At our webinar earlier in the month (essentially, Life after Covid plus New Proposals) I promised as usual to respond to participant questions via this blog. Here is the first. Please don’t write in and tell me that Covid isn’t over – I know, but that would be a politically inconvenient truth at present so for … Continue Reading
So you have finally introduced a no-jab, no entry policy in your workplace and now the government seems intent on pulling the rug on the whole thing by agreeing that even workers with some of the UK’s most vulnerable people don’t need to be vaccinated after all. If they don’t need the jab, on what … Continue Reading
Back in June Acas produced a report on the “fire and re-hire” practices used by some employers to make detrimental changes to employees’ terms and conditions of employment. In essence, the employee is given notice of dismissal from his old contract but offered immediate reinstatement on a new one which incorporates the changes the employer wanted … Continue Reading
In the wave of sunny optimism following the roll-out of our vaccination programme this spring-summer, few people in Belgium had anticipated that the Covid situation would worsen again, or do so as quickly as it has. And yet the numbers of infections and patients in intensive care are now at an all-time high. New stricter … Continue Reading
We made an employee redundant before the furlough scheme ended – will his unfair dismissal claim succeed? The basic argument here is an easy one to understand – you made me redundant when you did not have to because my salary was being borne by the CJRS. In circumstances where employers are duty-bound to consider … Continue Reading
With the end of the Coronvirus Job Retention Scheme now only half a dozen weeks away we are seeing the first reported Employment Tribunal decisions around the interplay of the CJRS and redundancy dismissals. This brings us the beginnings of an answer to the challenge many employers will have faced since the Scheme was introduced … Continue Reading
Following our blog a few weeks ago, the Home Office has this week confirmed that the ability to carry out adjusted right to work checks will now remain in place until 20 June 2021 (inclusive). The temporary measures introduced from 30 March last year have meant that instead of having to have sight of original … Continue Reading
Look, it’s certainly not for me to criticise efforts being made by HM’s Courts and Tribunals Service to explore and improve how justice is best delivered during the pandemic and beyond. So the recent arrival in my inbox of a survey on the point being conducted by an independent external organisation IFF on behalf of … Continue Reading
As attention turns increasingly to the practicalities of the physical return to the workplace in what may be little over 3 months, questions of employers’ rights and obligations in relation to testing and vaccination are becoming more common. These are vexed areas which can easily put common interest into conflict with civil liberties. Just how … Continue Reading
Here are two more answers to questions raised at our “Employment Law in 2021 and Beyond” webinar last week. Answers to the immigration-related questions are on their way. If you make representations to the non-compete consultation, will your name be published? When might we see an outcome from that consultation? Do we know when the … Continue Reading
Thank you to all those who signed up for our “Employment Law in 2021 and Beyond” webinar on 23rd February. Over 400 people dialled in for the session, so our profuse apologies but maybe little wonder that we did not get to answer all the questions raised. As promised, here are a couple of the … Continue Reading
So there it is, Boris’s long-heralded 4 Step plan for the country to move forward into our new future. Lots of statistics, cautions and caveats, but what does the 60-page “COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021” document presented to Parliament yesterday contain for employers? Is there anything new or is it, like the paper the original … Continue Reading
We already had a legal framework for recurrent home working and a separate one for “occasional” home working, but up until now there was no clear guidance on the mandatory home working imposed by the Belgian government as a measure to combat the pandemic. Clarity at last, however, as the National Labour Council voted through … Continue Reading
So here we are all again and, says the Government’s latest guidance, able to leave home to work only where it is “unreasonable for you to do your job from home“. This is the umpteenth permutation of the same underlying message about working from home if you can, and was almost certainly meant to say … Continue Reading
Businesses in Great Britain with 250 employees or more are required to publish information annually showing the difference in average pay between their male and female employees – the “gender pay gap”. This year the reporting obligation was suspended, but what is likely to happen for the reporting year 2020/21?… Continue Reading
It became increasingly clear over 2020 that the existing legislation on remote working was not fully up to the challenges faced by the Russian economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the need of some businesses to place very large numbers of employees onto compulsory remote working arrangements at short notice. On 8 December, therefore, … Continue Reading
Boris’ press conference on Saturday night addressed one key question and left another unanswered. In his late start, overturning of previous statements and an expression more hunted than Ronnie Biggs, the Prime Minister showed clearly that the pandemic holds the reins of power at present, not the Government. On the other hand, after six months … Continue Reading
Here is another question which came up more than once at last week’s webinar on Managing Working Parents but which I was unable to get to at the time. If you receive a flexible working application now, can you “park” it until things settle down and you have a clearer picture of what your post-pandemic … Continue Reading
So what price now, your long-planned initiative for returning your workforce to the office? How much of your RTO plan is still standing among the smoking wreckage of the Government’s message only two months ago that employees should “start to go back to work now” if they can? What does Michael Gove mean by the … Continue Reading
Friday’s headline in The Telegraph above heralds the launch of a new Government campaign to encourage those currently working from home back into their physical offices. A series of noticeably unnamed Government Ministers and “sources” told the paper that “bosses at struggling firms will find it easier to hand out P45s to people they never … Continue Reading
