HR Case Study Law Updates

Human Resource: HR Case Study Law Updates

The case of Adams and another V Harwich International Port Ltd ET/1503084/10 has confirmed that employees who are off sick over the start/finish of an annual leave year are entitled to carry all of their accrued leave to the following annual leave year. It was previously thought that this rule would only apply to the 4 weeks of holidays granted by the European Directive relating to holidays, but the case confirmed that it also applies to the additional 1.6 weeks granted by the UK Government via the Working Time Regulations.

The case of Williams and others v British Airways Plc has clarified that holiday pay should include supplementary payments and allowances, not just basic pay.

Has or will your business be affected by these issues? Empire welcome all feedback and comments.

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Health & Safety and Human Resources

Human Resources: Flexible working not a burden on employees

The latest statistics released by the CIPD reveals that only 10 tribunal claims relating to the right to work flexible working were successful in 2010/11. Although 277 claims were placed, only 48 reached the tribunal stage and of those, just 10 were won by the employee.

This appears to demonstrate that flexible working legislation has been successfully implemented without imposing an excessive burden on businesses. This is likely to encourage those campaigning to extend the right to work flexibly to all employees.

Health & Safety: The cost of not separating transport from pedestrians

Separation of pedestrians and forklift trucks could have prevented a serious industrial accident when a 61-year old employee had both his ankles and lower legs broken by a fork lift truck reversing into him at Verplas Ltd’s Dorset site.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching S.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court and was fined £10,000 with costs of £2,407


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SPEAK UP STAY SAFE & EXPLOSIVE DISCIPLINARY ACTION

Speak up Stay Safe Campaign

"Every 40 minutes in the UK a young person is seriously injured in the workplace. We think this position is wholly unacceptable. By highlighting to young people that they need to be aware of their environment and speak up if they feel unsafe we hope to significantly reduce this number" states Julie Nerney, chief executive of the British Safety Council.

Young workers, those under the age of 18 years, are considered in law to be at risk due to lack of experience and maturity. Good role models, a positive safety culture, training and supervision are key issues in the successful mentoring and a young workers development so this ongoing campaign will be of interest to those employing or working with under 18’s.

The Speak Up Stay Safe campaign supports and encourages young people to feel confident talking to their work supervisor, parent, teacher or friends if they feel that they are in an unsafe situation. Tips and advice for young people, teachers, parents and employers is available on www.speakupstaysafe.co.uk, HSE website, Facebook and other mediums. Visit the website with a young worker as part of your risk assessment action plan.


Explosive disciplinary action?

An employee that made a ‘technical error’ is likely to be facing explosive disciplinary action this week after a firework display scheduled to take 20 minutes lasted just one minute. The technical error meant that rather than a series of colourful explosions, spectators were surprised by £6000 worth of fireworks within a minute! Spectators were disappointed with the short display but some described the show as “brilliant” and the sky ‘like daylight’!


Has or will your business be affected by these issues? Empire welcome all feedback and comments. Please visit our facebook page where we regularly hold discussions relating to the topics covered in our blog posts.

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CALL TO SCRAP UNFAIR DISMISSAL

A report commissioned by David Cameron has recommended the scrapping of unfair dismissal rights for those who are unproductive at work.

The report states that many businesses are forced to keep employees because it’s too difficult to dismiss them, meaning that employees often ‘coast’ their way through employment. It also asserts that many businesses are reluctant to take on new employees; for fear that they will not be able to dismiss the employee if they are unproductive.

The report was written by Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor, who argues that unproductive employees should be replaced by more capable people thus facilitating economic growth. The reality is that the scrapping of unfair dismissal rights is very unlikely, but the report does indicate that the Government is keen to listen to the business community.

This report follows recent announcements that the length of service an employee must have before they can place an unfair dismissal claim is to be increased from 1 year to 2 years, and that tribunal fees will be introduced in an effort to deter vexatious claimants.


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GAS SAFETY - HAVE YOU ASSESSED YOUR CONTRACTORS?

A man claiming to be a registered gas engineer from Accrington has received a two year prison for endangering people’s lives at two properties in Lancashire. The Health and Safety Executive successfully prosecuted for six offences, after his work was classified as being ‘immediately dangerous’. It was reported that Burnley Crown Court heard the 35-year-old’s actions had put residents at risk of being killed or seriously injured in a gas explosion or from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr Jonathan had falsely claimed he was a registered gas engineer when he installed a new boiler at a community nurse’s home on Willows Lane in Accrington on 22 October 2010. Unbeknown to the occupiers the boiler was left operating dangerously. He then failed to return to fix continuing problems and it was then reported to the manufacturer as being faulty who sent an engineer to repair the boiler. The engineer classified the installation as being ‘immediately dangerous’, and disconnected it from the gas supply straight away and Mr Jonathon’s work was reported to Gas Safe Register, which holds the official list of legal and safe gas engineers. The HSE carried out an investigation and found other work he had carried out in the area to also be dangerous.

The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 months in prison at Burnley Crown Court. Paul Johnston, Chief Executive of Gas Safe Register stated “Gas fitters working unregistered like Stephen Jonathan are far more common than you think - we estimate they’re doing 250,000 illegal jobs each year, causing fires, explosions, gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning and leaving people out of pocket.

