The biggest employment law decision ever in the UK?
This week saw the Supreme Court rule employment tribunal fees as unlawful. The ruling has been heralded as possibly the biggest employment law decision ever in the UK.
Employment tribunal fees of up to £1,200 were introduced in 2013. Consequently, we saw a dramatic fall in a number of tribunal cases being brought. In the year before the fees were introduced, there were 5,847 claims taken to employment tribunals. This fell to 1,740 in the year after fees were introduced.
The ruling has been welcomed across the board and is seen as a win for justice. In welcoming the ruling, the CIPD has said that fees were denying access to justice for many people, consequently, it is highly likely that some perfectly valid claims have never been heard.
What does it mean now?
First and foremost, any employee who brought a claim since 2013 will be refunded any fees they paid.
Going forward it is likely that we are going to see a significant rise in the number of claims being brought. Although there might be an initial rush, over time it is doubtful that claim levels will reach the dizzy heights seen pre-tribunal fees. There are two main reasons for this; we now have the Acas mandatory conciliation scheme, as well as the fact that unfair dismissal rights now accrue after two years service rather than one.
To help prevent being caught in a precarious tribunal situation or with a costly settlement, employers should at the very minimum ensure they have robust policies and procedures in place to rely on in such situations.
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Are casual dress code policy’s becoming the norm?
It seems that many traditional firms are relaxing their formal corporate dress code policies in favor of casual dress codes in an attempt to attract young engineers, IT and tech workers. Recently Goldman Sachs adopted a new “year-round casual dress code policy”, applying it to their technology and engineering divisions. As the new policy came into place employees were reminded to monitor situations when it is best to adapt to business attire, particularly if they have client meetings.
This summer has seen a growing trend in the UK to move away from strict dress codes. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has urged employers to relax dress codes, if only temporarily, during warmer weather, particularly giving relief to office male workers who often have to wear a suit, tie, and shirt. A growing number of companies are continuing on with this trend as many see strict dress codes as being outdated and are unable to justify not having a more relaxed dress code for certain sectors.
Fast-growing technology companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, have long adapted to the expectation of a more relaxed generation of workers and are now synonymous with casual dress codes.
JP Morgan adopted a “business casual” dress code last year and although London bankers were initially wary of the change, reports now say that most people are embracing it and workers are rarely seen in a suit and tie unless they are at a client meeting.
If you do wish to implement a dress code policy for your business you must include the policy in your staff handbook and ensure all employees are aware of it. Whatever your policy, employees should be reminded to adhere to the highest standards of personal appearance at all times and dress in clothes that are suitable for the work situation.
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Landmark ruling in battle for equal pension rights for same-sex couples
A retired employee of the chemicals company, Innospec has won his 11 year fight to ensure that his husband should receive the same benefits that would have been awarded to a wife of a heterosexual employee on his death.
Originally John Walker suffered a defeat in the Court of Appeal in 2015, when judges ruled that his claim failed because it applied to a period before gay civil partnerships were recognized by the law, but the five Supreme Court justices unanimously overturned that ruling, declaring that EU equal employment rights trumped English exceptionalism, and that on Mr. Walker’s death his partner will be entitled to a spouse’s pension.
Mr. Walker argued that having worked for the company for more than 20 years; he had made the same contributions to the pension scheme as his heterosexual colleagues so why would his partner not receive the same benefits as the wives of his male peers. It was submitted that Innospec’s refusal to provide a pensions to Mr. Walker’s husband in the event of his death “amounted to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation which is contrary to the Framework Directive, regardless of Mr. Walker’s services or pension contribution”.
Mr. Walker wished to ensure that should he die before his husband that he would be adequately provided for. Before the ruling his husband stood to receive a pension of only a few hundred pounds a year but now will be entitled to the company spouse’s pension of over £45,000 a year.
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What to be aware of when completing a reference check
As an employer, there will undoubtedly come a time that you will be asked to provide a reference check for a previous employee to their potential new employer. If you have a stand out employee with plenty of praise for them, then providing their reference check may seem like a doddle, but if you have an employee that parted on bad terms the reference check can be less than straightforward.
