One of the biggest changes workplaces have seen in recent years has been the greater use of flexibility in the workplace and remote working. A survey by YouGov earlier this year revealed some interesting findings, including that only 6% of those who responded were working the traditional hours of 9:00-5:00. The report also showed a desire for staff to start (and finish) work earlier, with the most popular option being 8:00-4:00....
Is one of the innovations of the gig economy the creation of a section of the workforce who can go on strike without risk or consequences?...
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, to use World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab’s slogan, is well and truly on its way. However, the latest report out of Davos (the location of the WEF’s annual gathering of business leaders and politicians) is that whilst 75 million jobs could be displaced by rapid technological advances, roughly 133 million jobs could be created within the next 10 years. ...
It is worth thinking about how your organisation would handle an employee’s bereavement as dealing with this well will ensure that the staff member returns to work and productivity as soon as possible....
There has been a steady stream of high profile cases about employment rights and the boundaries between categories of employment and self-employment in the modern economy, with particular focus on tech platforms providers like Uber. Largely (but not exclusively), the trend has been that those working in the gig economy have been found to be workers, rather than employees or people running their own micro businesses....
Last week saw the launch of a new guide aimed at assisting and supporting those who battle mental health issues in the workplace. The guide has been compiled by the CIPD, the UK’s leading professional body for HR and people development, and Mind, the longstanding mental health charity. CIPD’s recent ‘Health and Well-Being at Work’ report, produced in partnership with Simplyhealth, showed increases in work-related stress and mental health...
Following a campaign by the Liberal Democrats, suggesting that employers with over 250 employees be obliged to share their parental leave policies, ten major employers (including Deloitte and RBS) have agreed to publish their parental leave and pay policies. The research cited to support this campaign included a survey by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, which concluded that as many as 54,000 women a year lose their jobs due to either pregnancy or maternity discrimination....
As the UK hospitality industry suffers disruption by disgruntled workers it is a timely reminder that there is a large UK population of workers who are feeling exploited by the gig economy and lack of employment rights....
The Financial Times has reported a survey that shows people are working harder and faster, leaving them exhausted every day. This comes from the 2017 Skills and Employment Survey....
The Ministry of Justice has published tribunal statistics for April – June 2018. Readers will be aware that tribunal caseloads have increased steadily since the abolition of tribunal fees in July 2017. That trend continues in the latest report. ...
In a judgment published this week in the case of Mutombo-Mpania v Angard Staffing Solutions, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld a decision that - an employee who suffered from essential hypertension but had advised his employer that he had no disability was not, on the evidence he provided, a disabled person; and the employer could not reasonably have been expected to know that he was disabled. ...
It appears that Morrisons is the latest of the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets (so called due to their dominance of the market share) to face a string of Equal Pay claims. Whilst Tesco still holds the lion’s share, controlling 27.4% of the available market, Morrisons’ not so insignificant 10.2% keeps it firmly rooted as one of the most influential chains in the UK. The claimants’ representatives are well versed in this matter as they are already overseeing legal action on behalf of 30,000 employees at ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. ...
In a recent EAT case, the claimant had decided to move from one department to another, both within the employer’s business. She had received a conditional job offer from the new department and wrote to her employer stating ‘please accept one month’s notice from the above date’. Her conditional offer was later withdrawn and she asked to retract, what she called, her notice of resignation. The employer refused stating that she had resigned....
Almost every job application in the modern world will ask for a reference to accompany an application. It is an important tool to establish whether a candidate is suitable for the role they are applying for. ...
In North East London NHS Foundation Trust v Zhou, the EAT has decided that it may not necessarily be unreasonable conduct for solicitors to have filed an incomplete claim form....
In a recent High Court decision, the Court reaffirmed some important considerations when dealing with alleged breaches of contract by an employer. ...
Augmented reality (“AR”) is becoming more and more prominent. Put simply, AR is technology that superimposes a computer-generated image onto a user’s view of the real world....
A new YouGov survey of over 1800 people in the UK has found that only 6% are working the traditional working hours of 9am-5pm. 58% of those surveyed said they would like to start work earlier than 9am if it meant they could go home earlier....
Victimisation occurs when someone is subjected to a detriment because they have done (or it is believed they have or may do) a protected act. However, if the individual gives false information or makes a false allegation, their actions cannot amount to a protected act if these were also done in bad faith. If the information or allegation turns out to be false but was made in good faith it will still be protected. ...
As we blogged in June, individuals on zero hours contracts can bring claims for less favourable treatment of part-time workers by comparing to compare themselves to full-time workers even though they have different kinds of contracts. More recently, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) Judgment in Rice Shack Ltd v Obi was published....