In a perfect example of how not to handle high levels of sickness absence, a worker who was absent for 808 shifts over a 20-year career – costing the company an estimated £95,850 in sick pay – has won tribunal claims of unfair dismissal against his former employer. The key issue here is, not that… Read more »
“You must stay at home. The single most important action we can all take is to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.” This is the opening sentence from the official Government guidance on the new UK lockdown. On Monday 5th January it was announced that the UK would yet again be… Read more »
In this blog, Katie Hodson, Partner and Head of Employment, outlines six steps that employers can take to effectively deal with misconduct in the workplace. As we know, businesses have had to make a lot of changes due to Covid-19, including varying working practices, putting social distancing measures into place along with introducing more stringent… Read more »
A mass Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination programme has started to be rolled out which aims to provide doses to up to four million people by the end of December. Although this is welcome news by many, some people may be reluctant to take the vaccine and there have been questions surrounding whether their employer can actually… Read more »
2020 has been a strange and difficult year for the majority of people. Not only have we experienced the unfortunate loss of loved ones, but we’ve also had national and local lockdowns restricting us on where we can go and what we can do. Decisions will also need to be taken on how Christmas is… Read more »
Much tighter timescales for submitting a furlough claim with HMRC have been announced. In short, the claim has to be submitted within two weeks of the end of the previous calendar month unless there is a reasonable excuse for failing to make a claim in time. Between the dates of 1 July 2020-31 October 2020,… Read more »
Over the past nine months, working practices have changed radically for many organisations and these changes are likely to have a long-term impact. Working from home requests, mental health issues, and flexibility are set to be key HR themes for the future – but what else should HR consider moving forward? Remote Working The pandemic… Read more »
On 31st October 2020, the Government announced that, despite localised tier systems being in place, new COVID-19 cases were on the rise again and therefore new national lockdown restrictions (‘Lockdown 2’) would be put in place starting from 5th November 2020 and ending on 2nd December 2020. As a result, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme… Read more »
On 31st October 2020, the Government announced that, despite localised tier systems being in place, new COVID-19 cases were on the rise again and therefore a new national lockdown restrictions (‘Lockdown 2’) will be put in place starting from 5th November 2020 until 2nd December 2020. After 2nd December, the Government will conduct a review… Read more »
Businesses have faced numerous challenges throughout the pandemic. As cases continue to rise, it is important that employers are aware of the different ways to managing sickness absence during COVID-19. Our experts have collated 5 top tips to help and guide employers. Absence Policy All employers should have an absence policy. Employees should be familiar… Read more »