Why you should be careful completing a reference check
You have a duty of care to provide a truthful reference check to potential employers – but this may come at a price. Be aware that you run the risk of being sued for defamation if a negative reference that was given cannot be verified. A new employer can also claim against you if an employee who you gave a great reference for turns out to be less than satisfactory.
What can you do to protect yourself?
• You are under no obligation to provide a reference check for employees. If you wish to refrain from providing reference checks you may include a policy in your staff handbook stating this.
• If you are willing to provide reference checks you may adopt a policy to keep it brief and only divulge factual information, including:
- Dates of employment
- Job title
- Relationship to the candidate
- Final Salary
• If you are happy to provide a full reference check for an employee and answer behavioral questions regarding their work ethic, attitude, time keeping etc. ensure that all the information you provide is factual and true.
When you adopt a reference check policy that best fits your business, the key then is to be consistent. What you do for one employee you must do for all. Inconsistency could leave you wide open to a discrimination claim from a disgruntled employee. Be sure to include the policy in your staff handbook and make all employees aware of it.
Also, see…Top Tips for Reference Check Questions
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The story behind BrightPay Connect ….. in 60 seconds.
We started out with the idea of automating the payroll backup to a secure location and, while that backup was being stored remotely, to optionally allow employee access to their current and historic payslips.
Then we were asked if we could provide a way for employees to change their personal details and this was followed by a suggestion that maybe the employees could request leave and that the employer, in deciding whether to approve these requests, would be able to view a company wide calendar to see who else was off on the requested dates. BrightPay Connect, an optional cloud add on was born.
More recently, we added the ability to upload documents, for example employment contracts, to the employee portal, so that all such documents would be easily accessible and the employer would also know if and when they had been opened by the employees.
Although it was not our intention starting out, it now appears that we have ended up with a fairly complete HR system suitable for most small businesses and, no doubt, the list of HR features will continue to grow.
As an employer, you can also provide access to your accountant or anyone else you might want to share with. You can also specify different access levels so that, for example, the person approving holiday requests doesn’t get to see how much your employees are paid.
The 2 things that customers really rave about are (1) you are up and running in seconds, as this is all the time it takes to sync all of your employees and (2) you can access your employees’ details from anywhere, from any device.
Book a BrightPay Connect Demo today to see how you and your employees can benefit.
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Shared Parental Pay: Father wins sex discrimination case
A father, who was given only two weeks full paid parental leave when his wife was advised to return to work to combat post-natal depression, has won a sex discrimination claim. Mr. Ali was originally an employee for Telefónica whose maternity policy gave females with 26 weeks service the option of 14 weeks’ enhanced maternity pay, followed by 25 weeks at the rate of statutory maternity pay. The policy also offers new fathers two weeks full paternity pay leave.
Mr. Ali’s wife was diagnosed with post-natal depression following the birth of their child and was advised by medical staff that returning to work would assist with her recovery. Mr. Ali took two weeks paternity leave followed by a number of week’s annual leave. Upon returning to work Mr. Ali was informed that he was entitled to take shared parental leave but that he would only be paid statutory shared parental leave. Mr. Ali claimed direct sex discrimination in an employment tribunal.
Acknowledging that two weeks maternity leave is compulsory for new mothers, Mr. Ali argued that male employees should be given the same right to leave on enhanced pay for the next 12 weeks as their female colleagues. Mr. Ali argued that his employer’s policy viewed that a man taking care of his baby is not entitled to the same pay as a woman taking care of her baby, a choice that was denied to him and his wife.
Findings
The ET upheld Mr. Ali’s sex discrimination claim. The ET believed that the role of primary carer should be the choice if the parents and that it should be free of “generalised assumptions” that the mother should be the primary carer and get full pay. According to the tribunal, in this case, Mr. Ali was best placed to perform that role, given his wife’s post-natal depression.
Learning Points
Employers are advised that if they enhance maternity pay that they also enhance shared parental pay. 24.7% of employers already enhance, or plan to enhance, shared parental pay to match the enhancement of maternity pay. Employers should always have a clear maternity, paternity, adoptive and shared parental leave policies in their staff handbook.
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