August HR and employment law update

Finally we got a summer ????

And with a new government there's been lots to get our teeth into so far. If you’d like to hear our take on Labour’s proposed legislation updates, please listen to our webinar here:

?As soon as anything gets confirmed, we will be in touch to advise you where your contracts and policies need to be updated. In the meantime, keep an eye on our LinkedIn https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/face2facehr-abingdon for tips and things to be thinking about as the proposals start to come into effect.

In the meantime, I’m having a little break 12-23 August, so Khi and Arianna will be holding fort. Have a wonderful summer!

News – Post Election special

Last month, we discussed the possibility that the employment law landscape may change if Labour came to power, now it seems to have become a reality, and there are key legislation updates that small businesses will need to watch out for in the coming months as follows:

• Removing the ‘one-sided flexibility of zero hour contracts. This proposal is unlikely to ban the use of zero hours arrangements entirely, but will restrict them, requiring a basic level of security and avoiding the ‘exploitative’ nature of zero hour contracts.
• Fire and rehire. The controversial practice of businesses ‘firing’ and then rehiring employees on less favourable terms will come to end with more stringent measure under Labour’s plan, including a stronger code of practice than the one issued recently by the previous government.
• Basic day one rights for all workers. Currently only applicable to individuals with more than two years’ service, this? significant change will give all workers’ protection against unfair dismissal (still subject to probationary periods), and access to parental leave and sick pay.
• Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Barriers to SSP will be removing, making it available to all workers from day one of their employment, without any earnings threshold or waiting period.

Flexible working as the default Employers will be required to accommodate flexible working requests as a default from day one, as far as is reasonable.

Enhanced protections for new mothers It will become unlawful for employers to dismiss a woman who has recently returned to work after childbirth for a period of six months, except in specific circumstances outlined by law.

Minimum wage changes Labour will introduce what it refers to as a ‘genuine living wage’ and will also remove age-related bands to the NMW rates.

• Establishment of a single enforcement body A new Fair Work Agency, will be established to strengthen the enforcement of workplace rights. This body will streamline the process for employees to address issues related to pay, working hours, and other employment rights.

?While these changes are fairly substantial, Labour’s do recognise that some parts of their New Deal for Working People will take time to review and implement and have promised full consultation so that new rules are effective.

?Legal Updates

Employee who was part of a ‘pool of one’ redundancy was unfairly dismissed

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) tribunal found that an employee was unfairly dismissed due the employer’s failure to consult on the decision to place them in a pool of one. In this case, three other employees also performed similar roles across the UK, but the claimant was placed at risk of redundancy in a pool of one. Following a consultation process, the claimant was made redundant however, while the tribunal accepted the employer’s belief that there was a pool of one and that the role was unique, it found that the business had failed to explain these reasons to the claimant during the employee’s consultation process.

It is very tempting to operate pools of one, in an attempt to avoid dragging other employees into a stressful process, but this case highlights the very important need to consult not just on the need for redundancy, but also on the decision to operate a pool of one.

An Apple employee was unfairly dismissed for taking photos of a female colleague

An employee hired by Apple Retail UK, was found to have been unfairly dismissed after taking and sharing photos of a female colleague without her knowledge. In this case, after the employee had taken photos of a female colleague in the staff canteen and shared them in a group chat, another colleague flagged this as a concern. The employee was then dismissed for sexual harassment.

Despite Apple having policies relating to business conduct, and harassment and bullying, the tribunal found the harassment policy was ‘vague and did not contain a clear definition of harassment’. The tribunal also ruled that the female colleague was unlikely to have been aware the photo was taken, and his behaviour would therefore not have impacted her. While the judge ruled that this case was a ‘stupid form of engagement’ of a ‘teenage-style crush’, the claimants actions did not constitute serious misconduct.

Whilst this type of behaviour may feel like a fairly obvious fair dismissal, this case shows the importance of ensuring any harassment policies? clearly define what is classified as harassment, to avoid a risk of a similar finding by a later tribunal.

Other stuff?

According to a poll of UK workers by MHR, 58 per cent of employees are considering leaving their jobs in the next 12 months because their employer doesn’t share the same values as them.

Nearly one in five employees have never received cybersecurity training, according to a survey by security awareness company KnowBe4 with a further 83% of employees not having had training on password protection, deepfakes, phishing, and AI.

A survey by ethical hiring platform Applied, found that 37% of younger workers (aged 16 to 34) have experienced bias during the recruitment process, compared to 22% of all respondents with Gen Z and millennial employees most likely to face hiring bias.

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