York - 
12 December 2013
Employment advice
The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone because of their religion or belief. With religious festivals of all faiths spread throughout the year, employers need to be aware of workers' rights and some of the issues that can arise to avoid costly tribunal claims. The Equality Act protects employees, contract workers, partners and office-holders, and covers the areas of recruitment, terms and conditions, promotion, training and dismissal. An employee, who believes you have discriminated against them, harassed or victimised them because of their religion or belief can bring a claim in an employment tribunal and, if successful, can be awarded unlimited compensation. The average award in April 2012 - March 2013 for this type of discrimination was £16,320. Employers can be held responsible if one employee discriminates against another in the…
13 November 2013
Employment advice
It is estimated that anything between 250,000 and one million workers are employed on zero hours contracts in the UK. Employment law does not define a zero hours contract. In practice it has come to mean a contract for casual work, where the employer does not guarantee to provide the individual with any work and pays them only for the work actually done. Usually, the worker is expected to be available to work if called on by the employer. Workers are effectively on standby and are generally contacted at the start of each week and told how many hours they will be required to work that week. The advantages for employers are clear: they do not have to pay staff when there is no work available for them; nor do they have to pay sick…
11 October 2013
Employment advice
Most employers will need to recruit a new member of staff at some stage, either because an employee has left and they need to be replaced, or because they are expanding. Finding the right person can be tricky but employers need to follow a fair selection procedure to reduce the risk of allegations of discrimination. Discrimination law covers all areas of employment, including advertising jobs and recruitment. You should keep records of the equal opportunities training that managers have received, all decisions made during the recruitment process and the reasons for them, in case you have to justify a decision later. A fair recruitment selection process should: Use a standard application form - a job description and a person specification should not include requests for personal information. Equal opportunities monitoring forms should be kept…
05 October 2013
Employment advice
Three different types of employment status have existed for some time: employee, self-employed and worker. Each benefits from a slightly different range of employment rights. From September 2013, a fourth type joined the list: employee shareholder. This measure was introduced by the government to reduce employment costs for employers by giving employees a stake in the company they work for in return for waiving some of their employment rights. Employees have to be given shares in the business in order to become employee shareholders. The status can only be offered if your business is run as a company. Sole traders, partnerships, charities and public sector organisations will not be able to take part. An employee shareholder has to be given fully paid-up shares worth at least £2,000 and there is no maximum amount they can…
21 June 2013
Employment advice
Most employers will be aware that it is a legal requirement to give all employees a written statement of particulars of employment, but also having a staff handbook gives you an opportunity to set out in detail what you expect from your staff. It is a means of passing on to employees important information about your organisation and how it works on a day-to-day basis. It is also a handy place to keep forms for sickness self-certification, requesting holidays, claiming expenses and so on. The handbook can either be printed and a copy given to each employee or it can be put on your intranet so that all staff can access it. There are some policies and procedures that you have to give employees by law and a staff handbook is a good place to…
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