January 22, 2021
With primary and secondary schools closed to the majority of pupils as of 5 January 2021, many working parents have found themselves with an impossible task. How to juggle a full day of home schooling with a full day of work, all whilst in lockdown? More →
November 3, 2020
The NHS COVID-19 App was introduced on 24 September. Many welcome its arrival as another step to contain the spread of COVID-19. Others are concerned about using the app for data and privacy reasons. Employers face a dilemma. It is not mandatory for staff to use the app. Employers can do nothing and leave the choice to download to the employee or express a view about whether the app should or should not be used in the workplace. This is particularly relevant for those businesses who provide work devices. More →
September 3, 2020
UK workers are most likely to log a claim against their employer for making them work excessively long hours, claims new data by health and safety training provider DeltaNet International. The data, which looks at the number of employment tribunal cases over the last five years, suggests there have been 160,299 jurisdictions (complaints) in relation to employers breaking the Working Time Directive, which outlines the maximum weekly working hours. Under the directive, a UK employee cannot work more than 48 hours a week on average – normally averaged over 17 weeks – unless there is an exception. More →
May 19, 2020
Even as the COVID-19 lockdown eases, it is predicted that many people will continue to work remotely for the foreseeable future. Government advice remains that those who can work from home should do so. This throws up a key question for employers both in the current circumstances and going forward. Namely, what are employers’ ongoing legal obligations for the health and safety of homeworkers? Put simply, as an employer, you have the same legal duty of care for the health, safety and wellbeing of employees working from home as you do for those based in your office. So it’s worthwhile knowing what that means. More →
March 17, 2020
Less than a week on from the Budget, and already the government’s emergency measures to respond to covid-19 feel like they belong to another crisis. While attention this weekend has rightly focused on how our health services and older people can be supported, we also need urgently to revisit the impact on the workplace and especially how we’ll support the many millions of workers who will find themselves off work – sick or in self-isolation – over the coming months. More →
February 3, 2020
This is a piece to mark National Sickie Day, which is today. We now have a policy of not offering ourselves as an outlet for any of the deluge of comment pieces and surveys that are published each year to mark days like this. This is largely because we cover the issue year round so don’t feel the need to add to the PR feeding frenzy that they generate. Whatever you make of the findings of the these reports and others like them, even cynics would have to acknowledge they tap into an unmistakable feeling that work is not as enjoyable as it should be. More →
December 16, 2019
Whether to keep colleagues updated or to share a new idea, WhatsApp groups are increasingly becoming a go-to communication tool in the workplace. There are benefits to having such informal communication channels – they can be less hierarchical and improve cohesion within the team, as well as being a fast and easy way to communicate and share images. On the flip side, the lack of formality means that there are risks associated with them. More →
December 4, 2019
New research from FreeAgent conducted with 2000 self employed people in the UK, claims that more than half (57 percent) don’t know what IR35 is. The sets of tax legislation encompassed by IR35, designed to combat tax avoidance by workers and the firms hiring them, is unknown to over half of the people most affected by it – the self employed. The legislation, which has been heavily criticised by tax experts and the business community as being poorly conceived, badly implemented by HMRC and causing unnecessary costs and hardships for genuine small businesses, has not been well communicated to self employed people, the research reveals. Tax experts have predicted that IR35 could reduce a worker’s net income by up to 25 percent and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, recently announced the Conservative Party’s plan to review IR35 as part of its manifesto. More →
November 6, 2019
In five months’ time, employers will have to adhere to new employment laws proposed in the government’s Good Work Plan. However, the majority of UK businesses are completely unaware that these laws are due to come into effect. A survey by Citation, conducted via OnePoll, has found that 59 percent of British employers do not even know about the Good Work Plan, which proposes a variety of law changes that will come into effect in April 2020. More →
October 30, 2019
The UK Government has announced what it claims are new, improved measures to protect workers facing workplace discrimination. The move especially targets those employers who withhold references and enforce non-disclosure agreements to pressure employees into silence. Such tactics could now be blocked under new the proposals announced by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. More →
October 29, 2019
While progress has been made with tackling racial discrimination in recent decades, it is clear that it still lives on in the workplace in less overt and more nuanced forms. A survey commissioned by the Trade Union Congress found that over 70 percent of ethnic minority workers say they have experienced racial harassment at work and around 60 percent state that they have been subject to unfair treatment by their employer. Karen Holden, Founder of A City Law Firm, is keen to outline the laws surrounding racial discrimination in the workplace and exactly what the employers responsibilities are. More →
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March 17, 2021
No jab, no job? Can employers enforce a vaccination programme?
by Karen Holden • Comment, Legal news, Wellbeing