Carolyne Wahlen - GAP HR

What rights do zero hours or casual workers have?

A zero hours worker or casual worker is an employee that works for you, who does not have fixed hours in the working week. As far as you, the business owner is concerned, they act like a tap that you can bring in whenever you need the extra help during the week. 5 Quick facts … Read more

Book promotion

Book promotion As a regular reader of this blog, you’ll already know that working in HR is very much like working on the submissions team in the creative writing department at Random House. Every day brings a selection of new short stories, each one packed full of unforgettable characters and unexpected plot twists. So many … Read more

Sick leave & social media

What can I do if I have an employee who is currently on sick leave from work, but they have been posting images of themselves going out on social media? Managing sickness absence is rarely a straightforward task and dealing with someone that you suspect is not genuinely ill has always been at the trickier … Read more

Push button, avert disaster

One of our clients averted disaster recently, with just one push of a button. They’d received a grievance letter from an employee about one of their colleagues making rude and nasty comments about them. We held the grievance meeting, and the employee gave plenty of detail, and provided witnesses, making it a pretty cut and … Read more

Scantily clad employment law

Scantily clad employment law I love social media. But despite what the gurus have told me, I’ve still struggled to make it work for my business. And by make it work, I mean make ANY money out of it. I know all about how influencers make it work (I’ve just watched the Dubai TV series), … Read more

Calm. Too calm.

We went through a redundancy process at a golf club back in July 2020. And it was all very calm. Too calm. There were several staff members at risk, including the club manager, and when that happens, it can be quite challenging – managers are much less inclined to play ball. Not this time though … Read more

Plan B rules – how much will they affect your business

Plan B rules how much will they affect your business

We are back in the delightful place of doing regular updates to Coronavirus guidance for employers. These rules are correct as of today, but please be aware that things may change. If they do, we will update the guidance.

Remember – we do a weekly Zoom call where we keep you up to date on the latest developments and answer your questions about any and all staff issues.

Working from home

From Monday 13 December everyone who can work from home should work from home.

If the chairman of the board does not want to allow this because he does not “believe in homeworking”, despite the events of the past two years, then ask him to take it up directly with the government and send staff home who can work from home.

If staff can’t work from home, we are back to strict enforcing of the wearing of masks, hand washing and other social distancing guidelines.

A tour of central London

A tour of central London I like to think I’ve got pretty good geographical awareness. Turns out I really don’t. I was down at Chislehurst Golf Club the other day, giving a talk for the GCMA South East. I finished at 5:30pm, popped my home address into the satnav, selected “fastest” and set off, joking … Read more

Not worth the paper it’s written on

Not worth the paper it’s written on

We recently had a situation at a client who had been “too nice” to a new employee.

You might think it’s impossible to be “too nice”, but hear me out:

The client had employed his first female in his fairly new business.

In her first week of work, she was off one day sick and went home early another day.

In the first week!

He rang us and we discussed parting company with her, but at that stage we thought she had haemophilia, which would have been protected under disability discrimination.

He did a return to work interview with her where she said it was actually anaemia that was causing the problems (not a disability) but was then back at work for the rest of the month.

However…

Brownie Campfires – the perfect stress release!

Brownie Campfires – the perfect stress release!

I used to be Brown Owl. Not a surprise to most of you, I would imagine! And before that a Rainbow leader and a Guide leader.

I did enjoy every aspect of Guiding, but my favourite bit by miles has always been the campfire. And it turns out that I have managed to get myself a bit of a reputation in that area!

I am the Campfire Lady!

“Looking After” tips

I was on holiday over half term, in Gran Canaria and it was GLORIOUS – sun, sea, sand, and all the food you could dream of.

Seriously, one of the perks of holidays and staying in a hotel is that you can’t cook, even if you want to, which means the hardship of having to eat beautiful food in lovely restaurants every night.

It does come with its own specific challenge though: how much to tip.

And funnily enough, I find it harder to decide on the gratuity when the service has been good – I don’t tend to struggle when it’s been mediocre or worse!

But more than that, what really concerns me is whether the staff are actually going to GET the tip, particularly in the electronic age.

Does the employer keep it and not pass it on at all? Highly likely.

Or does it get put into a pot for all staff to share? Okay, but not really rewarding good service.

Or does that one person actually get what I have tipped? Highly unlikely.

No I dumped HIM!

No, I dumped HIM!

One of our clients recently had a troublesome greenkeeper.

As each week ticked by, new troubles presented themselves – absences, poor performances, you name it, it happened.

And, because we were advising them, they went through the proper disciplinary process, and the greenkeeper ended up on a final written warning.

