This Autumn brings quite a few changes for Polish employers. Not only do new pension plans called PPK (Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe) became a reality for the biggest Polish employers in the fourth quarter of 2019, but the Labour Code and Code of Civil Procedure see changes too. Some of them result in a need to … Continue Reading
As sexual harassment in high places is attracting a lot of coverage in the Press this week, here is a new thought. What if, instead of pillorying the accuser and exposing the victim to the trauma of formal grievance or Employment Tribunal proceedings, you could find a solution where victims regarded their honour as satisfied … Continue Reading
Akinwunmi – v – Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is the perfect example of when employment law reaches the limits of its usefulness in HR practice. For a fuller description of the facts, see Chris Lynn’s blog. For our purposes, however, Dr Akinwunmi fell out with five of his neurosurgeon colleagues over alleged … Continue Reading
Acas has been busy with its new guidance recently and so have the Employment team’s vacation students. Here is a cautionary piece on cyber bullying in the workplace by Simon Watts-Morgan. The unstoppable rise of social media and online networking has led perhaps inevitably to the emergence of a new type of workplace bullying – … Continue Reading
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” goes the childhood rhyme. Really? Let’s not kid ourselves. Words are powerful and can hurt just as much as the childhood alternative of a wrist-burn behind the bike sheds. But bullying is not just an issue in the playground. It is also … Continue Reading
Last month the Australian Fair Work Commission made its first formal bullying finding since the introduction of new anti-bullying laws at the start of 2014. The Commission found that two employees of a small real estate business subjected to repeated unreasonable behaviour by a property manager had been bullied at work within the meaning of … Continue Reading
If an employee is unfairly treated in the course of an internal investigation, grievance or disciplinary procedure and suffers depression as a result, will the employer be liable? Only if the depression were a foreseeable result of the unfair treatment, said the Court of Appeal last month in Yapp -v- Foreign & Commonwealth Office. That … Continue Reading
California law currently requires that most employers provide sexual harassment prevention training to supervisory employees every two years. In light of the attention being given to incidents of “workplace bullying,” California has now passed a law (AB 2053) amending Government Code section 12950.1 to require training on the prevention of “abusive conduct” as a component of … Continue Reading
My word, I hope somebody has a good explanation for this one. London Underground bosses have apparently required the removal from Tube offices in Essex of two small photos of the Queen, unwitting subject of bullying allegations made by a member of one rail union against a member of another. RMT and ASLEF union representatives … Continue Reading
My New Year’s Resolution was to go to a gym. I’ve done that now. As a result, I have developed a posture better suited to an amateur dramatics production of Richard III, and a number of body parts which have worked quite adequately for over half a century no longer do. Don’t let this be … Continue Reading
Most workplaces do (and indeed probably should) have a degree of daily workplace banter between employees within the workplace. It’s usually part of the oil which keeps the machine running happily and smoothly. But when does the banter cross the line from a little reciprocal mickey-taking and verbal jousting to help the day go past … Continue Reading
Squire Sanders presents a series of webinars focussing on the key labour and employment issues in various countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific and the United States. On 30 October 2013 at 9 am GMT (10 am CET, 5 pm AWST (Perth), 8 pm AEDT (Sydney)) the featured country is Australia. Join Bruno Di Girolami from … Continue Reading
Tough economic times in Japan in recent years have led to the growth of a new social problem, the “burakku kigyo” or “black company”. There is no legal definition for this, but it is usually described as an exploitative employer where unlawful practices are common (in fact, normal), including excessive working hours, abuse of power, … Continue Reading
I have recently been watching (and secretly enjoying) BBC Three’s The Call Centre. The “documentary” follows the day to day events at a Swansea call centre under the leadership of CEO and self-titled Napoleon, Nev. It took me a while to realise that this was not some terribly clever spoof like The Office, but was … Continue Reading
For reasons so obscure that they now escape me, I found myself the other day looking at the results of a 2008 survey on workplace bullying in Poland. I did say the reasons were obscure! The article, on the website of the European Working Conditions Observatory European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO) included some illuminating statistics … Continue Reading
