10001. free - employment law compliance guide for new & existing employers 01

Address: 44 Broadway, Tel: 0207 118 2627 E-mail: [email protected], London E15 1XH Fax: 08448 502627 Web: www.edassociates-hr.com

Ed Associates HR is trading name of Ed Associates Management Services Ltd.Company registered in England and Wales No: 5560698

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‘‘For us it’s more than just Solutions’’ –

It’s about making a real difference to your business byproviding you 100% personalized service…

Ignorantia legis neminem excusat

Free Employment Law Compliance Guide

(For New & Existing Employers Without Employment Law& HR Management Support)

‘‘Prevention is better than cure’’ – Proverb.

Together, let’s make it happen…



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Disclaimer – Important InformationAll advice of the law in this Free Employment Law Compliance Guide document is intended forinformation purposes only, and is not a substitute for taking formal specific legal advice from apracticing solicitor or barrister or HR practitioner.

While every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this document and theopinion in it, no responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or company acting or refrainingfrom action as a result of any statement in it or otherwise caused by relying upon the contents ofthis document is accepted by the author or publishers.

Ed Associates Management Services Ltd and its associate’s network affiliates (and any of theirrespective directors, officers, agents, contractors, interns, suppliers and employees) will not beliable for any damages, losses or causes of action of any nature arising from any claim about thisFree Employment Law Compliance Guide document or the provision of these Free EmploymentLaw Compliance Guide document.

This Free Employment Law Compliance Guide document may not be reproduced or copied in anyform without the express written content of the publishers.

Copyright Ed Associates HR 2015



3Table of Content1. Ed Associate HR & Employment Law Team Massage…………………………………………….4

2. What is Employment?…………………………………………………………………………………5

What is Employment Law?

3. What you need to know about the Law……………………………………………………………...6

Wages Holiday Entitlement Notice

4. Maternity Leave………………………………………………………………………………………...7

Flexible working Discrimination Agency workers

5. Employment Law Requirements Versus The Challenges of Employers – How to balance theTwo Cocktail for Success………………………………………………………………………..……8

Offer Employment Contract

6. Prevent Discrimination during Recruitment…………………………………………………………9

7. Have the correct Discipline & Grievance Procedure…………………………………..…….……10

8. Pay the right rate……………………………………………………………………………………..11

9. Prevent unfair Dismissal……………………………………………………………………………..12

10. Recruit only Job Candidate’s eligible to work….………………………………………….………13

11. Enrol your workforce in a pension scheme………………………………………………….…….14

12. Case Laws - Consequences of wrong Employment Law & HR management…………….…..15

13. How we can help……………………………………………………………………………………..16

Our Approach We use analogy to help clarify the Ed Associates Approach

14. Our Approach…………………………………………………………………………………………17

15. Free Consultation…………………………………………………………………………………….18

16. S&A Seal of Assurance………………………………………………………………………………19

17. To find out more………………………………………………………………………………………20



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Ed Associates HR & Employment Law TeamMessage

Dear Employer,

We understand that employing, developing and managing people to achieve business goals has itsown unique challenges whatever the context or nature of the business. But it does not mean wehave to terminate every employee’s contract with immediate effect because of poor performance oroccasions of sickness absence and what may.

While in some countries it’s acceptable for employers to terminate employee’s employmentcontract with immediate effect without any fear of legal repercussion, fortunately, in the UK that isnot the case. Employers and Employees have their respective rights enshrined in constitution. Inessence, there are checks and balances in place to safeguard the relationship between Employersand Employees.

The safeguard in this case is what is referred to as Employment Legislations. The challenge forevery employer is not only to be up to date with these Employment legislations, but also to be ableto implement them in their people management practices and processes effectively.

This is why we created this Free Employment Law Compliance Guide for Small MediumEnterprises (SME’s without their own in house Employment Law and HR Management Support).This guide is a breakdown of some of the things SME’s need to know about Employment Law andmuch more.

What's more, this guide keeps in-line with our goal to empower SME’s to operate their businesswith full confidence and realise their full business potentials, as opposed to being limited by lack ofprofessional legal and people management solutions for progression.

We hope you will find this Free Employment Law Compliance Guide helpful as we have found itsatisfying creating it.

