Gender pay gap catalysing change for gender diversity amongst executives
Born out of frustration after years of women in the city earning less than their male counterparts, the UK’s gender […]
Blog
New guidance issued on employment references
New guidance from the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) provides employers with a timely reminder in relation to their obligations when providing and obtaining references which is an area in which employers can easily fall foul if they are not careful.
Employee status and agency workers: The nature of the work is the key consideration
An employee on a temporary zero hours contract should be classed as an agency worker, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found in Brooknight Guarding Limited v. Matei.
Sex discrimination case flushed out of the Tribunal system with a £25,000 settlement
A female council worker has settled her sex discrimination claim for £25,000. She was instructed to go to a different office, ahead of an inspector’s visit, to clean the kitchen and the toilets. She was told the toilets “needed a woman’s touch” despite the fact that cleaning was not within her job description.
Only 6% of Brits work 9am-5pm
A recent survey from YouGov has found that only 6% of Brits now work 9am-5pm and nearly half of those surveyed worked flexibly through job-sharing flexitime or compressed hours. The study shows that the most preferred working hours are 8am-4pm (chosen by 37% of the respondents) with another 21% saying they would prefer to start work even earlier at 7am and finish at 3pm.
Publicise parental leave policies
A study conducted by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that only 4 UK government departments display their parental leave and pay policies on their external websites. This is despite the fact that the government has launched a new “Share the joy” campaign, intended to encourage more parents to utilise shared parental leave, and is spending £1.5 million to increase awareness.
CIPD reports that a reduced amount of EU to UK migration has caused a skills shortage in the UK
According to CIPD’s latest quarterly labour market snapshot, a slump in the number of EU citizens migrating to the UK has exacerbated skills shortages in the UK.
Sickness absences at lowest average since 1993!
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed a significant fall in the number of days employees are taking off work due to sickness. The ONS reported that an average of 4.1 sick days were taken in 2017, compared to 7.1 in 1993 (the year records began).
Only 20 per cent of tribunal fees have been refunded since Supreme Court ruling
Following the Supreme Court ruling which declared tribunal fees unlawful, the government pledged to refund those who had paid tribunal […]
Migrants' rights in the spotlight
Brexit is thought to be one of the reasons why the Tier 2 (General) restricted Certificate of Sponsorship cap has been reached. However, we may at last be seeing some reprieve from this.
Kilraine v London Borough of Wandsworth [2018]
A recent case has considered the issue of what amounts to a protected disclosure. In Kilraine v. London Borough of Wandsworth [2018], the Court of Appeal guided Employment Tribunals in such cases to focus on determining whether there was a “protected disclosure” and whether the disclosed information, showed or tended to show that one or more of the six specified types of malpractice had taken place or was likely to take place – for example a breach of a legal obligation.
Pay gap between younger and older workers
The pay gap between the under-30s and over-30s has risen by more than half in the last 20 years, as younger workers are still enduring the residual effects of the financial crisis.