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By Michael Scutt, 20/10/2009 11:23 am

In a bit of a departure from normal practice here I am uploading a copy of a presentation I gave at the City Business Library today. It may be a bit cryptic if you weren’t there to hear it and please contact me if you require further assistance or explanation.  You can find it at my Slideshare site, which is here;

http://www.slideshare.net/michaelscutt/contracts-of-employment-201009f

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By michaelscutt, 14/09/2009 9:00 am

As an employer, if you want to avoid your name appearing in the Metro or any of the other free papers, try to avoid sacking employees suffering from cancer by email.  This is the moral from the recent report concerning Melinda Bolnar, a 27 year old teacher suffering from bowel cancer and who had just endured seven months of chemotherapy and given a 30% chance of survival.  According to the report it is alleged that her private school sacked her by email.  I should point out that the case is due to be heard at an Employment Tribunal later this year and the above report are merely the employee’s allegations against her employer and not the proven facts.

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By michaelscutt, 06/04/2009 9:41 am

For T.S Eliot, April was the cruellest month.  For employment lawyers it can be the busiest because of the plethora of new legislation and statutory instruments being introduced.  This year is no different and today sees The Employment Act 2008  come into force, replacing the discredited Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004.  In The Wasteland, TS Eliot wrote “what are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?”.  Admittedly Eliot was talking about the human condition and the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of modern society, rather than the 2004 regulations, but there is even so great  resonance in those words for employment lawyers. Few people have had anything good to say about the rules and today they are abolished, replaced by a set of rules that are much less rigid but will give rise to other problems in the future.

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By michaelscutt, 26/02/2009 5:51 pm

And whilst there may well be music and moonlight and love and romance somewhere,  HR bods and employment lawyers probably won’t  be looking forward to facing the music (or dancing for that matter) when it comes to dealing with the Employment Act 2008.  It comes into force (or should that be farce?) on the 6th April and repeals the hugely criticised Employment Act 2002.   In fact, there definitely will be trouble ahead.