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theHRDIRECTOR Issue 65
This issue we speak to
Richard Boon
Head of HR, England 2018

FEATURES

Special Report
Pensions
Reward
Lean working
HR Software

FEATURING

Skanska
Somerfield
Bourton Group
CIPD
Accenture

Employment Law

Caught in the act
The Corporate Manslaughter Act comes into effect on 1 April 2008 and follows years of argument about how best to hold companies to account for deaths caused in the course of their activities.
Right to work overtime in UK to continue
The right for UK workers to choose to work longer than 48 hours a week has been secured, after ministers reached a new agreement in Europe. The landmark agreement on both the Working Time Directive and the Agency Workers Directive at the EU Employment Council allows the UK's vital labour market flexibility to continue, while ensuring workers are treated fairly.
UK and US Businesses count the cost of employee misunderstanding
UK and US employees are costing businesses $37 billion (£18.7 billion) every year because they do not fully understand their jobs, according to a new IDC white paper commissioned by Cognisco, the world’s leading intelligent employee assessment specialist.
ACAS Exceeds targets in the face of rising employment tribunal claims
Acas, the employment relations service, today released new figures showing that employment tribunals and potential employment tribunal claims passed to Acas for conciliation rose a quarter (24.9%) on last year. Despite the statistics, Acas – in its 2007/8 annual report - also revealed that it exceeded its performance targets for the year, demonstrating key contributions made to improving organisations and working life through better employment relations.
Businesses urged to prepare for Welfare Reform Act
More than half of UK businesses are unprepared for the major overhaul of the welfare state later this year. A survey by PMI Health Group, the UK’s largest independently-owned specialist provider of employee healthcare and risk management services.
Sharp increase in unsubstantiated employment claims
Employees are becoming more litigious judging from a recent survey undertaken by HR professionals from major UK organisations in and around the City.
BA cabin crew Vote for action
"The union Unite announced, at a hugely hyped news conference, in Central London today that out of a ballot of more that 12,000 British Airways cabin crew 81 percent (7482) of members voted in favour of industrial action.
The true cost of employment legislation to UK industry
A survey of 50 of the UK’s leading companies by law firm BLP on the second anniversary of key UK age discrimination regulations has revealed half of businesses are finding compliance with the law time consuming and onerous. The findings, coming from businesses across the corporate spectrum with a combined market turnover of over £79bn and with over 250,000 employees
Repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures
All employers will be aware of the practical problems which have been caused since the introduction of the statutory dispute resolution procedures in October 2004. Although they were introduced with the intention of reducing the number of disputes which eventually found themselves in the Employment Tribunals, this has not happened.
Businesses warned to prepare for new stricter Health and Safety Rules
New legislation will significantly increase the penalties available for health and safety offences. The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 comes into force on Friday 16th January 2009 and will raise the maximum fines that can be imposed in the lower courts for breaches of health and safety regulations from £5,000 to £20,000.
Curbishley wins West Ham dismissal case
Alan Curbishley, former manager of West Ham United has won a claim against West HamUnited, for constructive dismissal.
BA dispute update
In response to the recent strikes by BA, Duncan Snook, Employment Law specialist at Davies Arnold Cooper LLP summarises the status quo..
Bullying tops employment claims
Forty percent of all employment claims in 2009 were related to bullying and the number could become higher still as more claims feed through due to the stress caused by two years of severe recession, says Contact Law, the UK’s leading service for recommending local, quality-assured solicitors to consumers.
Heydey legal challenge is far from over
Age Concern and Heyday have rejected reports that their legal challenge against the UK Government on mandatory retirement ages has reached the end of the line. Whilst the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice last week disagreed with Heyday’s legal interpretation of the EU Directive upon which the Age regulations are based, he also confirmed that the Directive requires the national default retirement age to be justified in the British courts.
New law aims for a better skilled workforce
A new law came into force this week that will help address skills shortages in the UK workforce, aiming to provide businesses with better-trained young employees.
Faceoff for Facebook
Recession battered employers are being urged to crack down on the devastating impact to staff productivity of internet misuse at work. Law firm Mace & Jones made its remarks after teenage office worker Kimberley Swann was sacked last week from her job as an office administrator in Essex after branding it "boring" on Facebook.
BA crisis continues
The battle lines between British Airways plc (“BA”) and the UNITE union were drawn in December of last year when Mrs. Justice Cox granted BA’s application for an interim injunction to prevent a planned strike of cabin crew, balloted by the trade union UNITE (the sole representatives of cabin crew who work on BA’s fleet at Heathrow and Gatwick).
Temp jobs the answer to youth unemployment?
“Getting young people into work through temporary recruitment could be the way to reduce youth umemploement.
Unpaid overtime increases throughout the UK
The number of employees working unpaid overtime increased by 103,000 in 2007, bringing the total to nearly five million, according to a new analysis of official statistics published by the TUC.
Guard your organisation against cyber crime
If a malicious employee stole data from your organisation, would you have the skills to detect it? Could you gather evidence that would help the authorities prosecute a criminal case?
Employee notice periods differ across the world
Employees resigning in the US, Mexico, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore and UK have the shortest statutory notice period between resigning and leaving their place of work, according to data released by Mercer. The data, from Mercer's “Global HR Factbook”, outlines the minimum legal requirements for notice periods for employees across 43 countries.