statutory annual holiday be carried forward to the next holiday year? Workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ statutory holiday each year = 28 days; 20 days holiday and 8 days of Bank Holidays. The 28 days of statutory entitlement cannot be carried forward into the next holiday year in normal circumstances, although the Government has amended reg.13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 to allow workers to carry over up…

Important & immediate changes to the right to request Flexible Working

· by Emma Browning
Important changes were announced on the 5th December to the Flexible Working Bill – but what does this mean for you as an employer? We explain it here in simple and practical terms for you. For many years, employees have been able to request the right to work flexibly, after they have been with you for 26 weeks. Important change no. 1 However, the recent announcement means that employees can request the right to work flexibly on day 1! Important change no. 2 Workers will now also have the right…

Top 5 HR Questions for November

· by Emma Browning
1.Is an employee who has exhausted their sick pay entitled to notice pay if dismissed on grounds of ill health? Where an employee has exhausted their sick pay, whether they are entitled to payment during their notice period is a complicated question. It depends on the amount of contractual notice compared to statutory minimum notice. An employee who is going to be dismissed on the grounds of ill health is always entitled to receive notice, and the notice you have to give, will be the greater figure of the contractual…

Top 5 HR Questions for October

· by Emma Browning
Here’s the Top 5 HR questions you have asked us this month and our answers.  1.With the cost-of-living crisis – should we be giving people a salary increase? Many clients have contacted us with this question in the last month, and there really is no right or wrong answer to this question, it really depends on whether your business can afford to or not! If you have the cashflow to do so, you may want to consider a “one off” payment as a lump sum, or an uplift in salary…

Do I need to get an employee or a contractor to sign a Non–Disclosure Agreement (NDA)?

· by Emma Browning
Even if your company doesn’t have top-secret information, like code for a killer new social network or the recipe for Coca-Cola, you have other types of valuable information that need to remain confidential or private. It could be your customer list, your financial records, or ideas for a new marketing campaign. So how can you protect that information? Many people think that a NDA is the answer! What is a NDA? A NDA is basically a contract that binds someone to keep a secret. Its main purpose is to create…

What do I need to do as a business, if an employee is being sexually harassed by one of our customers?

· by Emma Browning
Firstly, take this seriously! Don’t brush it off because it’s a customer or a supplier, you need to investigate this matter thoroughly and make sure that your employee is ok. Such a sensitive matter needs to be handled with care and sensitivity and you should seek HR advice to help you manage this matter in the right way. The government has published its response to a consultation on workplace sexual harassment, confirming a new duty for employers to prevent sexual and customer or third-party harassment. This is likely to include…

Can an employer cancel a workers pre-booked holiday?

· by Emma Browning
It is generally understood by employers that they can refuse employee requests for particular dates and time periods of annual leave and dictate when it must be taken, but can leave that has been pre-booked by agreement be cancelled and, if so, how? If there is a good business reason for cancellation, such as a new critical deadline, increased workload or unexpected staff absences, an employer might reasonably be able to cancel pre-booked leave. It is advisable to set out in your employee’s contracts of employment the circumstances under which…

How do I work out holiday for term time workers?

· by Emma Browning
In July’s Top 5 HR Questions, we answered a question about how to calculate term time workers holiday. However, since then, there has been a decision on how to calculate holiday for workers with variable hours/term time workers in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel. This case has taken over 7 years to reach its conclusion, and the Supreme Court’s judgment in this matter has now been confirmed just a few weeks ago, so please read this important update. Background This case involved a very specific set of circumstances…

An employee has told me that I can accept a fit note from their pharmacist – is this right?

· by Emma Browning
In order to reduce pressure on doctors, particularly GPs, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have proposed that nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists should be able to certify and issue fit notes. For anyone who has been off work with illness for more than seven days, a fit note provides evidence to their employer about the absence and any relevant advice on how to support the employee to remain in or return to work. The new rules will come…