There’s nothing better than a few statistics to fuel the debate on immigration and I’m always drawn to any mention of positive or negative fiscal impact on this topic. The BBC’s recent article ‘More or Less: Calculating how much migrants cost or benefit a nation‘ is very informative, but does it give the full picture? … Continue Reading
In his Autumn Statement earlier today, the Chancellor George Osborne made a few announcements that are worth noting by employers and employees. Onshore Intermediaries Measures will be put in place to prevent employment intermediaries from being used to avoid UK employment taxes by disguising employment as self-employment. The government will consult on strengthening existing legislation … Continue Reading
Back in 1997, a Mr Zafar sued Strathclyde Regional Council. He claimed in effect that the handling of his dismissal had been so botched that it transcended mere ineptitude and became malicious, i.e. that no-one could make so big a mess of the procedure without really putting their back into it. During what must have … Continue Reading
As everyone is looking for signs of economic recovery, the Coalition to laud it and Labour to decry it as fragile, the mass of employment data emerging is coming under increasing scrutiny in the press. For example, now that the Bank of England has decided to link monetary policy to the unemployment rate, there is … Continue Reading
In the first quarter of 2013, 286 members of the recruitment sector provided their comments on the Government’s proposals to change the legislation currently regulating that sector, commonly known as the “Conduct Regs”. The Government has now released a document containing a summary of those comments and has confirmed its intentions going forward. By way … Continue Reading
Statistics published by the Office for National Statistics last week show that net migration fell by more than a third since June 2010 to 153,000 for the year to September 2012. The Home Office has also published statistics for the period January to March 2013 accompanied by a press release announcing that these ‘demonstrate that … Continue Reading
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has released new guidance as part of a “more aggressive” stance to tackle employers using unpaid interns to avoid the requirement to pay the national minimum wage. According to The Guardian, the guidance has been issued to coincide with the end of the academic year, when students … Continue Reading
On 6 April 2013 new UK Immigration Rules put into place the changes outlined in an earlier Home Office Statement of Intent affecting the Points Based System. This seminar (commencing at 9.00 am) will provide an overview of what the new rules mean for Sponsor Licence holders, with an in-depth look at the different restrictions … Continue Reading
The EAT recently reiterated the importance of a well worded warning in JJ Food Service Limited v Kefil, providing a clear and rather depressing reminder of the importance of not taking for granted the knowledge of management in disciplinary proceedings. Mr Kefil was described as overly authoritarian manager who relied on bullying and intimidating behaviour. … Continue Reading
Back in October we suggested that the Government’s employee shareholder status proposal was a clear case of attaching too much credibility to its own publicity, and was destined to fail – ill thought-out, with insufficient consideration given to how it would actually work in practice, as opposed to party political conference cosmetics. Since then, much … Continue Reading
Another contender for our annual Not Remotely Self-serving Employee Survey Award popped up this week on the website of hotel chain Travelodge. Based on its review of 2000 workers across the UK, the Travelodge site offers the breathless reader a wealth of statistics aimed at showing how hard British employees work, and just how many … Continue Reading
There are two thoughts about the recent furore surrounding young Paris Brown’s appointment, Twitter fiasco and embarrassing resignation as Youth Crime Commissioner. The first is a lesson about the recruitment process. Stating the obvious, it pays to ensure there is a thorough assessment and selection of candidates for vacancies, particularly for high profile jobs. One … Continue Reading
“Druids, vegans and green activists should be given special treatment at work, according to “lunatic” advice from the Equalities Watchdog”. Guess the newspaper? Under the blaring headline “What an insult to Christians!”, the Daily Mail swaggered back into the workplace arena earlier this week with a searing and almost wholly misleading indictment of the Equalities … Continue Reading
Taking time off falsely, whether as sick leave, compassionate leave or otherwise, is clearly misconduct, which would entitle an employer to take disciplinary action, up to dismissal, depending on the severity of the circumstances. However, there are often difficulties establishing when it is “reasonable” for an employer to disbelieve the reason given for the absence. … Continue Reading
The hotly anticipated Statutory Residence Test (SRT) was published last week, taking up a hearty 64 pages of the 615 page Finance Bill 2013 (not a good holiday read, let us say). The new rules will apply from 5 April 2013. The new test will be very important to employers of mobile employees since the … Continue Reading
Some more sensible guidance this week from the people who brought you Heafield –v- The Times, this time in connection with the use of covert tape recordings in evidence in the Employment Tribunal. Ms Vaughan alleged discrimination against London Borough of Lewisham and assorted others. She claimed that she had 39 hours of covertly tape-recorded … Continue Reading
The UK Government has recently published the snappily-titled “Employment Relations Research Series 123 – Employer perceptions and the impact of employment regulation”. Unlike many learned studies which take many months and much money to complete but which seem only to confirm the obvious, this thoughtful research does identify a number of underlying problems for the … Continue Reading
Find me an employment lawyer in the land who has not watched an episode of The Apprentice from behind the sofa, moaning in frustration that: “they wouldn’t get away with this in real life”. And it’s true. The television programme is jam-packed with procedural faux-pas, discriminatory comments and of course, Britain’s most belligerent boss himself, … Continue Reading
Good question. If we cast our minds back to the 18 December 2012, our hazy memories are likely to revolve around an eagerness to clear the desk ahead of the festive season but there will be a small number who will vaguely recall some Government pronouncement about reducing the current 90 day minimum consultation period … Continue Reading
In a move that has surprised many, the UK Government has proposed repealing the amendments made to the TUPE Regulations in 2006 which sought to ensure that most service provision changes were brought within the scope of the Regulations. Given that what both employers and employees so desperately want in a SPC situation is greater … Continue Reading
A back-to-front case reported in the Daily Mail Online last week (a friend told me) concerned the mixed fortunes of Lockheed Martin PA Dawn Bailey in her Employment Tribunal claims against the defence giant for disability and age discrimination. Ms Bailey suffered from sarcoidosis, a complaint which was found in her case to constitute a … Continue Reading
The Squire Sanders UK Business Immigration Team presents a “back to basics” webinar on the legal and practical aspects of business immigration in the UK on Tuesday, 19 February at 4pm GMT. Join us for this webinar when Annabel Mace, Kate Gamester and Stephanie Dare from the UK Team will: provide an overview of the … Continue Reading
On 23 November 2011 the UK Government announced that it planned to consult on changes to the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (Conduct Regulations). At that time, Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “We are going to consult next year with a view to scrapping unnecessary … Continue Reading
Many of Worldview’s readers will be familiar with the test for disability under the UK Equality Act 2010. In short, a person has a disability if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a “substantial and long-term adverse effect on that person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. When the Minister responsible … Continue Reading