Thanks a million for your patronage

Ed Associates HR & Employment Law Team



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What is Employment?Employment is the agreement between an employer and employee that the employee will provide aservice for the employer in return for wages / salary. But before this arrangement can be defined asemployment there must be a contract of service. The nature of a contract of service is that theemployer controls how, when and where the work is done. Usually the work is done on the employer’spremises using the employer’s tools and materials.

This arrangement is called a relationship “of service” as opposed to someone agreeing to provideservices as in a self-employed contractor role. The employer must exercise sufficient control over theemployee including when and how the employee works. Within legal circles, Lawyers still refer to thisrelationship concept as “master and servant” when distinguishing a contract of employment from othercontractual relationships.

Furthermore, there must be a mutuality of obligations between the employer and employee. This isthe case where the employee is obliged to work and the employer is obliged to provide him with workand to pay him for it. It is essential to a relationship of employment that the obligation is a personalone, and the employee is personally obliged to do the work himself, as opposed to getting someoneelse to do it.

What is Employment Law?

Employment law is the law that governs the rights of employees and the responsibilities of employers.The law covers a wide range of issues from pension plans, prevention of discrimination in theworkplace, right to occupational safety, right to a minimum wage, right to flexible working and manymore. The purpose of Employment law is to ensure employees are treated fairly and work in a safeenvironment. Apart from protecting employees interest there are also laws in place to protectemployer’s interest as well.



6What you need to know about the Law!

Wages:

It is unlawful to deduct money from your employees’ wages unless you are legally required to do so.The legal right in this case will be whether it was stipulated in the Contract of Employment that youoffered the employee at the start of their employment with you. Secondly, did you and the employeeboth sign the Acknowledgment section of the contract confirming the contract as binding? Finally, didthe employee sign a separate written agreement authorising you to deduct money from their wages /salary.

Holiday Entitlement:

Employees are entitled to holiday leave from their first day of employment. This simply means thatthey start accruing holiday points from the day their employment started. Plus they are entitled to 5.6weeks which equals 28days in total. This calculated by the number of days an employee / workerworks a week. Let say, they work 5days a week multiplied by 5.6weeks = 28days. In the event theywork part-time, let say 3days a week again this will be calculated by multiplying 3 by 5.6weeks =16.8days.

Notice:An employee is entitled to one weeks’ notice if you wish to dismiss them. This notice rises to twoweeks after two weeks after two full years of employment and continues to increase by one week peryear up to a maximum of 12 weeks. Furthermore, the Notices can be extended or cut short byagreement of both the employer and employee.



7Maternity Leave:An employee has the right to 52 weeks maternity leave regardless of their length of service. Maternityleave comprises 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave (OML) and 26 weeks of additional maternityleave (AML). Furthermore, women expecting a baby on or after 5 April 2015 may be eligible toconvert part of their maternity leave into a period of shared parental leave that can be taken by eitherthe woman or her partner on a flexible basis. In essence, maternity rights can be grouped into threecategories, they as follows:

Rights while an employee is pregnant

Rights to take maternity leave

Rights on returning to work

Note: while an employee is pregnant, she has the right to paid time off to attend antenatalappointments. Employers also have specific duties to protect the health and safety of employees whoare pregnant, have recently given birth or who are breast-feeding.

Flexible working:Employees have the right to request flexible working if they have a child 16 or under, a disabled childunder 18 or they care for an adult. But first an employee must meet the 26 weeks qualifying period ofservice before the employee can request for flexible working. You as the employer must deal with theapplication with ‘‘reasonable manner’’ especially if the employee qualifies and there reasons fall intoone of the mentioned criteria. The implication is that the employee might end up taking legal chargesagain you.

Discrimination:It is your responsibility as an employer to ensure that employees are treated fairly and considerately.This involves not only having policies and procedures in place to prevent discrimination, but to ensurethat the policy and procedure are adhered to at all times. This will ensure discrimination in formdoesn’t arise, whether it is in term of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civilpartnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation. Failure to preventany form of discrimination from happening in your workplace it you the law will hold you liable for it.

Agency workers:This class of workers are entitled to the same basic conditions of employment as Employeespermanently working in the organisation. Basic conditions such as same pay and holiday entitlement,however the Agency worker must have worked in the company / organisation for a minimum of 12weeks to qualify for these rights.



8Employment Law Requirements Versus TheChallenges of Employers

- How To Balance The Two Cocktail For Success…

1. Offer Employment Contract:

What the law says:The law stipulates that an employer should provide employee a written statement of the terms andconditions of their employment (which simply means an employee Contract of Employment) within 8weeks of employing them. This should include things like pay, holidays and working hours and more.

