Employment Update 📰
- Fines under the right to work scheme will triple in January 2024. If an employer is found to have employed an illegal worker, fines will rise from £15,000 to £45,000 for a first breach and from £20,000 to £60,000 for repeat breaches. It will become even more important to ensure all of your employees and workers have the requisite right to work.
- ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) released new guidance in August 2023 to help employers deal with various absences including:a. Holiday;b. Sickness absence;c. Time off for dependants;d. Time off for parents;e. Time off for bereavement; andf. Supporting disabled people at work.If in doubt, always check the ACAS guidelines relevant to the matter in question. Failing to do so can result in an uplift of compensation of up to 25% if a tribunal finds against you. This is something we can help you navigate.
- Parliament has passed legislation which will change how employers need to deal with flexible working requests. ACAS intends to change the Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests to simplify matters for employers. We have prepared a blog on this matter; New rules for Flexible Working requests. Broadly, the main changes mean that:a. There will be a two month time limit to deal with requests (rather than three); andb. Employees can make two requests a year (rather than one).A date has not yet been given for when the new legislation will take effect.It is extremely important to get responses to flexible working requests right at the beginning. Failure to do so can lead to constructive dismissal and discrimination claims. We can advise at the early stages to hopefully prevent matters becoming unnecessarily contentious.
- HM Courts and Tribunals Service has issued updated guidance aimed to make it easier for individuals to enforce an Employment Tribunal (or Employment Appeal Tribunal) award using High Court Enforcement Officers through the “fast track” scheme. Hopefully your business will not be in a position where it fails to pay an Employment Tribunal award, but if it does get to that unfortunate stage, individuals may find it easier to take steps to enforce those awards.
- The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 will impose an obligation on employers to pay staff 100% of tips they receive from customers. Currently, employers do not have the obligation to pay tips to staff which are paid directly to the employer (e.g. by debit card). These changes are expected to come into force by May 2024, but there is likely to be some nuance to the rules (for example, ensuring the distribution of tips is “fair”) and therefore it is important to get a policy in place early if your business deals with tips on a regular basis.
Case Law Update 📢
Lynskey v Direct Line Insurance Services Ltd, an employment tribunal held that an employer had treated an employee unfavourably because of something arising from her disability of menopause and had failed to make reasonable adjustments.
While the employer in this case did take some steps to assist the employee (e.g. additional training, moving her to a less challenging role), the Tribunal considered more should have been done. Further, the employer was penalised for failing to concede at an early stage that they knew about the claimant’s disability.
Cases involving menopause can be extremely tricky to navigate. Not least because, based on a single set of facts, claimants can often raise multiple types of discrimination claims (typically age, sex and disability). It is important to get specialist advice at the earliest possible stage.
Thank you to our contributors: Phil Cookson, Desley Sherwin, Laura Hill and George Miller.