As an employer do you need help with understanding the law on making employees redundant? ACAS recently published a very helpful checklist that covers the main issues.
It will also be of use to employees placed “at risk” of redundancy if they are in doubt about the fairness of the procedures used.
But some no win no fee merchant somewhere will probably try …
ACAS, together with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has published a very helpful guide for employers wanting to know how to tread through the minefield of making a pregnant employee redundant. Called, unsurprisingly enough, Managing Redundancy for pregnant employees or those on maternity leave it’s a very readable and concise guide and explodes a few myths on the subject, such as that you can’t make a pregnant employee redundant. On the contrary it is possible, provided it is done for a genuine redundancy reason, which doesn’t mean “we don’t have part-timers here” and reorganising accordingly to exclude her. The Guide is no substitute for taking legal advice if you’re an employer or employee, but is a useful introduction to the subject.
Amidst all the hullabaloo over the government’s plans to reform employment law, one issue that hasn’t got as much of an airing as it might deserve is over mediation/conciliation. In the Law Society Gazette yesterday an article stated that the government intends to promote mediation in the workplace.
Apparently less than 50% of employer respondents to the government’s recent “Resolving Workplace Disputes” had used mediation to resolve disputes, which is a number I find surprisingly high in fact. The more interesting question though is at what stage did they use it? I would guess that for many businesses mediation is only used when the lawyers suggest it as a means of settling a dispute and avoiding a trial.
ACAS recently published a research paper on the use of social media in the workplace, called “Workplaces and Social Networking: The implications for Employment Relations“, as well as some very useful guidelines on how to draft a social media policy. It’s also about time that ACAS provided some guidance in what is becoming an increasingly difficult area.
If your employment has just ended, not just for redundancy but for any reason, did you sign a compromise agreement? Perhaps you entered into a COT3 via ACAS to settle the dispute?
If you did there’s a good chance you will have signed up to a clause that says;
“You shall not at any time after the termination of your employment represent yourself as being interested in or employed by or in any way connected with [name of ex-employer]”
How not to Resolve a Dispute or Why Employees should never try to wear traffic cones
(picture right) How Not to Resolve Disputes or Why Employees Should Never Wear Traffic Cones
Yesterday Ian Barratt of Mind Strengths Ltd published his “Seven Top Stress Management Tips for Employees”. Today I am publishing my “top tips” for employers hoping to avoid claims for stress at work from being commenced against them.