Challenges of Employers:–

The challenge for an employer is not only to offer a newly recruited candidate a Contract ofEmployment so as to fulfil their legislative obligations. The real headache is identifying the correctcontract of Employment to offer among the different pool of contracts available whether its Zerohours, casual, fixed, part-time, permanent. Plus what status to engage the newly recruited as an‘‘Employee or Worker’’?

Advantage of the correct Employment Contract:-

The correct contract of employment is ultimately the contract that meets the needs of the businessand can withstand Employment relationship break down. Plus it is also the contract that can reflect itterms and conditions both in theory and reality. Finally, the correct contract of employment is the onlycontract that can survive a dispute in an Employment Tribunal if any aspect of its terms andconditions are brought into question.

The No 1 Employer Question:-

Can your Employment Contract withstand any form of dispute in an Employment Tribunal (ET)?



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2. Prevent Discrimination During Recruitment:

What the law says:The law stipulate that potential job candidates have the right not to be discriminated against ongrounds of religion and belief, age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment,marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity during an employer’s recruitment process.This simply means a potential job candidate/s cannot be treated less favourable among othercandidates on any of these grounds during the recruitment process. For instance: during therecruitment process a potential job candidate/s was excluded from performing a particular task onground of age while other candidates were allowed to perform the same task. Yet, nothing about thethis task and the age requirement was stated in the job advert. Such a candidate can successfully filein for age discrimination claim and walk away with a huge pay-out…


The challenge for an employer is not only to eliminate any form of discrimination in it recruitmentprocess so as to comply with legislative requirements. The real challenge is understanding how toconduct an effective recruitment process that employ the right employees for the job. While thechallenge sounds easy on the surface the inherent complexities in the recruitment process are somany that if not done right can lead to a catalogue of legal claims against an employer in anEmployment Tribunal (ET). For instance, the job analysis, creating the job description, drafting the jobadvert, where to advertise the job and many more.

Advantage of the Right Recruitment Process:-

A well designed recruitment process doesn’t only comply with legislative requirements by eliminatingdiscrimination throughout the recruitment process. The process is robust, comprehensive and certifiesthat the whole recruitment process has being carefully planned and implemented right from thebeginning to the end. Finally, such a recruitment process will survive any form of dispute raisedagainst it in an Employment Tribunal (ET).


Is your recruitment process discrimination free?



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Scale, Justice, Balance

3. Have The Correct Discipline & Grievance Procedure:

What the law says:According to the law all employees have the right to be accompanied to a discipline or grievanceshearing by a colleague or a trade union representative. For example if this recommendation was notadhered to and an employee was dismissed due to their misconduct and the employee takes the caseto an Employment Tribunal. The Employment tribunal will take the failure of the employer to complywith the recommendation into account when considering the case. A failure to adhere to therecommendations may not only, therefore, render a dismissal unfair but may also result in an increasein compensation awarded to an employee.


The challenge for an employer in this sort of situation is not only to agree for an employee to beaccompanied by a colleague or a trade union representative to a discipline or grievances meeting tofulfil legislative requirements. Far from it, the headache for employer here is how to ensure that themeeting is conducted in a fair and transparent manner therefore eradicating all forms of unfairness,bias and even discrimination in the process. The second challenge is being able to distinguish bothissues correctly and applying the correct procedures to each issue appropriately. The final challengeis having adequate resources to conduct the procedure.

Advantage of the correct Discipline or Grievances Procedure:-

The correct procedure will be the procedure that first distinguishes and apply the correct procedure tothe issue in compliance with legislation and ensure that all forms of impartiality is eradicated andupholds justice. Such a procedure will survive any form of dispute in an Employment Tribunal (ET).


Do you know how to conduct a fair and transparent discipline and grievances procedure in line withthe rules of natural justice?



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4. Pay The Right Rate:

What the law says:The law stipulates that employees have the right to be paid no less than the National Minimum Wage.It doesn’t matter how small an employer business is they still have to pay their workforce nothing lessthan the National Minimum Wage. Employers are liable to a heavy fine, if they fail to pay the NMW.


