So as Boris sits in his bunker and works on Plan C (early draft – “Go to Sardinia. Don’t come back“), employers in England are confronting the shoulder-sagging knowledge that all their prior work on cajoling people back to the office has been comprehensively torpedoed by Plan B. However, leaving aside the obviously deeply unworthy … Continue Reading
If ever a government consultation was overtaken by events, it is this week’s offering on Making Flexible Working the Default. For many employers this is now pushing at a door which is not just open but blown clean off its hinges by the pandemic and the WFH experience of the last 18 months. The Consultation … Continue Reading
Here are answers to two more of the questions which came up at our webinar last week, this time dealing with employee resistance to workplace Covid testing and the wisdom or otherwise of agreeing to post-lockdown WFH without formal changes to terms of employment. If an employee refuses to be tested at work, how should … Continue Reading
Way back in, ooh, last month we reported on Carreras –v- UFPS, a case on the extent to which an employer’s expectation of overtime working could be the basis of a disability discrimination claim even where it was the employee’s conduct which had generated it https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/when-overtime-goes-bad-employers-duties-to-clarify-expectations-for-disabled-staff/. As if to shed some further light on that … Continue Reading
We have a new Conservative Government which must now move from the euphoria of an unforecast election victory to the hard work of actually governing. Part of the Government’s agenda will be to overhaul areas of working life, e.g. pay, benefits, welfare, taxation, and employee relations in ways that may herald a significant shift in … Continue Reading
Depending on what you read and who you believe, today’s opening-up of eligibility to request flexible working to all employees with six months’ service or more will be: (i) the unleashing of an unstoppable tide of cost, inconvenience and Tribunal claims; or (ii) no big deal. Perhaps by the time you read this, there will … Continue Reading
Braced for Monday? D-Day on the new Flexible Working rules has finally arrived, and with it, some new questions for employers. Whether or not you expect waves of new flexible working applicants storming up your company’s beaches first thing on Monday morning may depend on the nature of your business. A CIPD survey in 2012 … Continue Reading
Acas has now issued its draft Code of Practice on “Handling requests in a reasonable manner to work flexibly” (sic). This anticipates the coming into force on 30 June this year of a general eligibility to request flexible working and the replacement of the old rigid procedures with a blanket obligation on the employer to … 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
The UK Labour & Employment team runs a series of seminars and workshops on topical employment issues. Join us at our April workshops when we will explore the key legal and practical issues that arise when dealing with flexible working requests in the workplace. We will use a DVD clip featuring our fictional manager who … Continue Reading