Empire's new Training Calendar provides an easy way to add relevant courses to your calendar

We're delighted to announce this year's Training Courses from Empire; we have a comprehensive range of courses to help you keep up to date with employment law legislation and health & safety responsibilities.  In addition we have a number of courses designed to help you manage your business.  Take a look at the list below which include links to our Training Calendar that will give you booking details and an easy way to add relevant courses to your own calendar.

If you need any further information on our courses please email us or, visit the web site which is updated on a regular basis with all the latest details.

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE
Employment Law has recently been in the headlines for the ‘radical’ changes being contemplated by the coalition government; but these aren’t the only changes to affect Employment Law – what about Agency Workers; Holiday Pay; National Minimum Wage Law; Redundancy Law, TUPE Law and Unfair Dismissal to name a few areas which have seen changes in the past year.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

RESTRUCTURING, REDUNDANCY & MERGERS
A practical workshop highlighting key legislative and employee relations considerations for any business undergoing change with a focus on legal compliance.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

DIRECTOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES
Empire’s in-house Barrister, Craig Bennison will look at Director responsibilities from an HR; HSE perspective, while restructuring and business improvement expert, Neil Armour from Eagle Orchid Management Services will share some of his vast experience of advising management in distressed and rapidly growing organisations.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

WITNESS FAMILIARISATION
If you are facing an Employment Tribunal and are unsure about what will happen on the day, you can turn to Empire for support. We currently offer a new specialist preparation day of Witness Familiarisation Training, in readiness for any forthcoming cases. The course is recommended for anyone who has not previously given evidence at an Employment Tribunal or who may be feeling nervous about the prospect of doing so.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

HEALTH & SAFETY
IOSH Managing Safely, NEBOSH General Certificate and CIEH Health & Safety courses are available to enable people to assess and control workplace hazards and understand their health and safety responsibilities.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Delivering good customer service for any business is a learned skill and a key point of difference. Our workshop has been developed using two methods “you make the difference” and the world famous “fish” customer service experience.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

EFFECTIVE INVESTIGATION SKILLS
Effective Investigations are an integral part of any disciplinary or grievance procedure. This workshop will give guidance on the scope of investigations, sources of evidence, witness statements and questioning skills.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

MANAGING CHALLENGING SITUATIONS
This session will offer guidance on conduction sensitive discussions with employees with a focus on attitude and behavioural issues, capability and underperformance.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES

INTRODUCTION TO MEDIATION
An introduction to the resolution of workplace conflict through alternative path, with a ‘How to’ guide for managers on conducting information mediation.
CHECK CALENDAR FOR TRAINING DATES
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.

If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

You can also follow Empire HR on Facebook - please click here

A breakdown on the Changes to Unfair Dismissal Rights

Changes to Unfair Dismissal Rights

In November 2011 the Government announced its intention to increase the qualifying period required for employees to make unfair dismissal claims at employment tribunals from one to two years’ service. This change will take effect from 6 April 2012 however it is important to note that this will only apply to employees whose start date is on or after 6 April 2012. Businesses will therefore need to be vigilant when considering dismissals for employees who started prior to that date as they will still be able to bring a claim after only one year’s service.

The purpose of the change is to allow businesses more time to resolve employment difficulties and to hopefully reduce the number of unfair dismissal claims placed at tribunal. However it is important to be aware that employees may still raise other claims which are not dependent on the two years’ service requirement.

It is important to note that the change to the qualifying period will not remove the risk of discrimination claims as no qualifying periods apply to these claims. In additional there are a number of exceptions to the qualifying period which will remain.

It is anticipated that the increase in the service requirement for most unfair dismissal claims to two years may result in an increase in employees seeking to make alternative claims as described above. As such it will be important for businesses to seek advice in any circumstances where they are considering the dismissal of an employee to ensure that the risk of any claim being made is minimised. Please contact the Empire Advice Line team if you have any queries about these changes, and especially if you are looking to terminate an employee’s contract of employment.

Can Employees Working Abroad Claim Unfair Dismissal?

Ravat v Halliburton Manufacturing and Services Ltd [2012] UK Supreme Court

In the light of Lawson v Serco [2006], the Supreme Court considered whether an employment tribunal had jurisdiction to hear a complaint of unfair dismissal in relation to a British citizen, living in England, who worked for a British-registered company in Libya on a month-on, month-off basis.

The Court held, dismissing the employer’s appeal against the decision that an employment tribunal did have jurisdiction to hear an unfair dismissal complaint. The Employment Rights Act 1996, ss 94(1) (right not to be unfairly dismissed), 230(1) (definition of “employee”) did not contain any geographical limitation, although some limitation must be implied. Distinguishing Lawson, the question of law was whether s 94(1) applied to this particular employment. It was not for the courts to lay down a series of fixed rules where Parliament had decided not to do so. Their role was to give effect to what Parliament may reasonably be taken to have intended by identifying and applying the relevant principles. The question of fact was whether the connection between the circumstances of the employment and Great Britain and with British employment law was sufficiently strong to enable it to be said that it was be appropriate for the employee to have a claim for unfair dismissal in Great Britain.

The Ravat decision can certainly be viewed as an employee-friendly one – the majority of overseas worker cases will now most likely be caught by s.94 if a long enough list of factors can be produced – but it is open to question whether this is quite what Parliament had intended. Instead, the tribunals are left with a lengthy fact-finding exercise combined with a distinct lack of clarity as to what the relevant facts they should be finding are. From now on, when establishing the scope of s.94(1), anything, it seems, goes.

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.

  If you have found this post interesting please use the "Share" buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they will find it interesting too. Thank you.

You can also follow Empire HR on Facebook - please click here