The challenge for an employer is not only about paying the right rate to their employees to fulfillegislative obligations. The problem is keeping up to date with the changing rates on a yearly basis.Secondly, knowing the different pay rate for the respective categories of age group, for example: 21and over, 18 to 20, under 18 and apprentice. Finally, ensuring that the business can afford theinherent extra cost involved in employing employee. Extra cost such as pensions, loans, travel andmeal subsidies.

Advantage of the Paying the right Rate:-

Paying the correct rate of pay to the right age group doesn’t only comply with legislative requirement.It also highlight an employer in a positive light in the community and the society at large. It alsopromotes the spirit of commitment, loyalty and retention among the workforce.


Are you paying the right National Minimum Wage to the right age classification to your workforce



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5. Prevent Unfair Dismissal

What the law says:According to the law an employer must have a good reason to dismiss an employee and alsodemonstrate fairness in the way the process was conducted. Failure to demonstrate fairness in thedismissal process of an employee will be automatically taken into consideration by an EmploymentTribunal. In essence, resulting in the tribunal concluding that the dismissal was unfair for starters.Secondly, the likely reinstatement of the employee back to work and finally, compensation to theemployee for being unfairly dismissed.


The challenge here for majority of employers is defining and balancing what is a fair and unfairprocess for dismissal and at the same time protecting and meeting the needs of the business.Furthermore, being able to differentiate the circumstances for constructive dismissal from wrongfuldismissal. There is no doubt that the dismissal process is a complicated process.

Advantage of Preventing Unfair Dismissal:-

Preventing unfair dismissal during the employment relationship has a lot of positive advantage for acompany. However, it does not mean a company cannot dismiss an employee/s for whatever reasonthat may be detrimental to the interest of the business. The point here is that a company should havea comprehensive dismissal policy and procedure that clearly details how the dismissal process will beimplemented. A well written dismissal policy and procedure should be able to withstand any form ofdisputes in an Employment Tribunal…


Can your dismissal procedures demonstrate fairness without resulting in a claim of unfair dismissal,constructive dismissal or wrongful dismissal in an Employment Tribunal (EET)?



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6. Recruit Only Job Candidates Eligible To Work

What the law says:The law stipulates that it is a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly recruit illegal immigrantworkers. Employer could incur unlimited fines. Furthermore, individual directors and/or seniormanagers who know or consent to the illegal employment of the workers concerned may also beconvicted and face up to two years' imprisonment. The employer will be liable for both civil andcriminal penalties. There are civil penalties for employers that employ illegal workers as a result ofnegligent recruitment and employment practices. Employers are liable to be fined up to £20,000 perillegal worker (increased from £10,000, with effect from 16 May 2014)


Under normal circumstances, no employer wants to deliberately employ Illegal immigrant workers forany reason. Bearing in mind the cost, image and reputational implications is more than the gains onthe longer term. The business challenge here for majority of businesses is how to confirm the validityof the ever increasing documentations potential job candidate present and balancing it with theendless business demands and pressure. Ultimately, some candidates will slip through the net andthe employer will be unaware of it.

Advantage of Not Recruiting Illegal Immigrant Workers:-

The answer to preventing the recruitment of illegal immigrant workers lies in the heart of having acomprehensive and robust recruitment formula. This formula would have ensured that a pre-employment check, (sometimes referred to as vetting) an integral part of the recruitment process hadbeen done on potential job applicants before recruiting them as employees.


Is your company current recruitment process & procedure comprehensive and robust enough toprevent illegal immigrant workers from slipping through and working for you?



147. Enrol your Workforce in a Pension Scheme

What the law says:

The Government’s flagship pension programme of automatic enrolment compels employers to have inplace suitable pension arrangements to which both employers and employees must contribute, and toenrol eligible workers automatically unless individuals choose to opt out of the scheme. In essence,employers should support their workforce to save for retirement whether via auto-enrolment or privatepension scheme. With substantial fines up to £2500 per day as an employer you cannot take the riskof not doing anything about it.


The prospect of saving for retirement is an initiative employers welcome. However, based on ourrecent research prior to writing this guide businesses complained that the pension set up process iscomplex. Hence, they don’t understand how to approach and implement it. In addition with jugglingthe daily demands of business just makes it harder to implement.

Advantage of having the right Support:-

Having the right support and advice makes the Pension Scheme (auto enrolment) processstraightforward and manageable to implement at every stage while business carries on as normal.


Do you know your staging date?