Then came the final straw: a shouting and swearing match with his boss, in front of the whole clubhouse.

By anyone’s book, that’s gross misconduct, but a less grievous offence would still be grounds for termination – once someone has an active final warning, anything they do after that would incur even a first written warning, it’s grounds for dismissal.

Yes, you do need to go through a process, but it’s very straightforward, and it seemed like the best way forward in this situation.

We began an investigation, making it clear to the employee how serious this was, and started preparing for a disciplinary meeting.

Then, plot twist, the employee resigned with immediate effect, before we could invite him to the meeting.

The empty nest blues

The empty nest blues

It’s now less than a year until – fingers crossed – my youngest child will be leaving home for university.

And as much as I love to faux-moan about him, I also love having him around, and everyone’s been telling me how much I’m going to miss having children in the house.

So I decided to do something about it to get ahead of the curve, and started looking for a holiday I’d NEVER take the children on, even though they’re both adults now.

Long story short, I’m now scheduled for a transatlantic cruise on the Queen Mary 2 to New York, with a balcony cabin; proper bucket list stuff.

Easy way to lose a “customer”…

Easy way to lose a “customer”…

I was chatting to my favourite golf club the other day (the identity of the club will remain a secret!).

And they had good news – they’re at full membership AND they’ve got a 100-strong waiting list.

A position they haven’t been in for over a decade.

I congratulated them, and then my marketing head kicked in and I started asking a few questions.

“Okay, so you’ve got a hundred people on your waiting list – what do they get?”

“What do you mean?”

Overtime doesn’t count towards holiday entitlement – or does it?

Overtime doesn’t count towards holiday entitlement – or does it? The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decided in 2014 that any overtime worked does count towards an employee’s holiday entitlement. Yikes! What does that actually mean? It means that if you have in their contracts that they work 20 hours a week, and they work 10 … Read more

Contract Information Center

Read through all of Gap HR’s documents about contracts. When issuing a contract, it is important to always remember that you cannot make an employee sign away their rights. A contract is a document designed to let employees know what they are entitled to, but not to change their statutory rights. You can schedule a … Read more

You MUST understand

You MUST understand

I have a SEAT Ateca.

It’s not the most fashionable car in the world, but I’ve had it for a few years, and it’s served me well.

SEATs come with a three-year warranty, which I’ve been keen to keep it alive, so I’ve headed to the local dealer each year for the service.

And I’d have kept going indefinitely, but the events of the last couple of months have changed all that.

I turned up for my service, waited in the queue and started observing the goings on at the front desk.

What was clear straight away was the distinction between the sales staff and the service staff – there were several sales guys standing around doing nothing and one harassed looking service staff member, running around like a headless chicken.

One of the serene looking salesmen make the mistake of approaching me and asking if he could help.

I explained what I was there for, and he responded:

“Oh sorry, I can’t help – I’m sales”

After uttering those words, he moved onto the next person, also in the service queue, asking the same question and giving the same response.

That was when I lost it:

Treasurer says zero hours workers have no rights

It’s the consultant’s curse – people value your advice enough to ask for it, but try everything they can to avoid paying for it.

But this week, we experienced the complete opposite.

A golf club client of ours point blank refused to take the advice we gave them.

Advice that they’ve already paid for.

The club had received an ACAS Early Conciliation (EC) notification – EC is the stage just before formal tribunal, so they were – understandably – pretty worried.

The employee in question had worked for them for six years on a zero hours contract, had been given notice in February and left at the end of June because the notice period had been extended.

So what was the problem?

Double jeopardy

Double jeopardy

We have had a lot of questions about what to do around staff and vaccinations.

Please be aware that no staff has to tell you whether they have or have not had the jab. They could even lie!

Double vaccinated staff

Do not have to self-isolate if have come into contact with someone who has Covid-19 – the pingdemic is over!

There is no requirement that they get themselves tested unless they have symptoms.

If they feel ill themselves, they should take a PCR test asap and stay at home until results come through.

While they are at home waiting for their results, they are self-certifying their sickness and are to be paid in line with your sickness policy.

If their result is negative and they feel well enough to come back to work, they should do so.

If their result is negative and they still feel ill, they should stay at home and be paid in line with your sickness policy.

If their result is positive, they are officially sick and stay at home until a minimum 10 days have passed.

Trained to ignore

Trained to ignore

My car told me I had a flat tyre the other week.

That’s how sophisticated they’ve become – before you’ve even felt anything, the computer explains loudly and clearly that you need to do something about your tyre.

