Big changes for Employers in 2024: New employment laws set for the upcoming year

You’ve heard of New Year, new me, but how about New Year, new employment laws?! There has been a recent surge in legislation that employers need to be aware of in the upcoming year and how it may impact them. Here Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment law provides 3 key updates to be mindful of: National Minimum Wage For the first time, the top rate of national minimum wage will apply to workers aged 21 and over from 01 April 2024 (currently it only applies to those aged 23 and over). The new top rate is set to be £11.44 which is an increase of 9.8% from 2023. Employers must ensure that the correct minimum wage payments are made or they will risk claims being made from staff which could result in significant penalties…

An employer’s guide to taking grievances seriously

Dealing with employee grievances can sometimes seem like a thankless drain on a business’s management and resources. But a prompt investigation could uncover inappropriate behaviour or poor management that needs to be nipped in the bud, avoiding bigger problems down the line and reputational risk for the organisation. Employers must comply with the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (the Code), which sets out the basic steps and principles for dealing with a grievance. ‘While this encourages employers to ‘have a quiet word’ or to use mediation where appropriate, investing time and resources in dealing with a grievance can pay off in the longer term,’ explains Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment Law with Ware & Kay. ‘An informal approach could backfire as the employee may feel their concerns have not been taken seriously…

How to keep your best staff happy in 2024

With the festive season over, so what better time to start showing appreciation to your team and spark a feeling of goodwill among your hard-working employees. A Christmas bonus and a party may go some way towards persuading them that you are an employer they want to stick with, but there is a lot of competition for good staff. What else can you do to retain first-class workers? Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment Law at Ware & Kay in York, Wetherby and Malton highlights the options. You can spend a lot of time, cash and energy finding and training up decent staff, and the last thing you want is to lose them just when they have properly got to grips with what you need them to do. It is important then, for bosses to proactively take…

Updated Acas guidance on sickness absence management

On average, each employee in the UK took off 5.7 days due to sickness in 2022, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics. The estimate of working days lost to UK employers due to sickness or injury reached a new high of 185.6 million in the year. ‘This follows a relatively stable period in the ten years up to the pandemic,’ says Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment law with Ware & Kay. ‘Sickness absence presents a host of problems for employers, including loss of productivity and increased pressure on colleagues who are covering for the absent employee. Sickness and absence need to be managed well or employers could be exposed to a number of claims such as for disability discrimination, unfair dismissal or personal injury.’ Acas recently updated their helpful guidance on…

How do settlement agreements work in the agricultural sector?  

Farming is a demanding business – especially in these financially troubled times – and you need every staff member to be working at the top of their game. If you have an employee who is frequently late or calling in sick, or who is stirring up trouble with constant complaints, it can have an effect on the wellbeing of your livestock, the morale of other workers, and on your profit margin. Strict UK employment laws usually restrict your ability to simply sack a troublesome full-time employee without a long, arduous legal process. However, if you have an employee who is not performing as they should, or has raised a troublesome grievance in the workplace, a settlement agreement can be a useful way of terminating their employment, or resolving a dispute, without fear of repercussions, as Kalpesh…

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Could your business be named and shamed?

“Retail giants W H Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos are among firms who have been “named and shamed” by the government for breaking the minimum wage law. Almost £5m was found to be owed to around 63,000 workers following investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs dating back as far as 2017. These named employers have been made to pay back what they owed, and in addition were fined around £7m.” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/minimum-wage-wh-smith-lloyds-argos-b2361300.html When my colleague sent me this article I was taken aback. How could some of our largest and best-established retailers fall foul of the most basic employment law? The law on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) is not simply about paying a minimum amount per hour worked. In fact, there are common pitfalls which, if breached, can land a business into seriously hot HMRC water. What are the consequences…

Talking ‘off the record’ and settlement agreements

‘Using a settlement agreement to bring an employment relationship to an end, and effectively wipe the slate clean, can be very useful. But, to start the conversation, employers need to be able to speak off the record,’ says Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment Law with Ware & Kay in York, Wetherby & Malton. ‘There are ways that this can be done, but employers need to take care and be aware of a few limitations.’ Kalpesh explains what settlement agreements are; when discussions are ‘off the record’; the benefits of a settlement agreement and off-the-record conversations. He offers a word of caution and tips on strengthening your bargaining position, and takes a quick look at non-disclosure agreements after the #MeToo campaign.   What is a settlement agreement? A settlement agreement is a binding agreement to waive most…

Getting employees back to the office

According to the Office for National Statistics, before the Covid pandemic only one in eight working adults reported working from home at least once during the previous seven days. This figure peaked at 49 per cent between April and June 2020. It has decreased since then, but not drastically, and the figure for January to February 2023 is 40 per cent. ‘Many employers now want staff to start working in the office either all the time or more frequently,’ says Kalpesh Nakeshree, a Head of Employment Law with Ware & Kay.  ‘Reasons for this include concerns about the impact of remote working on company culture; camaraderie; loyalty; learning opportunities for junior staff; supervision; productivity; innovation and collaboration.’ Kalpesh outlines the contractual and equalities issues that employers need to think about when seeking to make this change…

Autism and Employment

Whilst Autism and more generally, ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) are widely recognised as developmental disabilities, this does not mean that they are widely accepted or understood by U.K. employers. In order to fully accept those on the Autism Spectrum, it is crucial that people begin to educate themselves (and others) on the disability wholly. A key starting point is understanding that every person on the spectrum is unique and therefore has their own individual needs. Despite those with ASD experiencing many similar traits, each person will be affected by their disability differently. There is no ‘one adjustment helps all’ approach that can be taken by employers who are looking to create a better environment for their ASD employees. In a recent case of mine, the employer argued that they had provided reasonable adjustments for their autistic…