I was speaking to a company the other day and they asked a worrying question.
“We’ve had an account manager on light duties since December last year because he has shoulder problems. When can we reduce his salary?”
I almost fell off my chair.
Can I make them work their notice?
Short answer to this is no (sorry, know you didn’t want to hear that!). They may have stormed out after a row. They may have calmly handed in their notice once their pay was on their bank account. But as far as they’re concerned, it’s over.
You could try and get them to stay with financial incentives. But a court won’t make them work their notice period, as it considers your relationship “broken” (so don’t waste your breath threatening to sue).
You won’t have to pay them though, as they are refusing to work their notice period.
And if you have a clause in your contract (like we do, of course), your can in addition reclaim one day’s pay for every day of their notice period not worked. Which is not meant as a penalty, oh no, just a realistic evaluation of the loss and costs we would have if they walked out and we had to find a short term replacement.
NB if you say that they don’t have to work their notice period, then you DO have to pay them!
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Tales of an HR Services Consultant – Day 26: Christmas Decorations are religious discrimination!
Are Christmas decorations religious discrimination?
No! Don’t worry, it’s not political correctness gone mad!
Religious belief is protected by the Equality Act 2010. It doesn’t stop the display of Christmas decorations in the workplace. In fact, it doesn’t stop any traditional customs under religious discrimination.
Tales of an HR Consultancy Expert – Day 25: Check the DBS number!
When you employ a new person, it is important to check references. All you are looking for is confirmation that they really did work for that company as stated on their CV. More than that is unrealistic to expect nowadays. But what else do you need to have?
Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 24: Professional negligence?!
Professional negligence?!
I do tribunal audits on employment contracts and handbooks so that the company knows what needs to be updated, how much risk they are at, and whether the documents are really “fit for purpose”. Once they have that knowledge, they can make an informed decision about whether they will be updating their paperwork themselves or outsourcing it (to me hopefully!).
Most companies that have been doing HR themselves have fairly basic contracts where a couple of clauses are either void or non-existent.
Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 20: Overtime doesn’t earn holiday!
Overtime doesn’t count towards holiday entitlement – or does it?
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decided on 4 November 2014 that any overtime worked does count towards an employee’s holiday entitlement. Yikes!
