Employment Law Scrapped

Employment Law Scrapped I was speaking to a prospect the other day, and while he was interested in our support, it quickly became clear that he didn’t feel he would need it going forward. Not because he wouldn’t experience issues in his organization, but because – in his words –  “Now we’ve had Brexit, the … Read more

Can you make an employee get the vaccine?

Can you make an employee get the vaccine?

I got a question today from an employee asking whether he could be disciplined for not getting the vaccine if/when it is offered.

The government has been pleasantly surprised with the take up of the vaccination programme in the UK so far – they were hoping for a 75% uptake, and they have over 90% uptake in the “at risk” groups so far.

But regardless of how good the uptake is, some people are refusing, and will continue to do so, and right now, there are no plans to make any of the vaccines compulsory.

As an employer, you have no right to insist on any vaccinations, either during employment or as a condition of employment. It’s also unlikely that you could make staff get vaccinated on health and safety grounds.

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Can I make them return to work after lockdown?

Can I make them return to work after the lockdown?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve definitely got an ear to the ground for the inevitable leaks that’ll come from the government ahead of Boris’ big speech on Monday.

You’re probably also thinking about your employees, can I make them return to work after lockdown?

And as things start to ease, there’ll definitely be challenges for employers.

There’s one particular challenge we’re already getting a lot of questions about:

“If staff prefer to work from home, can I ask them to return after lockdown?”

The answer is a pretty unequivocal “yes”.

As ‘working from home’ was always a temporary arrangement for most employees, you’re well within your rights to ask them to return to their usual way of working.

If they do want to continue from home, then the onus is on them to make a “flexible working request”; something that all staff with 26 weeks + service can do.

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Filling the GAP in HR services: Pregnancy myths shattered with a rant…

Filling the GAP in HR services: Pregnancy myths shattered with a rant…

I got an email from a business coach the other day, and halfway through it, I felt like I’d been slapped.

In the middle of a perfectly acceptable rant about poor service, the rant segued into saying how no business owner should ever employ a woman of childbearing age, as they “take a year off on maternity leave – again and again”!

Ignoring the gross over-simplification that all women always get pregnant, it was interesting that he thought pregnancy was the biggest thorn in an employer’s side.

We work at the “sharp end” with staff issues, and I can tell you straight away that it’s absolutely nonsense.

In fact, the reality is that 95% of the staff issues we deal with are to do with men over the age of 30.

Very occasionally we have had a “tricky” pregnancy situation to resolve.  (By occasionally, I mean two in the last 14 years):

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