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HR / Employment Law News

TUPE, due diligence and the data protection challenge

How can you undertake thorough and effective due diligence in the context of a TUPE transfer without breaching data protection legislation? This is a question we have been asked by clients a few times of late and so we thought it would be useful to get the answer out there for the wider benefit of employers in general. In summary, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), duly tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018, requires UK employers to comply with

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30th August 2019
gdpr

GDPR: One year on. The changing face of data privacy

We can hardly believe it’s been 12 months since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. Do you recall what life was like in early 2018? GDPR was all anyone could talk about. A glut of emails landed in our inboxes – every single day – asking us to opt in to receive marketing communications. Businesses scrambled teams to ensure compliance. We lived in a bubble of willingly accepting website privacy policies just to get rid of the

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4th June 2019
employee health and wellbeing

Wellbeing in the Workplace

There have been copious studies into the link between employee wellbeing, both inside and outside of work, and improved workplace performance. The overarching trend is undeniable: where employees wellbeing is positively influenced by their employer the productivity, profitability and quality tend to improve. So, what, as Business Owners, Leaders and HR professionals, should we be doing from a wellbeing perspective to get the most out of our employees? There are many different factors which influence wellbeing on a personal level

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13th May 2019
Modern Slavery Act

The Modern Slavery Act – are you compliant?

What is the Modern Slavery Act 2015? UK Government introduced the Act in October 2015 to increase the transparency of companies’ supply chains and structures to reduce human trafficking and slavery. The legislation requires all organisations that meet certain criteria to publish an annual modern slavery statement. Your organisation must produce a modern slavery statement if it: Has a turnover or combined group turnover of £36M or more, and Operates within the UK or is incorporated in the UK. The

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9th May 2019
equal pay

Have you complied with your Gender Pay Gap reporting duties?

The Gender Pay Gap Regulations, which were introduced in April 2017, require private and voluntary sector employers with 250 employees or more to publish a report on their own website, and a dedicated government website,  by 4 April each year indicating the differences between the average pay and bonuses of male and female employees (“the gender pay gap”) as at 5 April the previous year (the corresponding dates for public sector employers are 31 March  and 30 March) Those organisations

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18th April 2019
employment tribunal statistics

Latest tribunal stats make ominous reading for employers

The latest employment tribunal statistics have been published by the Ministry of Justice. They detail the type and volume of cases received, disposed of and outstanding for the period October to December 2018. This information is useful in assessing employment litigation trends and the impact of fees (which were introduced in July 2013 and abolished in July 2017) and Acas Early Conciliation (which was introduced in May 2014). The stats show that there was an increase of 23% in the

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1st April 2019

Can employers afford to ignore their employees’ health and wellbeing?

Being told that they should look after the health and wellbeing of their employees, and engage them, may not get an enthusiastic reception from managers whose primary focus is the bottom line. However, identifying the consequences of neglecting these areas might put a different spin on things. Stress can turn into depression, short-term absence can quickly become long-term, medical conditions evolve into disabilities, and if employment is terminated without considering reasonable adjustments, this could result in claims of Disability Discrimination.

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21st February 2019
EU Flag

EU Settlement Scheme Overview

As the date on which Britain will exit the European Union draws ever closer, and with a continued lack of clarity on how Brexit will affect us, it is undoubtedly a difficult and unsettling time for both EU citizens and their families in the UK, and for their employers. Whilst there is no requirement for employers to explicitly advise employees of what they need to do to remain in the UK, EML has been providing clients with relevant and practical

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31st January 2019
Jose Mourinho

The Employment Law implications of Jose Mourinho’s sacking

If there’s one thing that changes almost as frequently as employment law, it’s football managers…particularly at the latter-day Manchester United! In April 2014, United parted company with David Moyes, its first manager since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, after less than one year in post and on account of the club’s disappointing season. Moyes’ successor, Louis Van Gaal, appointed in June 2014, lasted just two years before being handed his P45. Now, Van Gaal’s successor, Jose Mourinho, has been

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24th December 2018
Contract of employment

The importance of having a contract of employment from day one

The general rule of thumb is that an employment contract or statement of written particulars need only be issued within the first two months of employment. For this reason, many employers will hold off dealing with the additional administrative work until such time that they are confident that the employee will continue beyond the two months. However, a recent case has emphasised the importance of complying with the legal requirement set out in the section 1(2) of the Employments Right

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22nd December 2018
Tribunal fees

Government ponders the reintroduction of tribunal fees

The Law Society Gazette is reporting that the Government is considering reintroducing tribunal fees. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is convinced that a fee system can be found which does not deny claimants access to justice, as indicated by a written answer in Hansard earlier this year which stated that it was reviewing how (as opposed to whether) it would reintroduce tribunal fees. Fees for bringing a claim in the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal were introduced in 2013,

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9th November 2018
employment law

Reforming Employment Law Hearing Structures – Is there bad news on the horizon for employers?

On 26th September 2018 the Law Commission issued a consultation paper on Employment Law Hearing Structures. The consultation is due to conclude on 11th January 2019 after which recommendations will be presented to the Government.  So what might be in store for Employment Law hearings and how might this impact on employers? One of the proposals set out in the paper is an extension of the limitation periods in Employment Tribunal, in most cases extending this to 6 months. For

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28th September 2018
Working from home

Is this the end of the 9-5?

If you look around any town centre, shopping mall, or in fact, any location where young people can be found en masse, there will almost certainly be a common image. That is of young people, the future workforce, with their heads down, scrolling or tapping away on their phone, often whilst with their friends. The simple fact of the matter is that this is modern communication. WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram (don’t for one second try to add Facebook to

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22nd August 2018
sexual harassment recommendations

Government report makes sexual harassment recommendations

According to a BBC survey in November 2017, a startling 40% of British women, and 18% of British men stated that they had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace. Sexual harassment in the workplace is, and has been, at the forefront of our attention for a number of months following the rise of the #MeToo movement and the ‘Time’s Up’ campaign. More recently, this has been further added to by the report produced by the ‘Women and Equalities Commission’,

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16th August 2018

Court of Appeal ruling: Sleeping on the job

The Court of Appeal has ruled that carers that sleep overnight at a client’s home, are not entitled to the minimum wage whilst sleeping. In consideration of Royal Mencap Society v Claire Tomlinson Blake and John Shannon v Jaikisham and Prithee Rampersad (trading as Clifton House Residential Home), the Court of Appeal found that any employee that stays the night at a disabled, elderly or vulnerable person’s home, are only entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) while they are

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19th July 2018

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