Employment Law Updates

On the 13th October, the UK Government published a bill offering parents 2 weeks paid leave should they suffer the loss of a child. The Parental Bereavement (Pay and Leave) Bill was introduced by Kevin Hollinrake, MP and offers a day-one right to bereavement leave for any employed parent who loses a child under the age […]

The effects of Hurricane Ophelia are likely to cause a headache for employers UK wide, with damaged buildings and closed networks wide ranging. Businesses may find that they need to temporarily close; or in the event that they do stay open, employees may be unable to get to work. There is no specific legislation that […]

Halloween is a celebration observed by a number of countries worldwide on the 31st October and with it comes allegations of workplace misconduct. Inappropriate behaviour can arise at any time of the year; however, Halloween appears to bring a special type of poor behaviour. Discrimination against Pagan Witches It is important that employers do not take […]

What is mental health? ACAS define mental health as: “The mental and emotional state in which we feel able to cope with normal stresses of everyday life.” When an individual feels good about themselves they often work more productively, communicate better with colleagues and make a valuable contribution within the workplace. It is important to […]

Last month, Europe’s Human Rights Court established that employers can monitor employees’ emails but only if they notify the employee in advance. This represents the rapid evolving area of legislation at the crossing of technology, privacy and workers’ rights. The judgement in the case of Barbulescu’s v Romania concluded that the authorities had not sufficiently protected Barbulescu’s […]

If an employer finds that they need to restructure their organisation and make redundancies, then it is extremely important that they are careful about the way they treat pregnant employees or employees on maternity leave. In the first instance, it is important that employers understand pregnancy and maternity protection. The purpose of this legislation is […]

In light of the recent controversy that has surrounded Ryanair in regard to management of annual leave, Personnel Today have published 5 common employer pitfalls. At Employment Law Services (ELS) we have summarised these to help our existing and non-existing clients avoid being caught out. (1)  Not encouraging employees to spread annual leave out over the […]

What action can you take when an employee resigns but does not work their required notice period? In the first instance, employees are generally under a contractual duty to give their employer a minimum notice of resignation. This duty is waived if the employer has fundamentally breached the contract of employment or has agreed to […]