HMRC publish guidance on penalties for not telling HMRC about CJRS grant overpayments
HMRC have published ‘Guidance: Penalties for not telling HMRC about Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant overpayments’, which covers the following:
4 August 2020
Acas publish advice for all employees returning from Spain
Acas have published formal advice for all employees returning from Spain after the sudden decision to reimpose quarantine. Employees returning from Spain should talk to their employer as soon as possible as they will not be able to leave their home for 14 days due to the government’s self-isolation advice.
3 August 2020
New Acas annual report reveals record demand for its services due to coronavirus
Acas has published its 2019 to 2020 annual report. There were 1,172,091 contacts through Acas's helpline and advisory services such as the telephone helpline (which received 800,000 calls), Helpline Online, web chat and Facebook messages.
30 July 2020
CJRS grants can be claimed for contractual notice periods and not just statutory notice
On 17 July, HMRC updated its guidance: Check which employees you can put on furlough to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to make it clear under the heading ‘If you’ve made your employees redundant’ that employers can continue to claim for a furloughed employee who is serving out a statutory or contractual notice period.
29 July 2020
UK points-based immigration system: further details statement
In February 2020, the Government published its Policy Statement on the UK’s new Points-Based Immigration System. The Home Office have now published a 130 page statement which provides further details for applicants, employers and educational institutions on the draft requirements and conditions underpinning the key immigration routes in the Points-Based System.
28 July 2020
Dismissal fair for excessive use of internet for personal purposes during work time
In Hall v Weightmans LLP, during an interview to investigate why H had allegedly brought her daughter and grandchildren to the firms premises to share lunch and then leaving them on site unaccompanied, H alleged she had been working on her computer whilst her family had been present.
27 July 2020
Acas podcast and CIPD webinars on tackling racism in the workplace
Acas have published a new podcast 'Black lives matter: the workplace'. Acas, share their insights into what organisations and individuals can do to make their workplaces truly more equal, including what intersectionality is [interconnected nature of social categorisations] and why it matters.
23 July 2020
Government announces changes to criminal records disclosure regime
The Government has laid a Statutory Instrument to amend the filtering rules that govern what is automatically disclosed through standard and enhanced criminal records certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
22 July 2020
£9,500 award for injury to feelings after rape and erection comments
In Houlihan v Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd and Mr DM, an ET was faced with a situation which sometimes crops up in harassment cases where one person says “yes you did” and the other says “no, I didn’t”. Here the principle issue of fact was whether Mr DM said to Ms Houlihan (H) that he ‘felt like raping her’ and that he ‘had an erection’.
21 July 2020
Providing severance package if return to work not feasible was reasonable adjustment
In Hill v Lloyds Bank PLC, H is disabled, suffering from a reactive depression which she said resulted from being bullied and harassed by colleagues at work.
20 July 2020