“All gas engineers have to be Gas Safe registered - it’s the law. Our message to everyone is clear - check the engineer’s Gas Safe Register ID card before letting them work on gas.”

Has or will your business be affected by these issues? Empire welcome all feedback and comments. Please visit our Facebook page where we regularly hold discussions relating to the topics covered in our blog posts.  

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ARE YOU READY FOR WINTER?

The Scottish Government has announced a partnership with the The British Red Cross, with the aim of encouraging businesses and the general public to prepare for another harsh winter.

The National Public Awareness campaign was launched on 24th October in response to research showing that most people did not feel prepared for a severe weather induced emergency.

The campaign focuses on steps people can take to ensure they are able to cope when severe weather hits. Businesses are also being urged to prepare by taking ‘simple but sensible’ steps.

Scottish businesses have been forced to deal with several harsh winters in recent years, and will therefore be all too familiar with the challenges that severe weather can bring.

Empire is urging businesses to prepare early this year, particularly in view of the early arrival of snow last year. Several weather forecasters are predicting another early arrival of severe weather this year.

Top ten tips from Empire are:

1. Consider offering your employees a free flu jab. This should help minimise absences over the winter period.

2. Draw up a contingency plan detailing how key roles will be covered if the usual post holder is unable to attend work due to the weather or illness.

3. Circulate an up to date and clear winter weather policy. This should detail whether employees will be expected to make up their hours at a later date, take the time off as unpaid leave, or take the time off as annual leave. The policy should be tailored to suit the needs of your business, as well as take the circumstances of employees into account.

4. Make arrangements for key employees to work from home if they are unable to get into the office. For example, you may need to ensure they can access their emails from home, are contactable, and have the equipment they need to work at home.

5. Consider the needs of those with children and other dependants. School closures often leave employees unexpectedly unable to attend work - with very little notice. Ensure that this group of employees know how to keep the business up to date and aware of their childcare predicaments.

6. Ensure you have a good absence reporting procedure. All employees should be made aware of who to contact if they are unable to get into work. The policy should stipulate the time they need to make contact by, and how regularly to provide updates in relation to their attempts to get in.

7. Carry out full risk assessments. Even slippery car parks need to be considered! Those with health conditions may need extra support.

8. Be consistent but fair with those who have been unable to get into work. Those who have made little real effort to get to work could be subject to disciplinary action, but those who live in remote areas may need to be given more leeway than those who live within walking distance of the office. It’s important to take all relevant factors into consideration when deciding whether disciplinary action is appropriate.

9. Keep air travel to a minimum where snow is forecast. This will help prevent the cancellation of meetings at the last minute due to delayed flights caused by the weather.

10. Where your employees are required to drive at work, ensure the vehicle is equipped for snow. Are the tyre pressures correct? Is there plenty of water? Are oil levels good? Do they have a supply of deicer?

Has or will your business be affected by these issues? Empire welcome all feedback and comments.

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TALENTED FOOTBALLER OR REBELLIOUS EMPLOYEE?

Tevez’s refusal to play during the Manchester City v Bayern Munich game in September has brought a key issue to the forefront of the entire footballing industry. Who is in charge? A Manager or a player?
Tevez refused to play in the Champions League game despite being requested to do so by City boss Roberto Mancini. Tevez was on the bench, had warmed up, and was ready to play. The refusal has infuriated fans, particularly since there was still time for the team to turn around the eventual 2-0 score. Many will blame Tevez personally for the poor result.

After all, isn’t playing football a pretty basic task for a professional footballer? What are they paid for if they don’t play football?

Footballers as Special category of employees
Most fans will believe that if footballers don’t play, they don’t get paid. However, the reality is that professional football players are employees. The enviable salaries paid to top footballers may give the impression that they are a ‘special’ or ‘exceptional’ category of employee, but the fact remains that Football Clubs are employers and they are just as susceptible to tribunal claims as any other business in the UK.

So what options will the Club have? Can they simply terminate Tevez’s contract? The quick answer is yes, but that would risk an expensive tribunal claim. Terminating the contract without following the full disciplinary procedure would probably result in Tevez placing a claim for unfair dismissal and any compensation awarded would be increased by up to 25% simply because the procedure wasn’t followed.


Tevez to be Suspended?
The safest option is to follow the procedure. This means suspending the player (on full pay) pending an investigation. The purpose of the investigation is to establish all of the facts before deciding whether to take formal action. Tevez has been suspended so it would appear that the Club has sought legal/HR advice on the best way to resolve this.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, disciplinary action will follow. Having to follow the procedure may infuriate fans who believe the footballer has behaved unprofessionally and does not deserve to keep his job, but businesses throughout the UK have to go through this process when employees refuse to carry out their job, and a football club is no different.

Managers and employees often disagree, and the vast numbers of tribunal claims are testament to that. The issue here is whether a professional footballer can refuse to play, even when directly instructed to do so during an important game. Football fans will undoubtedly say no.

What do you think? We welcome any comments about any of the issues raised in the post. Please join our Facebook page where we hold discussions regarding issues on Human Resources and Health & Safety within businesses.


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