And they don’t just tell you once. They tell you again and again.

But on this occasion, I decided I knew better than the computer – my last SEAT was a little trigger happy when it came to notifying me of issues, so I became convinced that there was nothing to worry about.

So I ignored the warnings. For days and days and days.

When can you give a verbal warning to an employee?

When can you give a verbal warning to an employee? Never! They were abolished in 2009. At a recent talk I was asked “but can’t we keep using them, if they are part of our policies and procedures?”. The simple answer is yes, but why would you? Employers complain constantly about the rules they have … Read more

Flu – every year in June?!

Flu – every year in June?! One of my Clubs contacted me about a greenkeeper, over 2 years’ service, who they felt was ill too often. I, of course, asked for the number of days they had been off and the reasons. It turns out it was 4 days in 6 months, all mid-week, for … Read more

Sickness absence with a silver lining

Sickness absence with a silver lining

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), has just released its sickness figures for 2020. And they aren’t as bad as you might think.

In 2020 approximately 118.6 million working days were lost due to sickness or injury. Which sounds a lot but is the same as just 3.6 days per worker per year and this is the lowest rate since ONS records began in 1995 (1.8% of all working hours lost to sickness).

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the sickness absence data in a number of ways. While the virus may have led to additional sickness absence, measures such as furloughing, social distancing, shielding and increased homeworking appear to have helped reduce other causes of absence, allowing the general downward trend to continue.

By far the most common reason for sickness absence was minor illness, which accounted for 30.95 million lost days. “Minor Illnesses” includes coughs, colds and flu; sickness, nausea and diarrhoea.

Coronavirus absence was tracked separately and since April 2020, has accounted for 14% of all sickness absence.

What about a Cadillac?

What about a Cadillac?

My son Chris turned 17 last month.

Which is mildly terrifying, not just because it only feels like yesterday, he was starting school, but because it means he’s now the proud owner of a provisional driving licence.

We’re currently in the process of arranging driving lessons, as well as looking for a car for him to practise in, with me peeking through my fingers in the passenger seat.

Luckily (for me), he’s a pretty prudent saver, which means he’s got the money to buy one, so since Easter, he’s been on the hunt for the perfect first car.

His main criteria? Big screen to “manage” the car and Bluetooth.

Mine? Good safety rating and reliable.

He’s spent endless hours scrolling on AutoTrader, sometimes coming up with genuine, sensible suggestions, and other times asking about Cadillacs.

In the end though, we settled on a model – the Hyundai i10 – and he found a good value one.

Only snag? It was in Peterborough.

Your Invalid Agreement

We’ve had a rash of settlement agreements to draw up recently.

Usually, we’re asked to do these because the business doesn’t want to go through a lengthy redundancy process before possibly parting company.

However, the struggle is usually getting the business to understand that they are not just paying the employee their notice to go.

They have to pay them more than that (sometimes much more) as they’re actually paying them for giving up their right to sue the business.

And you have to pay tax and NI on notice periods, even under a settlement agreement.

So, to work out how much you should be paying, as a minimum, you need to pay them their notice period PLUS what they would have got if they had been made redundant PLUS a sum for giving up their right to sue you.

This only works as a ballpark figure if we are talking about unfair dismissal – if it’s discrimination, then you really need to be willing to offer at least one year’s pay.

My landscape gardening career

My landscape gardening career

I’m having some work done on my garden.

“Work” doesn’t really do it justice – they’re ripping the whole thing out and starting again – the ramshackle fence overgrown with ivy included.

It might surprise you to learn that I’m no landscape gardener, so I defaulted to the three experts I was paying handsomely for the job.

They asked me about fencing, and I chose close boards, with the smooth side inwards, towards the garden.

All three of the experts queried this – they thought people could use the horizontal struts to climb over the fence – a legitimate concern maybe, but since the garden gate is never locked, not one I was worried about.

Anyway, I came home from work after they’d been working on the fencing and went out to measure the space I’d earmarked for my outdoor fireplace.

It no longer fitted.

Kids, dogs & old people

In our local village, there’s a 20mph limit.

In principle, it’s a great idea, with kids, dogs and old people all in plentiful supply.

In practice, it’s completely ignored.

They’ve tried all sorts to enforce it – signs, sleeping policemen, signs, cameras, notes through doors, signs, the list goes on.

Nothing’s worked until the other day when they inadvertently cracked it.

Do you know which country has the highest suicide rate in the world?

Apologies in advance for the bleak subject matter… Yesterday I was in a discussion with some work colleagues about suicide, and more specifically about the fact that it’s the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK. The conversation moved on until someone made the statement that Finland has the … Read more

Onions?

