cipd seminar

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

PREPARED BYANDREW RAYMENT, LOUISA DEBOER AND LYDIA NEWMANWALKER MORRIS

PRESENTATION PREPARED FOR THE CIPD

29 September 2011

Parental Leave and Flexible Working Proposals

10 Parental leave:

– Unpaid leave for fathers to attend antenatal appointments;

– An 18-week period of maternity leave;

– A new 34-week period of shared parental leave;

– Increase parental leave

– Changes may come into force in April 2015

Flexible working:

– Changes to the statutory request procedure

– More than one request may be made in any 12 month period

9Employment Tribunal Statistics and Figures

Total Number of claims – 218,000 (8% decrease)

122,800 (9% increase), 12 % cases successful

Mean awards:

– Unfair dismissal - £8,924

– Race discrimination - £12,108

– Disability discrimination - £14,137

– Age discrimination - £30,289

Ministry of Justice statistics

8The Equality Act update

Equality Act under review

Combined discrimination abolished

Third Party Harassment

Socio-economic duty

7TUPE

Albron Catering v FNV Bondgenoten

Parkwood Leisure Ltd v Alemo-Herron

OTG v Barke

– Oakland decision wrong

– Pre-packs not exempt from TUPE

6Employment Status

Employee, Worker, Self-employed

Autoclenz v Belcher

– Reality of Legal relationship

– Discarding/Ignoring contractual terms

– Importance of a genuine right of substitution

Impact for business – review the reality of relationship

5Facebook and Social Networking

Preece v Wetherspoon

Whitham v Club 24 Ltd t/a Ventura

Damage to reputation

Importance of Social Media Policy

Acas Guidance

4Right to Legal Representation

G v The Governors of X School

– No right to legal representation

– Article 6 not engaged as no determination of civil rights

Kulkarni v Milton Keynes NHS Trust

– Profound career consequences may engage Article 6

3Abolishment of Default Retirement Age

Impact on business

Retirement is no longer a fair reason for dismissal

– Conduct, Capability, Redundancy, Illegality, SOSR

Workforce management and planning

Ignore age – it is a protected characteristic

Greer v Coulter (t/a Alphreso Cafe) NIIT/2750/10

3Case Study – Retirement

You have a 64 year old man, John Smith in your team.

John's role involves a substantial degree of heavy lifting. You have

noticed that John has had difficulty with lifting and other elements of

his role for a few months but you have not taken any action because

he is close to retirement age.

 What can you do about this situation?

 What steps should you now take?

2Agency Workers Regulations

1 October 2011 – in force

Day one rights

– Collective facilities, information on vacancies

12 week rights

– Pay, annual leave, rest periods and rest breaks, night working

Swedish Derogation

Tribunal claims

BIS - Guidance

2Agency Workers Regulations

Agency Workers are individuals who are:

– supplied by a Temporary Work Agency (TWA); and

– work temporarily for and under the supervision of a Hirer; and

– have an employment contract or any other contract with the TWA to perform

work or services personally

A Temporary Work Agency is an entity engaged in -

– supplying individuals to work temporarily for and under the supervision/direction

of Hirers; or

– paying, receiving or forwarding payment for, the services of individuals who are

supplied to work temporarily for and under the supervision/direction of Hirers

A Hirer is an end user to whom individuals are supplied to work temporarily

for and under the supervision and direction of that person

2Agency Workers Regulations

The Regulations do apply to:

– Typical agency staff – where there is a tri-partite arrangement;

– Individuals working for Umbrella Companies; and

– Individuals who operate limited liability companies but are not genuinely

self-employed

The Regulations do not apply to:

– The genuinely self-employed;

– Workers who operate under Managed Service Contracts;

– Bank staff; or

– Seconded employees

2Case Study – Agency Workers

You hire an agency worker to work as a receptionist.

After 16 weeks she approaches you and complains that she is not

being paid the same amount as other receptionists. They are all

employed directly by you.

What action should you take?

How would you act differently if she complained that she was

not being allowed access to the site’s staff common room?

1The Future

Unemployment now stands at 2.51 million – 7.9%

20 million jobs already lost in G20 countries, expected to rise to 40

million by the end of 2012

“We are looking at a half decade of jobs drought. For the UK it will

get worse before it gets better” – Dr John Philpott, chief economist CIPD

Consequences:

– Increased unfair dismissal and discrimination claims

– Increased liquidations, administrations and redundancies

– Reduced levels of morale, workforce problems

1The Future

Red Tape Challenge:

– Discrimination compensation

– TUPE

– Collective redundancy

Tribunal Proposals:

– Unfair dismissal – 2 year qualifying period;

– Acas pre-claim conciliation;

– Increased powers to strike out, order deposits, case management;

– Calderbank offers

– Judges to sit alone in Unfair Dismissal claims

Questions?

Andrew Rayment

Employment and Human Resources

Partner

Contact details:

andrew.rayment@walkermorris.co.uk

Tel: 0113 283 2500

Louisa Deboer

Employment and Human Resources

Associate

Contact details:

louisa.deboer@walkermorris.co.uk

Tel: 0113 283 2500

Lydia Newman

Employment and Human Resources

Solicitor

Contact details:

lydia.newman@walkermorris.co.uk

Tel: 0113 283 2500

UPCOMING SEMINARSEMPLOYMENT BRIEFINGS

The Walker Morris Employment Team will be launching a series of employment HR

related seminars over the coming months.

If you would be interested in attending these seminars, would like to receive Walker

Morris Employment Briefings or the “Little Green Book of Employment Law”

please contact Beverley Kemp on 0113 399 1885.

• Facebook Firings

• The end of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) and

succession planning with your business