Amendment to National Minimum Wage Regulations
Under the 2015 National Minimum Wage Regulations, an exemption applied to live in domestics, which decreed that a person carrying out tasks whilst living in an employer’s home is not work; and the employer was exempt from paying the minimum wage. The purpose was to facilitate au-pair placements in the UK and, in exchange for […]
Sexual Harassment: A Recent Case Example
An employer has had to pay compensation in excess of £50,000 to a former employee who was sexually harassed by her manager and some colleagues who thought their behaviour was normal “workplace banter”. Background Shortly after commencing employment with a well-known retail chain, the employee was subjected to unwanted advances and inappropriate comments by a […]
Paternity Leave Changes
The Government has published draft legislation in the form of the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024,which are due to come into force on 8th March 2024. The Regulations will apply where the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC) is on or after 6thApril 2024. From that date: These changes should give more flexibility in terms of how the […]
Family Friendly Employment Law Changes On The Horizon
As we have advised previously, a number of changes to family friendly legislation were announced during 2023; and three key changes are destined to come into effect on 6thApril 2024. The Regulations do remain in draft form at the moment, so may be subject to change. These draft Regulations currently provide for the following: The […]
Legislation Impacting Holiday Pay & Other Miscellaneous Provisions
The Government, last week, published draft legislation to implement changes to holiday rights under the Working Time Regulations (“WTR”). The draft Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 (“Regulations”) still need to complete the final stage of the legislative process but significant changes are not envisaged. Providing there are no hiccups, the Regulations should […]
Home Working Update
Approximately, 4 years ago, back in 2019, the country was periodically put in ‘lockdown’ as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Employers reacted hastily, putting arrangements in place with employees being required to work from home, where this was possible. When the lockdown ended, some employees gradually returned to the workplace. However, a lot of […]
The Evolving Virus & Its Impact
Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2019, the virus has continued to mutate and there is growing concern, amongst scientists, regarding the latest strain of the virus commonly known as ‘Eris’. Latest data from the UK Health Security Agency, shows around 11 people per 100k of the population tested positive for this […]
Civil Penalties Increasing for Employing Illegal Employees
All UK employers are required to prevent illegal working by conducting right to work checks to ensure that their employees have the right to work in the UK. If an employer is found to have employed an illegal employee and has not conducted valid right to work checks, they could face a civil penalty as […]
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023
As we told you in a previous Update [2022/31] The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill was introduced on 15th June 2022 by Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi as a Private Member’s Bill. It has now passed through parliament and The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 currently awaits Royal Assent. The Bill does make a number […]
The Importance of Staff Wellbeing
For those of us lucky enough to have a job – love it or loath it – that job plays a crucial part in our lives. With travelling time (for those not working from home), it probably takes up around half of our daily waking hours. Work provides us with a source of income; but […]