15Case Laws - Consequences of Wrong Employment Law &HR Management

£44,000 for heterosexual employee called “gay” because he does not like football wins

harassment claim

In Austin v Samuel Grant (North East) Ltd ET/2503956/11, an employee who suffered

workplace abuse successfully claimed sexual orientation and religion or belief harassment,

despite being heterosexual and not declaring his religious beliefs was awarded nearly

£44,000.

£18,000 award against company where employee given work two days after giving birth

In Stone v Ramsay Health Care UK Operations Ltd ET/1400762/11, the employment tribunal

awarded the claimant £18,000 and made wide-ranging recommendations, suggesting that the

employer provide training for its managers and HR team on maternity rights.

Experience requirement for shortlisting indirectly discriminated against female job

applicant

Crilly v Ballymagroarty Hazelbank Community Partnership NIIT/242/11 is a good example of

how an employer can indirectly discriminate against a female job applicant by making it a

requirement to have a number of years’ relevant experience within a narrow time frame,

something that is more difficult for women who have been raising a family to achieve. The

tribunal awarded the claimant £14,677, which included £5,000 for injury to feelings



16How we can help

Ed Associates HR is a network of experienced and qualified HR and Legal professionals committed toproviding SMEs (these include Independent Professionals) cost effective, comprehensive and 100%personalised Employment Law Compliance and HR management (Generalities HR) Support andAdvice service that is right for individual business.

Our goal is to empower SMEs to operate their business with full confidence and realise their fullbusiness potentials, as opposed to being limited by lack of professional legal and peoplemanagement solutions for progression.

Our ApproachWe use Analogy To help clarify the Ed Associates Approach

In this country, we all take for granted the presence and availability of our GP when we have a healthconcern. We forget that our GP is not only able to diagnose and treat our condition at its early stages;they also work with a network of other professionals to whom they can refer us for further treatment ifrequired.

Just as a GP operates, we believe the same operation should apply to SME businesses.Comprehensive support and advice provided under one umbrella. And for this reason Ed AssociatesManagement Services Ltd, trading as Ed Associates HR was established to bridge this gap in themarket.



17Our Approach

Employment Law and Human Resources Management (HRM) issues may appear complex andintimidating, but it does not have to be. Our HR and Legal consultants will guide you through thevarious facets of Employment Laws giving you practical support and advice all the way through theprocess.

We would be advising you on what is legal and illegal, what constitutes a breach of law and not.Simply put we would guide and protect your business through whatever changes there is inLegislations down to its implementation. These may include Policy reviews and up-date, Recruitmentand Selection, Contracts of Employments, Employee Handbooks, Employee Relations, Health &Safety and the list goes on. The bottom line is that we would ensure your business remains compliantwith Employment Law (Legislation)

At Ed Associates HR we first and foremost, work with you as your business partner so we canunderstand your business goals and objectives. Secondly, we would then use our P.E.S.T & S.W.O.Tanalysis to diagnose your business. Finally, we will tailor a solution that is specific and right for yourbusiness needs and stamp it with our S&A Seal of Assurance…



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Free Consultation

We are happy to meet with you on a one to one to discuss your business needs in depth. This willenable us to understand your business operation and provide you a personal solution that is right foronly your business. A solution that will make a whole world of difference to your business, improveyour workforce productivity and most importantly enable you to realise your full business potentials.

All you have to do is contact us for your free consultation. All our HR Support Packages are createdand provided by our network of helpful, experienced and qualified (CIPD) Associates HR and LegalConsultants.



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S&A Seal of Assurance

Reminder Service…

The employment world is constantly changing from different perspective, whether politically,economically, socially and technologically (P.E.S.T). The implication of all these changes is thatbusinesses are exposed to various loop holes and the slightest mistake can lead to potentiallydamaging legal action against the business.

As a retainer of our HR Support package we believe it is important we remind you that you arecovered by our S&A Seal of Assurance, which also forms part of our own Employment InsuranceCover. So you don’t need to buy another Employment Insurance cover or worry about any changeswithin the Employment world. So whatever happens our team will take care of it, while you carry onwith your business like nothing ever happened.



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To Find Out More

Contact us via one of the contact details displayed below. Our networks of helpful, experienced andqualified Associate’s HR and Legal Consultants are always available to provide the relevantassistance you require.

Our Associates’ HR and Legal Consultants are qualified with Chartered Institute of Personnel andDevelopment (CIPD) and Law bodies.

10001. free - employment law compliance guide for new & existing employers 01

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