Category: Employment law

Employment law
Emma Browning

What should an employer do if an employee fails to attend a disciplinary hearing?

The Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures states that both the employer and the employee ”should make every effort to attend the disciplinary meeting”, and that where an employee is persistently unable or unwilling to attend a disciplinary meeting without good cause, the employer should make a decision based on the evidence available. Therefore, the employer should investigate the employee’s reason for non-attendance, and reschedule the meeting at least once. It may be necessary to reschedule on further occasions, depending on the circumstances. The employer should inform…
Read More
Employment law
Emma Browning

Can unused statutory annual holiday be carried forward to the next holiday year?

Updated 7th December 2022 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 to four weeks’ annual leave into the next holiday year, where it has not been reasonably practicable for them to take it as a result of the…
Read More
Employment law
Emma Browning

Can employers ask employees if they have had a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination?

An employer that intends to ask employees if they have been vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) must be clear about its reasons for doing so. To comply with its data protection obligations, the company must ensure that it has a legal basis for processing such information and that it complies with the conditions for processing special category data (which means information relating to employees’ health) under the UK GDPR. The Information Commissioner’s Office has published guidance for organisations on when collecting vaccination data can be justified. https://bit.ly/vaccinationguidance, so make sure you…
Read More
speech bubbles with question mark
Culture and change
Emma Browning

January’s TOP 5 HR Questions

1.Can employers ask employees if they have had a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination? An employer that intends to ask employees if they have been vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) must be clear about its reasons for doing so. To comply with its data protection obligations, the company must ensure that it has a legal basis for processing such information and that it complies with the conditions for processing special category data (which means information relating to employees’ health) under the UK GDPR. The Information Commissioner’s Office has published guidance for organisations on…
Read More
Culture and change
Emma Browning

What are the key HR topics that we should be focussing on as a business in 2022?

Understatement of the year award incoming, but 2020 and 2021 changed the way we work forever. But like most things in life, it’s how you deal with change that counts, and 2022 is certainly the year that your business will need to make its people a top priority if you want to avoid the mass resignations that are predicted. So, what are the key HR/People trends for 2022 going to be and how can you prepare for them?  If you want to get ahead of the curve, here’s the top…
Read More
speech bubbles with question mark
Culture and change
Emma Browning

Your Top 5 HR Questions this Year

Here’s our round up of the most frequently asked HR questions this year: 1.We are just about to review salaries for our staff, but what is everyone else doing as far as pay reviews/increases?   New research has found that UK employers are planning to give their staff an average annual pay rise of 2.9% in 2022. A total of 725 UK firms took part in a study about salary budgets and recruitment by Willis Towers Watson (WTW), which revealed that 2022’s pay increase is set to be more than the…
Read More
Employment law
Emma Browning

Are you a legally compliant employer?

There have been many HR challenges in the last 21 months, but just because you’ve been busy firefighting and holding everything together, doesn’t let you off the hook as far as being a legally compliant employer goes The ultimate goal for any business is to ensure its legally compliant first off, and that your people are happy, healthy, and engaged so they are delivering the very best possible service to your customers or doing the very best work they can for your business. Conducting regular HR Health Checks are essential…
Read More
Employment law
Emma Browning

I have two employees who are setting up in business in competition to me and have just resigned! I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want them to continue working for me, can I just ask them to leave today?

Leaving a job and setting up a competing business in direct competition to your business is extremely high risk for the now ex-employees and for you, their employer. The first thing to do is to look at their contract of employment. If it contains restricted covenants that actually prevent an employee from setting up a business in direct competition when they leave the company, they could be in breach of contract. There could also be restrictions prohibiting moving and working with another individual that they worked with at a previous…
Read More
Employment law
Emma Browning

I’m a small business, so I want to work with some freelancers to help me when I am busy, can you provide me with an agreement to do this?

Hiring a freelancer either as you are starting out in business or as you continue to grow can be a great alternative to taking on permanent employees, until you have a clear picture and evidence of what resource you need. The number of freelancers in the UK is growing, which means there are plenty of people available with a wide range of skills that may be appropriate for your company and the job you need to get done! There are some benefits to hiring a freelancer: They will be an…
Read More
Culture and change
Emma Browning

We are all working flexibly from home now, so I want to employ someone in France / Spain / Mexico. How do I go about this?

Whilst many companies are continuing to work flexibly from home or have a hybrid model of office/home based working, several of our clients are starting to consider employing staff from abroad due to the many staff shortages we are experiencing in the UK or reviewing whether current employees can work from other locations such as family homes outside of the UK. This can be a great way to get the best talent into your business. However, where an individual works has a number of legal considerations including tax (both corporate…
Read More
Skip to content