Onions?

I like to keep an eye on the competition.

So, when one of our golf club clients mentioned a firm of employment solicitors that “really knew their onions”, I was understandably curious.

A Google search later, and I felt a lot happier, thanks to their 3.8-star rating on Google My Business.

You might be thinking 3.8 isn’t too bad – it’s better than nothing after all.

But when you’re a professional adviser, slightly better than rank average isn’t exactly stellar.

I was curious to see why the rating was so low, so read the reviews.

Scary stats

Scary stats

In a normal year, we’re hard at work advising our clients.

In the last 12 months, our busyness has been off the scale.

Thanks to the pandemic, more employers than ever have needed our help to ensure they do the right things, operate in the right way, and stay out of employment tribunals.

Unfortunately, not all employers have been so conscientious, and the latest stats drum that point home.

Between October and December 2020, Employment Tribunal claims rose 25% for single claims, and by 82% for multiple claims, when compared to the same quarter in 2019.

No such thing?

No such thing?

At the best of times, dealing with corporate monstrosities is pretty challenging.

Since Covid, it’s become an utter nightmare, with more barriers and irrelevant questions in every single interaction.

Take Thames Water as an example – they called me yesterday to book a date to install a water meter.

The guy on the other end of the phone sounded bored out of his brain, and clearly reading from a script, launched straight into the all too familiar Covid questions:

Is anyone self-isolating?
Is anyone in the vulnerable categories?
Has anyone in your household tested positive for Covid recently?
Does anyone have Covid symptoms?

So far, so standard.

I replied “no” to all of them, and then he explained that the earliest date that an engineer could come would be May 21.

Failing at Dismissal

Failing at Dismissal

We’ve had a few clients failing at the “dismissal stage” recently.

Each one for exactly the same thing – not telling us that they KNEW the employee had long term mental health issues.

As the saying goes – the truth will out, and it always does, just as soon as the employee contacts ACAS Early Conciliation.

Then it comes to us, we see what’s being claimed by the employee, and end up having an uncomfortable conversation with the client, who’s clearly conveniently ignored what they KNEW about the employee’s mental health.

Why?

The metaphorical unicorn that this employee never saw

The metaphorical unicorn that this employee never saw.

I was talking to a friend the other day, and she was probing me about human resources-related stuff (occupational hazard!).

One of the things she was keen to know was whether there was a requirement for an employer to have a handbook that they gave to their staff.

I asked her why she was so interested, and I was pretty surprised by her answer:

“Because I was given my contract, which refers to the handbook a lot. So I asked the Office Manager for a copy of this handbook. He said I should think of it like a magical handbook.”

The Goldilocks Principle (and rats!)

Last month, my daughter saw a rat.

She was in our (very messy) garage with our miniature schnauzer Comet, and it scuttled right in front of them.

Comet successfully ignored generations of breeding and let the rat go, choosing to focus on a manky tennis ball instead.

Luckily, one of our clients specialises in pest extermination, so – after witnessing Comet’s failure – we called them and they arrived the next day.

Three weeks later, the rats were gone, and we were under no illusions about how they’d got into the garage – the old wooden door frame, which clearly needed replacing without delay.

I contacted three companies – two from Checkatrade, and one via recommendation.

All three came round. All were likeable, knowledgeable, could provide what I wanted – a grey anthracite roller door – and could do it for about the same price and in the same time frame.

I was dreading getting the quotes and having to make a choice because they were all so similar – how was I going to make the choice?!

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.

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.

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):

Filling the GAP in HR services: Insert expletive of your choice

Filling the GAP in HR services: Insert expletive of your choice

‘It is a real shame that ACAS is falling down in its main job: supporting people who have been unfairly treated by their employers.

We’ve always had a lot of contact on our client’s behalf with ACAS at the Early Conciliation level (the month before they start an official tribunal).

Their conciliators have always only been a messenger, without legal power and no jurisdiction to decide who is “right”.

Generally, they have been very realistic and informed and helpful in the process.

But that was before Coronavirus.

In the past two months, we’ve had to deal with two nightmares “conciliators” who had no idea about the law or how to do their job.

The first one felt that it was unfair (!) that an employee had been fired after 4 months service without following a full disciplinary process.

As you probably know, under 2 years there is no protection from unfair dismissal for employees. And we have in our contracts and handbook that we will not be using the disciplinary process on staff under 2 years.

Absolutely legal.

But the ACAS conciliator had not heard of it, telling me bluntly, “You are not allowed to do that!”.