Need to Catch Up? - Our review of the main changes faced by employers this year
The big law changes in 2006 were:
April 2006 - Updates to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2005
We hoped that the new Regulations would help employers needing guidance on how they could reasonably develop terms and conditions of employment after a transfer. But they didn?t really. The new Regulations provide more comprehensive coverage for transfers of service contracting operations such as cleaning, catering, security work and refuse collection; place a requirement on the transferor to notify the transferee of the employment liabilities that will be transferring; give more flexibility in the application of the Regulations in relation to the transfer of an insolvent business; and clarify the circumstances in which employers can make lawful transfer related dismissals and negotiate transfer-related changes for 'economic, technical or organisational reasons'.
April 2006 - The Commission for Racial Equality's revised Code of Practice came into force
One of the most important changes this year because it places statutory duties on public authorities. If you do work for the public sector you will have seen new compliance questionnaires. Taken with the new Age Discrimination legislation (see below) monitoring recruitment and trends and develpments in your workforce is now even more important.
October - Major Fire Reform Regulations
Fire Certificates are no more. Employers have to consider Fire Risks alongside all other Health and Safety risks.
October - Age Discrimination Legislation
Age Discrimination is finally outlawed and in have come new rules and procedures which affect retirement, pay and benefits systems, training, and recruitment.
In the courts this year significant judgements have included:
Rolled up holiday pay is banned. Holidays have to be taken. It is now unlawful to pay holiday pay as an addition to the hourly rate. Change now or get caught out.
Employees known to suffer from stress need protection. Employers have a responsibility to stop events repeating themselves.
Getting staff to read your equal opportunities policy is not enough. Employers have to take reasonable steps to prevent discrimination at work and to avoid liability for their employee's actions. Just giving them a copy of the equal opportunities policy is not sufficient.
An employee doesn't have to say they have a grievance to have a grievance! Tribunals confirm that they will give employees the benefit of the doubt if they are claiming they have complied with the Statutory Grievance procedure.
Just because you don't employ someone doesn't mean you can't be responsible for their actions: A company can be vicariously liable for the negligent acts of another company's employee where it can be shown to be the employee's "deemed temporary employer".
Being on-call at work = working time: On-call duty performed by a worker where they have to be physically present on the employer's premises is 'working time', regardless of the work actually done.
Just because you say something is non contractual doesn't mean it is always so. More of a reminder really. If you always do something it can become contractual however you describe it. Examples could be redundancy pay, time off, provision of benefits...
And just in time for Christmas: Ministers of the Church are employees and can claim unfair dismissal. (Until now Ministers have been considered to have been appointed to a Holy Office. Now it is a job.)
December 2006
