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Employment Law with the Coalition
Looking at the Coalition Agreement and the Queen’s Speech together there are a number of proposals that may have an impact on Employment Lawyers – things to look out for as well as coping with the implementation of the Equality Act 2010, the headlines being: -
- Supporting the National Minimum Wage;
- New protections for whistle blowers;
- Promoting equal pay;
- Trying to limit the Application of the Working Time Directive in the UK;
- Extending flexible working to all employees and encourage shared parenting from the early stages of pregnancy by introducing a system of flexible parental leave.
Other impacts on employment in a general sense will be the Governments commitment to consult with business and other interested sectors on the appropriate limits and implementation of their plans to limit the number of non-EU economic migrants entering the UK.
Update - London Borough of Brent v Fuller (UK EAT/0453.09)
The EAT has decided that when making a Gross Misconduct Dismissal LBB were entitled to take into account a previous similar incident (incident 1 even though no warning had been given then.)
Mrs Fuller worked in a school for children with social and emotional difficulties. In May 2007 she intervened during a restraint and was told not to do so again. In October 2007, again in breach of the rules, she intervened in a further restraint. She was dismissed for ‘repeated and inappropriate intervention into behaviour management issues’ and ‘failure to follow reasonable management instructions’. The school said that they were entitled to dismiss for Gross Misconduct taking into account the incident in May from which Mrs Fuller knew she was not meant to interfere in the October incident. The Employment Tribunal said the October incident did not merit dismissal. The EAT disagreed and they said that a Tribunal was entitled to take into account all the relevant circumstances of an incident. This confirms that previous incidents can be taken into account (carefully) even if there has been no warning issued.
This website is selling sick notes for a number of countries. They now have the fake versions of the new ‘fit notes’ for sale. Stamped and signed and written on official note paper they look like the real thing, for just £9.99. So if you see a ‘fit note’ from a GP’s Practice you do not recognise check it out. Make sure your contract allows you to obtain independent medical evidence regarding your employee.