August HR and employment law update
Our beautiful new home at The Manor House, Howbery Park

August HR and employment law update


I hope you’re having a wonderful August so far! ??

We are in the middle of a large extension to our house, which has forced my hand to finally get an office on the wonderful Howbery Business Park

It has been a dream to be based here since I started my business 5 years ago! Thank you to Donna Bowles and her team for the amazing warm welcome ???Do drop in to see us if you are passing! ??

This month I’m delighted to be hosting a webinar with Claire Willett on how to support your menopause age staff, do join us on 16 August at 12.30pm (we will also record the event).

Have a lovely rest of your summer!

New Government advice on hiring marginalised groups

Recruitment and ongoing staff shortages continue to be a challenge for small businesses with many struggling to fill key roles in their organisation. Help may be at hand, however, as the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee recently published a report providing guidance to employers on how they can adapt their recruitment processes to help solve ‘critical structural and demographic challenges in the UK labour market’.

In particular, the report specifically included recommendations on how to attract young people aged 16-24, those aged over 50 (who were either made redundant or left the workforce during the pandemic), and disabled groups as these demographics are currently underrepresented in the UK workforce today.

Key recommendations include improving flexible working arrangements such as part time working, job sharing and hybrid working, tackling ageist attitudes and targeting older workers, and focusing on mental health support – all things small businesses can look at doing as part of their hiring strategy.?

Third party sexual harassment liability reduced

Following the #metoo movement, the momentum on protecting employees from sexual harassment in the workplace shows no signs of slowing down with the UK government recently introducing the Worker Protection Bill earlier this year. The Bill was an amendment to the Equality Act 2010 and was brought in to ensure employers had a legal obligation to protect their employees from sexual harassment by other colleagues and third parties such as external contractors and even members of the public. The onus was on employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their workforce.?

However, following further debate in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to remove the liability from employers for any harassment made by third parties towards their employees to avoid any potential ‘burden’ on businesses. As a result, employers now have to take ‘reasonable steps’ rather than ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment. Despite the change in the Bill, employers should remember that they still have a duty of care to ensure their employees are protected from all sexual harassment in the workplace and ensure they have robust policies in place to protect their staff.???

Retaliation dismissal

Is a business justified in dismissing an employee if they believe the employee’s husband is opening a ‘rival business’??No, they are not, after a tribunal ruled in the case of an office assistant who was made ‘redundant’ soon after her husband left the same company.

In this case, a company director suspected that his office assistant had knowledge of her husband’s business and feared that he would open up in competition. As a result the director made her redundant.

Despite not receiving any formal notification of the redundancy, the office assistant agreed to work her six weeks’ notice. However, when she refused to sign a settlement agreement, she was told to leave the same day. The tribunal ruled that as a result, the office assistant was unfairly dismissed because of the company director’s “fears about her possible knowledge of her husband’s business”, not because her position was redundant. The tribunal also found that the office assistant did not receive any redundancy payment and even appealed the decision but did not receive a response.

It’s not uncommon for business owners wishing to remove an employee for other reasons to reach for ‘redundancy’ as a basis for dismissal. However if you do this and it is not a genuine redundancy situation and a fair redundancy process isn’t followed, you are leaving yourself wide open for a claim.

Dismissed after raising a health & safety concern

Not providing adequate access to facilities and other basic amenities for employees can be raised as a ‘health and safety concern’ in this case of an apprentice employee who complained to the local council of a blocked toilet in his workplace.

The premises had one working toilet which was prone to getting blocked regularly as it was located outside. After yet another incident where the toilet was not working, the director of the workshop told the apprentice that there was a burst pipe and would be fixed soon. Unsatisfied with this response, the apprentice complained to the local council who paid the workshop a visit to investigate the concern. It was following this visit a confrontation ensued between the director and apprentice which resulted in the apprentice being dismissed.

In its findings, the tribunal ruled that the apprentice was dismissed for raising ‘genuine health and safety concerns’ and as these were clearly established prior to his dismissal, that meant dismissing him was automatically unfair.?Businesses should be well aware that any health and safety concerns raised by their employees should be taken very seriously and dealt with promptly, and that there is no need for an employee to have the normal requisite two years’ service to bring an unfair dismissal claim in these circumstances.

Other stuff

A shocking report by maternity campaigners Pregnant then Screwed has revealed horror stories from working mothers who experienced maternity discrimination during and after their pregnancies. The report also revealed that one in ten women were bullied or harassed when pregnant or when they returned to work with 7% of women losing their jobs by either being made redundant, dismissal or being forced to leave after getting their flexible working request declined.

Emojis have now become as common to use in texts as other punctuation, but would you use the winky face or the poo emoji in your work emails? According to research by TollFreeForwarding.com,62% of the 1000 UK workers they surveyed say they find emojis inappropriate in work emails, with over 55’s most likely to think this.

According to a survey published by Birkbeck University, it found that 65% of neurodivergent employees feared discrimination at work. The report also found that while one in seven people are neurodivergent, representation remains low in the workplace.


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